SEO is by no means a short-term strategy that you can work on once and be done with it.
So how long till your site ranks on top of Google?
It depends on a ton of factors:
- how well you implement on-site SEO
- how many backlinks your site’s getting
- how much domain authority your site already had
- what your competitors are doing
- hundreds of factors in total
The question however has been thoroughly answered by a great study done by Ahrefs, shedding more light on the topic.
This infographic synthesizes the article, worth a look by all SEO-enthusiasts out there:

Courtesy of: The Website Group
For more insights into those stats, also read the original Ahrefs study.
So there you have it. SEO is not something you can crank out in a few weeks or months, and then just expect a traffic deluge to come. Better rankings require patience, dedication, and, of course, a commitment to quality content.
More on this topic here: Don’t obsess over SEO: 10 things you should be taking care of on your photography site before doing advanced SEO work