SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) – WHEN WILL I SEE RESULTS?

Whenever we speak to a client about doing Search Engine Optimization, one question that inevitably is always asked is “When will we begin to see results?”. It is of course a smart question to ask. Every day your business or organization isn’t showing up on the front page of the Google search results is costing you profit and potential impact. We live in a time of “faster is better” and instant results, but when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, things tend to move a little bit slower. Good SEO, done correctly and well, can take a little time. Let’s examine an actual case.

CASE STUDY – BILL HOTZ AND ASSOCIATES

In April of 2013, New Frame Creative developed a brand new website for Knoxville, TN personal injury lawyers Bill Hotz and Associates. The firm asked that their website be built to allow it to rank highly on Google for these specific keywords:

Knoxville car wreck attorney

Knoxville truck wreck attorney

Knoxville car wreck lawyer

Knoxville truck wreck lawyer

Knoxville TN car wreck attorneys

Find a car wreck attorney in Knoxville TN

The new Bill Hotz and Associates website was created with those keywords in the forefront of everything we did. Utilizing many Google-approved and proven strategies for SEO, the new website was launched in May of 2013. To form a baseline for our ongoing SEO work, a quick check of ranking was performed at the time of the website’s launch to see where the site was showing up in search results just a few weeks after its launch. The results were not great. Here they are from June 1, 2013:

With the website being brand new, and with competition being extremely high for these specific keywords, these results were not surprising. Most of these initial rankings were page 4 or beyond on Google search results, and how often do you click through to the 4th page of Google search results? Page 4 is equal to totally invisible.

With the website being brand new, and with competition being extremely high for these specific keywords, these results were not surprising. Most of these initial rankings were page 4 or beyond on Google search results, and how often do you click through to the 4th page of Google search results? Page 4 is equal to totally invisible.

THE CHALLENGE AHEAD

Several challenges made this SEO job daunting right from the start. As we mentioned before, local attorney/lawyer keywords are among the most competitive on all of Google. Most law firms have an SEO strategy and are working constantly to achieve front page rankings, and most of these firms had a huge head start on what we were trying to achieve.

Also making things tricky, askthecarwreckattorneys.com was a brand new website located at a brand new domain name. Google prefers domains that are older. Established, long running websites tend to provide more reliable results and Google wants to reward longevity. That’s a good thing if you’re searching for something on Google (you get better results this way), but it’s bad news if you’re trying to achieve a front page ranking with a new website. It isn’t easy!

THE SEO PROCESS BEGINS

Beginning in June, 2013 a strategic SEO plan was put into action. Every month multiple steps were taken to improve the Search Engine Optimization of askthecarwreckattorneys.com. These steps included lots and lots of content building (blogging, social media activity, developing new pages of content for the website), link building (seeking out quality backlinks from other respected and authoritative websites), and then constantly keeping an eye on what all of our competitors were doing online.

Here is a look at the Google rankings of those same keywords from March of 2014, nine months into our search engine optimization campaign:

Heading in the right direction, but still not on the front page. This is where you have to trust the process. Good search engine optimization takes a great strategy and diligent work, but most importantly, it takes time.

Take a look at Google search results from February of 2015, now eighteen months from the start of the SEO campaign.

It took us eighteen months to achieve these results, but as these results show, a smart, well executed SEO strategy delivers results! Bill Hotz and Associates is currently ranking on page 1 of Google for all targeted keyword phrases (and their phones are ringing off the hook because of it!) Keep in mind that these results were in an unbelievably competitive space! In other, less competitive spaces, excellent results can be achived in as little as six to nine months.

New Frame Creative would love to help your business reach the front page too. Give us a call today at (865) 202-0408 or send us an email today.

New Frame Creative is a full service website design / development and digital marketing agency in Knoxville, TN. We specialize in stylish & modern website design, search engine optimization, graphic design, video production, and more. If you are looking for web design in Knoxville or SEO in Knoxville, visit us at http://www.newframecreative.com.