How many licks does it take? Top Google Rankings

Many people want instant gratification, naturally.  No harm there, I prefer it myself.  So, in the online marketing game, the question becomes, "how fast can I get top Google rankings?"

Well, the fact is there is no 1 answer for that.  There are many variables that dicate how fast you can reach the top.

The first thing is how competitive your niche is.  If you don’t have much competition, you can get there pretty quick, sometimes DARN quick.  If your niche is extremely competitive, it’s going to take more time and more work.  Don’t get discouraged, hard work and patience pays off. 

The second thing is making sure that you are using your keywords properly.  You MUST do keyword research and you MUST use your keywords properly and as your anchor text.  Otherwise, you’re not going to get the results you want.  Read Keywords and Anchor Text to ensure you’re doing this.

The third thing to consider is how much time you put into promoting your site.  Again, if your niche is a competitive one, it may take a lot more work to get there.  I assist clients with links, traffic and rankings via primarily social media marketing tactics.  I have worked with people who get to the top within days and I have worked with people who don’t get there nearly as quick because there is serious competition. 

Another point of consideration is how thinly you’re spreading yourself.  If you’re focusing on promotion of one thing you have more time to spend on it.  If you’re promoting a dozen things, you are much more spread out and obviously it will take more time.

You must also be aware of the many methods of promotion.  There are a number of methods you should be using to promote including blogs, social media and social networking platforms, directories, bookmarking, and sometimes even a few more.  It’s important to get link juice from a number of places, and the more places you can be found in the more organic traffic you’ll also get.  Check out Submit Your Site and Submit Your Blog for more information on this. 

The next is tied in with how much time you commit and how many methods you use – its consistency.  You MUST be consistent.  Your competitors probably are.  The more content you generate and the more you interact, the more links you build and the more visibility you build.  If you let something sit, it will go stale and the search engines will deliver the more active sites in their search results. 

Another area you must consider is what type of marketing you use.  I’m not telling you what method to use, that’s up to you.  I’ve seen good results from each method.  *Note, utilizing gray hat or black hat methods *could* get you in trouble with Google, get your site/profile banned, etc. Most marketers who utilize these methods create "buffer" or "hub" pages to avoid the consequence directly affecting their main site.

You have (mind you some people have slightly different takes on what each method means):

• White Hat – using sites and methods as those sites might have intended, i.e. using 1 account at that site, not hiring people to bookmark or vote on your stuff, not using bots or automated techniques, etc.
• Gray Hat – 1) somewhere in between white and black 2) utilizing black hats methods to some extent but not super hard 3) utilizing what you consider to be a "loophole"
• Black Hat – by any means necessary.  Using people, bots and automated techniques to create new content, bookmark, vote on submissions, etc.

Again, I am not telling you to use gray hat or black hat methods to beat your competiton but you should be aware that it’s out there because marketers utilize these methods to dominate search results and sometimes these can affect other people’s rankings within their niche. 

The bottom line is that you need to:

• determine how competitive your niche is
• ensure you do keyword research and use your anchor text
• commit to spending consistent time focusing on your promotions
• commit to plain old hard work to get there…and you will

Don’t be discouraged by the amount of time it takes.  If you stick with it, the results will come.  And don’t compare yourself with someone else, there are too many factors involved.  Focus and just keep at it.  There’s no single answer to how long it takes to rank at the top.

Karen J. for Online-Marketing-Wizards.com