Study: How Long Does It Take to Rank in Google (Answer: Too Long)

[suranceman]

Not true, Life Happens.org article has the same word count for "declined" and "denied" life insurance keywords and they're number 1 for both.

But aside from the length, that post isn't designed to rank, its a "process" supportive blog post - unless the guy's going after "declined life insurance" which is only 20 monthly searches which seems pretty low of a search to go after when you consider the time it takes to create and promote content.

If the guy wanted to rank for "declined life insurance", he would've put together a 1,500+ word article on being declined (number 2 is 1,350 words long), and pack other similar terms into the article like "denied life insurance" which has 4.5X the monthly searches that "declined life insurance" has. He would also optimize the page better throwing the terms into the headers, and ending the article with them.

Technically you got me, but did you really?

You cited lifehappens.org. They have a MOZ DA of 70 which is way up there. The MOZ DA of getquilt.com is 28. You compared the results of a site that has 998 root domain backlinks vs one that has 14 (according to MOZ). This is hardly an example you could use to prove your point. Can someone technically write sub 1k word count content and rank? Sure they can if they have a DA that is higher than 98% of websites out there. For the rest of the people who are creating a website to promote themselves or their agencies, it's not going to happen if there is any level of competition. If you think I'm wrong, I'll give you a thousand dollars if you make the top five for "denied life insurance" with an article that is less than 1k words in less than a year.

I disagree about his intent behind why he published that article. First of all, a life insurance website only has users who are people looking for new coverage at some point. Your existing life insurance customers aren't visiting your website, and they certainly aren't reading your blog.

Who would create an article that is aimed at your current client base when the article is about what happens after you are declined for life insurance? I mean, they are you clients because you got them approved. It would make no sense to do this. Even if your current life insurance clients are reading your blog (which they aren't), why the hell would they read a post about what happens after being denied.

The guy likely thought it would rank, but it will not. He'll probably get 1-5 clicks over the next 5 years for people searching anything related to being denied for life insurance.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

Even with that format, his content is far too short. He won't rank.

Quilt has raised millions in venture capital so maybe there is another strategy at work here rather than organic search for that particular post....

Not saying VCs don't throw crazy money around after some bad ideas, just that the site quoted isn't some dude in his basement.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Technically you got me, but did you really?

You cited lifehappens.org. They have a MOZ DA of 70 which is way up there. The MOZ DA of getquilt.com is 28. You compared the results of a site that has 998 root domain backlinks vs one that has 14 (according to MOZ). This is hardly an example you could use to prove your point. Can someone technically write sub 1k word count content and rank? Sure they can if they have a DA that is higher than 98% of websites out there. For the rest of the people who are creating a website to promote themselves or their agencies, it's not going to happen if there is any level of competition. If you think I'm wrong, I'll give you a thousand dollars if you make the top five for "denied life insurance" with an article that is less than 1k words in less than a year.

I disagree about his intent behind why he published that article. First of all, a life insurance website only has users who are people looking for new coverage at some point. Your existing life insurance customers aren't visiting your website, and they certainly aren't reading your blog.

Who would create an article that is aimed at your current client base when the article is about what happens after you are declined for life insurance? I mean, they are you clients because you got them approved. It would make no sense to do this. Even if your current life insurance clients are reading your blog (which they aren't), why the hell would they read a post about what happens after being denied.

The guy likely thought it would rank, but it will not. He'll probably get 1-5 clicks over the next 5 years for people searching anything related to being denied for life insurance.

Sure having a higher DA will help other pages rank faster, but my assumption stands, this wasn't to rank for anything or it would've been optimized, also considering there's no backlinks to the page (without fully firing up my software to check, just using site operators). Not all pages should be to rank for a term.

Also because the questions are being asked online, and frankly a good agent would have a button up and a plan B published on his site if they sold insurance over the phone and to not totally lose the deal. If you're going to have a site that sells consumers, you need content for every stage of the process.

You might be right, but I doubt it. You don't get a domain authority over 80+ by posting crappy unoptimized pages hoping to get a few clicks over 5 years...

 

[onlineagent]

Um what?

This thread about ranking via organic search results. Paid advertising has nothing to do with organic search. Furthermore, Google trusts Geico because it is a well established brand. Their website is old, has thousands of very high quality relevant back links to their site, has good content, and they are a real established company.


Nobody should listen to this guy if they are interested in ranking organically. He probably has experience with paid ads, but that's an entirely different animal.

Wow, I know you SEO guys get very touchy about what you do because most people in the IT world consider it witchcraft, but you seem to be one of the more touchy ones. SEO folks will tell you to pay them a monthly fee and sit tight and see where it takes you. All I can say is don't do it, save your money and create a multi-tiered marketing plan consisting of giving your customers the ability to get accurate quotes and maybe even bind online, mailers, billboards, networking etc.

 

[naaipmoses]

There are basic points of SEO that one must do to have your site move up Google. We review these points on a daily basis on our conference call.

 

[naaipmoses]

The following are the important points on moving up Google (SEO):

1. Google wants its users to come back to Google - not go to Yahoo or Bing. Google's goal is to have the leaders of the industry be at the top their search engine listings.
2. Google measures "time on site" (this is why quote engines are so important)
3. Google measures "click back ratios" (this is why the upper part of your website must be impressive).
4. Your website must have unique and interesting content (obviously, a leader of the industry would not have copied content on their site).
5. Links from: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Blogspot, etc. impress upon Google that you are a real company - a real website. Somehow, someway convince Google that your site is the leader of the industry.
6. Sign up to Google Local - but only after your site is hosted properly and your site has unique content. Register here - google.com/business