Launching a new website is an exciting time. You’ve put in the hard work creating an eye-catching design and spent time writing quality content, but it can be discouraging when it doesn’t show up in search engines like Google or Bing straight away.
Don’t worry, this is completely normal. It may take time before a new website starts ranking in search engines.
This doesn’t happen overnight. On average, it can take between three to six months for a new website to start ranking meaningfully in search results – meaning it appears on the first few pages for your target search terms.
This timeline isn’t set in stone. Depending on your industry and how competitive your target keywords are, it could take upwards of 12 months to see results.
This time delay happens because search engines need time to discover, understand and trust your website before they can confidently show it in search results.
When you launch a new website, it doesn’t automatically appear on the search engine results page. Instead, it goes through a process called indexing.
Indexing involves search engines sending what is known as ‘bots’ or ‘crawlers’ to explore a site. These crawl bots look at elements such as site structure, content, images and links to decide where the site should appear in search results.
Even after pages on a website have been crawled and indexed, search engines still need time to evaluate how relevant and trustworthy the content is. They look at how well the content on a webpage matches what users are searching for, how often the content is updated and whether the site is being linked to from reputable sources.
It’s worth noting that each search engine is different. While Google is the most widely used search engine, it’s not the only one. Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo each have their own unique method for deciding how to rank content.
Each search engine uses its own algorithm, which is essentially a set of rules that determines which website should appear in search results and in what order.
This means that it’s possible for a website to rank highly on Bing but appear much lower on Google, or vice versa.
This doesn’t necessarily mean there is anything wrong with your site – it just reflects how each search engine views websites differently based on what it considers is most relevant for its users.
Google is thought to prioritise user-experience, page speed and engaging content, while Bing may place higher value on exact keyword matches, strong on-page SEO (search engine optimisation) and older, more established domains.
That said, all search engines aim to provide users with high-quality, helpful information, so if you want your website to perform well across multiple platforms, it’s important to focus on publishing valuable content that will give your site the best chance of ranking highly – no matter which search engine your visitors are using.
Ranking in search engines may take time, but don’t be disheartened – your site WILL gain visibility. Think of it as planting a seed. The roots need to grow before you see anything above the surface.
Are you struggling to grow the visibility of your website in search engines? Reach out to the friendly team at Engage Web to discuss your concerns and see how we can help.
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