Patience is an SEO Virtue

The Internet moves fast.  You move fast.  You do things today because you want results tomorrow.  Sound familiar?  It probably does.  That’s the way of the online world.  Speed is a necessity.

Guess what?  It’s time to slam on the brakes.  Right now.

Because SEO doesnt’ move fast and if you don’t get out of that “hustle and bustle” mindset, you’re not going to get the best results.

You see, unlike some of the things you can do online to create an immediate impact, SEO takes time.  The actual process of optimizing on-page factors an accruing good backlinks might not be that time-consuming, but you do need to have patience with respect to results and assessing the value of various strategies for your particular circumstances.

Google and the other major search engines just don’t move as fast as you do.  Google’s spiders might find their way to that new link to your site today, but may not follow it right away.  Even if they do follow it instantly, they might not really log it or process its significance right away.  Those great links you secure today may not improve your traffic tomorrow.  Or the next day.  Or the day after that.

At least one source says that you should expect to wait as long as six months or more before you can really develop a clear picture of what your SEO efforts are producing.  In online terms, that’s one heckuva long wait.

Patience is a virtue, though.  If you have it and you can see efforts through to fruitiion and then wait to assess their value, you’re going to be able to produce some high-traffic sites.  If you’re not patient, you’re going to find it tough to see any strategy through to the end.  Six months later, you won’t have anything to show for your “fits and starts”.

Keep working on your SEO.  It does pay off.  It just doesn’t always produce the kind of fast changes we might like.