How Long Does Local SEO
Take to Produce Fair Results?

All local business owners want to know how long it takes to produce fair results and get rankings from local SEO, which can increase their online sales on search engines like Google.

Having worked with 20+ businesses in Toronto’s competitive market, we can confidently say that…

On average, new businesses may take up to 10–months to produce fair results from local SEO, while old businesses might take up to 6–months. Different practices, like White Hat Local SEO, can take about 10–months. Gray Hat Local SEO can take about 6–months, and Black Hat Local SEO can take about 3–months, but these two come with risks.

Let’s find out together in detail: When do you see Local SEO results?

How long does local SEO take to rank

How Long Does It Take for New and Old Businesses?

Attracting customers to new businesses takes 10–months, whereas, for older businesses, local SEO works in 6–months. Let’s see how this is possible.

How Soon Do New Businesses See Local SEO Results?

If you’re a new business owner, it may take up to 10–months to appear in local search results and see fair results from local SEO. To understand in detail, you must consider these 7–factors.
How much time do new businesses take to rank

1. Competitors Analyzing and Creating a Strategy

Analyzing your competitors can take 2–weeks, and creating a better local SEO strategy can take 1–week, totalling 3–weeks. This process is your base, so work on it as carefully as possible; otherwise, all your effort will be wasted.

2. Setting Up an Online Presence from Zero

Creating a user-friendly website and adding local schema to it, listing your business on Google, and setting up social profiles takes 1–month.

3. Creating Content and Building Authority

Creating helpful content for a local audience helps build your business’s authority. You’ll need to choose a topic to write on. It takes at least 6–months for a new business to start creating helpful, quality content and to build some authority.

Remember that only original content will rank on Google now, so avoid AI-written content. Along with writing content and building authority, you must do on-page SEO, an ongoing process with no timeline.

TIP: Look at how many words of written content build the site’s authority and rank on search engines like Google in this infographic. (Source: Smart Insights Digital Marketing

4. Listing Your Business on Directories

Local citations, which can help achieve up to 7% of rankings, should be considered. Listing your business on directories or local citation sites can take 1 to 2–weeks.

You can find directories or citation sites for different business categories in Canada here.

5. Getting Some Local Backlinks

For your new business, getting a fair number of backlinks from local websites may take 3 to 4–months. If one strategy fails, you’ll need to use different strategies.

Some people consider backlinks and citation building the same, even though they seem similar. This post explains our intent when working on them.

TIP: Remember that trading backlinks for backlinks can get you into trouble with Google. This practice can lead to penalties, so it’s best to avoid it.

6. Getting Positive Reviews

90% of brands believe that online reviews impact local rankings. (Source: LocaliQ)

To see some fair results from local SEO, 20 to 30 genuine reviews will be sufficient for a new business. It could take you up to 3–months. If the reviewers use keywords related to your business, it will further boost your rankings because Google shows this in local search results.

TIP: Buying reviews isn’t recommended because most sellers use fake Gmail IDs, which Google can easily detect. Because of this, Google doesn’t give you rankings and harms your business’s credibility.

7. Publishing Consistent Posts on GMB

Making a reasonable number of posts on your Google Business Profile, also known as GMB, is extremely important. On average, a new business’s profile should have 150 posts published. It may take you up to 1-month to publish these posts.

Calculating the Total Required Time for New Businesses

Let’s calculate how long a new business will take to produce fair results from local SEO.
Time calculations for local rankings of new businesses

These two tasks can be done together, so it will take us a total of 1-month to complete them.

  • Competitors analyzing and creating a strategy: 3-weeks
  • Setting up an online presence from zero: 1-month

These three tasks can be done together, so we’ll consider them to take 6–months to complete.

  • Creating content and building authority: 6-months
  • Listing your business on directories: 2-weeks
  • Getting some local backlinks: 4-months

These two tasks can be done together, so completing them will take 3–months.

  • Getting positive reviews: 3-months
  • Publishing consistent posts on GMB: 1-month

So, for a new business, local SEO will take 10–months in Total to produce fair results and attract new customers.

When do Old Businesses See Local SEO Results?

If your business is old and has already done some SEO work, it may take up to 6–months to appear in local search results and see fair results from local SEO. To understand in detail, you must consider these 8–factors.
How much time do old businesses take to rank

1. Analyzing Competition and Creating a Strategy

As an old business, analyzing your competitors can take 2–weeks, and creating a better local SEO strategy can take 1–week, totalling 3–weeks.

It’s essential to do this process correctly; otherwise, your time and money will be wasted. Therefore, for this step, only choose businesses that work exclusively in the local SEO industry and don’t offer various services.

2. Analyzing and Updating Existing Online Presence

Analyzing and updating your business’s existing online presence, which means auditing and optimizing your website, Google My Business profile, and social media profiles, can take 2 to 3–weeks.

3. Improving On-Page SEO and Content Quality

Depending on the number of pages that need to be optimized, doing on-page SEO and improving the quality of their content can take 2 to 6–weeks.

4. Optimizing Local Citations and Backlink Profiles

To ensure the accuracy of your business’s citations, you can use tools such as BrightLocal. You can use it to identify any issues that need fixing. Once you have done that, optimizing them should take about 1–week.

I recommend using the Ahrefs tool to check your backlinks. It’s pricey, but it’s the most accurate tool available. If your competitors have created spammy links to hurt your website, submit a disavowed link list in Google Search Console to eliminate them. This process takes about 1–week at most.

5. Creating New Content

Creating new content with an excellent strategy for fair results from local SEO might take up to 2–months. By choosing a sub-niche of your business’s niche and creating helpful content solely around it, you can achieve the desired results more quickly.

TIP: Always remember to write only within your business category. For example, search engine optimization is a broad niche, and local SEO is its sub-niche. NoxRank only creates blog posts related to local SEO. How about writing about social media marketing on this website? It would be useless.

6. Getting Reviews from Existing Customers

Due to your business being established for a while, you may have received some reviews. However, getting extra reviews will further strengthen your local SEO strategy, increasing the chances of getting better results in less time. However, this process can take 1–month.

Our local SEO services have helped many businesses in Toronto. All our clients keep their customer’s data, which they can use to offer promotional offers in the future. If you have also done this, you can ask your existing customers who haven’t yet given reviews to provide one for your business.

7. Publishing Consistent Posts on GMB

It’s extremely important to publish a reasonable number of posts on your Google Business Profile, also known as GMB. Publishing a reasonable number of posts may take up to 1–month.

8. Monitoring Results and Adjusting Strategy

For an old business, it’s possible to change its strategies. While performing the tasks mentioned above, you can gauge what’s performing well and what isn’t.

After 3–months of executing these tasks, you can slightly change your local SEO strategy, which may take up to 2–weeks.

Calculating the Total Required Time for Old Businesses

Let’s calculate how long an old business will take to produce fair results from local SEO.

Time calculations for local rankings of old businesses

We should do these three tasks separately, as it would take us 3.5– months to complete them.

  • Analyzing competition and creating a strategy: 3–weeks
  • Analyzing and updating existing online presence: 3–weeks
  • Creating new content: 2–months

These two tasks can be done together, so they’ll take us 1.5– months to complete.

  • Improving on-page SEO and content quality: 6–weeks
  • Optimizing local citations and backlink profiles: 2-weeks

These three tasks can be done together, so they’ll take us a total of 1–month to complete.

  • Getting reviews from existing customers: 1–month
  • Publishing consistent posts on GMB: 1–month
  • Monitoring results and adjusting strategy: 2–weeks

So, for an old business, local SEO will take 6–months in Total to produce fair results and attract new customers.

Timeline by Implementing Local SEO Approaches

We have understood how long it can take for a new or old business to benefit from local SEO. Now, we know how different SEO approaches, namely White Hat, Gray Hat, and Black Hat, can quickly make us proficient in local SEO.
Local SEO timeline with different tactics

White Hat Local SEO Techniques

Good results with White Hat SEO can take up to 10–months. Google and NoxRank recommend using these techniques because they offer long-term benefits and help you leverage future Google updates.

Let’s see what these techniques include.

1. Optimizing Google Business Profile

Optimize your Google Business Profile according to Google’s guidelines. It means selecting matching categories for your business and not engaging in keyword stuffing in the title description, etc.

2. Listing Your Business on Local Directories

List your business’s NAP (name, address, phone number) on local citation sites in your country. Remember that the information you list in the name, address, or phone number should be the same across other websites.

3. Creating Link-worthy Content

It means creating content on your website that others love reading and sharing. Examples include infographics, how-to guides, and case studies.

4. Using Keywords Naturally

Any content you publish online, whether on your website, Google My Business Profile, or any other website, should naturally incorporate keywords.

5. Getting Reviews from Real Customers

Get reviews from real customers who have benefited from your business’s service or product.

Gray Hat Local SEO Techniques

Using Gray Hat techniques, you can expect better results from local SEO in 6–months. Let’s explore what these techniques include.

1. Keyword Stuffing in GBP Title

Stuffing keywords in your Google Business Profile (GBP) title to quickly gain rankings. Does it result in quick rankings? Yes, within a few days, but your profile could be suspended anytime.

2. Doorway Pages or Thin Content

It involves changing the city names in the same content to create similar local pages for different locations, e.g.

  • Online marketing services in Toronto
  • Online marketing services in Mississauga
  • Online marketing services in Markham

3. Buying Reviews

Buying reviews for rankings may make you somewhat successful in the short term but not in the long term. Let me tell you why. You might remember that previously, you could use different Gmail IDs from the same device to leave reviews, but not anymore.

Google knows the reviewer’s location, including the country, city, and area they’re in.

Black Hat Local SEO Techniques

With the help of these techniques, it takes at least some time to achieve the best results in local SEO, typically within 3–months. Let’s explore what these techniques include.

1. Creating Fake GMB Listings

People create fake GMB listings for two reasons: to harm their competitors or to improve their business rankings. It’s commendable that Google is cracking down on this issue. If one of your competitors does it, submit this business redressal complaint form.

2. Building Spammy Local Backlinks

You can generate links for your website yourself or purchase them. Google’s Penguin algorithm can identify unnatural links and determine their source. Even though this method may provide temporary benefits, knowing the potential consequences is important.

In some instances, website owners have had their sites deindexed by Google updates, resulting in years of hard work lost.

3. Fake Review Posting for Competitor Listings

Some people submit fake reviews to damage their competitors’ reputations. They even hire teams for such tasks. If this has happened to you, remove the fake review given by your competitor from your listing today.

Other 2 Factors that Influence How Long It Takes

Other 2 factors that indicate how long it will take to get results.
Other factors that impact local rankings time

1. Your Marketing Budget

With a reasonable marketing budget, you can speed up the local SEO process, increasing the chances of getting good results sooner.

For example, with a reasonable marketing budget, you can allocate tasks among more people to achieve quicker results.

2. The Local SEO Team You Hire

Choosing the right team is important when getting results from local SEO. The speed at which you see results can vary depending on the team you select. Some teams provide value to their clients, while others focus more on maximizing their profits.

Choose NoxRank to Get Quick Local SEO Results

For every 6 businesses, NoxRank selects a dedicated team of local SEO experts who work diligently on your project, ensuring better results.

Key Takeaways

  • Local SEO can produce good results in 10–months for new local businesses and 6–months for old businesses.
  • We don’t recommend using Gray-Hat or Black-Hat Local SEO techniques as Google and NoxRank oppose them. We mentioned this to inform you about the potential harm of such techniques.
  • How long it takes to get results depends on your budget; a reasonable marketing budget can speed things up even more.
Find out how long it will take for your business to show results.