Launching a
brand-new website and getting people to visit it are two very different things. Still, a common question often asked by business and website owners is how long it will take to start getting organic search traffic from Google.
There isn’t really a way to give a definitive answer to that question as there are so many variables to consider, not least being the amount of organic traffic that you would regard as being a success.
While most businesses and websites want to get as much traffic as possible, more targeted
micro niche websites will assess the success of SEO very differently to larger sites aimed at much wider audiences.
In general, however, most websites will start to see some traffic from Google very shortly after they launch – usually in days, a week or two at the latest. Remember, though, that success doesn’t lie at the start of your
SEO journey, but instead by continuous improvements that increase traffic numbers over time.
Factors That Impact Google Traffic Levels for New Websites
There are several factors that will impact the amount of traffic you get from Google immediately after launching a new website, as well as the rate at which you can improve those numbers. Understanding these factors at an early stage in the process can help you take actions to maximise results.
Level of Optimisation
If organic traffic is important to your website, you will need
SEO whether your target audience is in Christchurch or anywhere else. Therefore, you need to optimise your website from the start.
Some of the most important elements for achieving this include:
- Including relevant keywords in the content of your site’s pages
- Making sure there is enough content on the pages
- Properly structuring the various elements of your site’s pages including the URL, page title, and header tags
- Ensuring your website is mobile responsive
- Ensuring your website loads quickly
There are other things you will find on your
onpage SEO checklist that will also benefit your website, but the above points will give you a solid foundation to build on.
It’s also important that you set-up your website on
Google Search Console, the free Google tool that you can use to manage and monitor your website in Google search.
Competition
If you are in a niche or industry where there is a lot of competition, you will find it more difficult to rank in a high position on Google search results pages. SEO will help with this, but competition is a major factor when launching a new website.
This is because Google is highly unlikely to display your new website over others which it already knows well and understands, particularly for competitive search terms.
You will get some traffic as the
Google algorithm learns more about your site, but you shouldn’t expect your site to immediately dislodge those that are already established.
Achieving this goal is a medium-to-long-term objective that requires a sustained and effective SEO strategy.
Standard Vs. Long-Tail Keywords
You will also find in the early days, weeks, and months of launching your new website that a lot of the traffic you get comes from long-tail keywords rather than standard keywords.
Don’t view this as a negative, however. It’s true that, in general, standard keywords have higher levels of monthly searches than long-tail keywords. However, people using Google type in long-tail keywords more than shorter ones.
In addition, long-tail keywords help with the learning process as Google gets a better understanding of your website, plus long-tail keywords often bring highly targeted visitors to your site, i.e. people with a very specific query that your website can help with.
Local Business Websites
The location of your target audience is also a factor in relation to how quickly you will start seeing traffic arriving at a brand-new website. This is because you can use Google My Business to provide the search engine with additional info about your business. This can lead to your website appearing in the local search section of search results pages, even if you are not in the main search results.
This can not only bring visitors to your website, but it can generate calls to your business too.
Link Building and Marketing
Your ability to build links and get your website’s brand out there in advance of the launch and in the early days and weeks will also impact the organic traffic you will get. It’s important to remember that Google doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Instead, it uses a wide variety of sources to build up a more complete picture of your site.
This includes mentions in the news, press releases, activity on social media, and more. So, the more marketing and link building activities you can do, the better your results will be.
Gradual Build
The summary of the above is that you shouldn’t expect to see massive amounts of traffic arrive at your new website overnight as it is more of a gradual process. A more realistic objective is to see increases month on month to develop an overall upward trend. The rate of growth in that upward trend will then depend on the level of SEO activity you implement for your new Christchurch site.
