Hey there! If your company efforts SEO, you’ve probably asked this question a million times of either your internal guy or your agency: ‘How long does SEO take?’ Well, the typical answer is 4-12 months, but sometimes it can take up to 24 months to see a real return on investment.

But what if I told you there’s a way to speed things up? Enter ‘Agile SEO’—. Let’s dive into how you can get those SEO results faster.

First off, you  want quick returns, especially with today’s challenges—supply chain issues, economic uncertainties, rising labor costs—you name it. Getting faster results gives you a serious competitive edge, whether you’re doing SEO in-house or using an agency.

Now, let’s talk about a common pitfall: ‘Checklist SEO.’ You know, the idea that to have a well-optimized site, you just need to check off all the boxes on a big list. But here’s the thing—this approach assumes every site needs the same work, and that’s just not true.

 Instead, let’s switch gears and use the SEO Eisenhower Grid. It’s a framework we use to prioritize SEO tasks based on their impact and effort. Imagine a grid with four quadrants:

High impact, low effort—those are the sweet spots you want to hit first. Focus on these tasks early in your campaign to see quicker results. For example, keyword research, optimizing titles and meta descriptions, and creating new content can give you a bigger lift than diving straight into a massive technical audit.

For smaller sites, especially those built on platforms like Shopify or WordPress, the technical issues are often minimal and can be tackled without a full audit. Sure, technical SEO is important, but unless your site has major indexing or crawlability problems, start with the basics that deliver results.

Speaking of implementation, it’s one thing to come up with recommendations—it’s another to actually get them done. That’s where agile SEO tools come in. Tools like SEO Scout, SearchPilot, and RankSense allow you to make changes without waiting for developer support.

Adopting an agile approach, where you work through SEO tasks in sprints, helps you prioritize high-impact changes and stay flexible. At our agency, we focus on one key task at a time, provide support for that implementation, and then move on to the next.

Once you’ve implemented something, it’s time to be your own cheerleader. Create a mini case study showing the impact of your changes. This not only motivates your team or clients but also builds momentum for future implementations.

“And don’t forget about SEO Testing. Platforms like RankSense and SearchPilot make it easier to test changes before rolling them out site-wide. This way, you know exactly what works and what doesn’t, saving time and resources

So, yes, SEO takes time, but with agile SEO strategies, you don’t have to wait forever to see meaningful results. By focusing on high-impact tasks, using the right tools, and staying agile, you can accelerate your SEO efforts and leave the competition behind.