How long to see the benefits of a backlink?

[serenoo]

Let's say today I get an important oneway backlink from one of the top ten websites of my keyword.
When I will see the benefits coming from that backlink?
One week? Two weeks? One month?

[Receptional Andy]

It's an impossible question in isolation, serenoo.

The time depends primarily on the quality of the link itself, and also on the destination site.

There is also no finality to the evaluation of the link by Google. It will likely have an initial evaluation more closely related to "freshness" algorithms, followed by a more permanent evaluation, and it will then be subject to the ebb and flow of Google's general evaluation of links as part of ongoing algorithmic change.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a particular link is inherently difficult. If you're in the habit of measuring link effectiveness with controlled criteria, then you can build up a "feel" for how good a link is liable to be, but even then it is an inexact science.

If Google's "link algorithm" engineers hold back on a set of changes for a week or couple of weeks, then that can totally screw up any intended measurement - and there are many events that can have a similar effect, making time measurements all but impossible.

If you want me to stick my neck out and put numbers on it, I would say wait at least a few weeks for an authoritative link, and a few months to be sure ;)

[kidder]

It might also depend on the changing link profiles of sites that link to you, just to confuse the issue a little further.

[martinibuster]

In general (and just my opinion so please don't make this a rule to live by), if it's a decent link and your site "wants" to rank for a given phrase (for example, it already ranks between the second and fifth page), and your site is fairly stable in that rank position, then give it a minimum of ten to fourteen days, or up to a month, and if you see it bouncing around, then the link probably had an effect. Typically if it's a decent link there'll be a freshness effect and it will drop back to a lower position that is higher than the previous spot it occupied.

Again, just my opinion and observation, and I am positive others have different experiences (because every situation is different): If the site is parked in the bottom ten of the first page, it's possible the competitive hurdle for the top five in addition to any on-page factors, may keep the site where it is, although if it's a particularly decent link, then it might jump up as high as the fifth position then drop back.

[zehrila]

Once when one of my site which was in sandbox got featured on lifehacker, it sparked some social media attention and site got featured on delicious stumble reddit digg etc, the link affect was temporary and traffic went away after 7-10 days, however, on about 14th day, my site started showing up for tons of keywords and with in 2-3 weeks, my traffic from serps was trippled.

So lets say, if you have your onpage seo just right and you got featured at bbc, i would like to think you should start seeing the effects with in 2 weeks time, atleast.

[marketingguru]

The benefits of back links is stable and if you got 10 quality back links and these are present forever.

[edited by: engine at 10:20 am (utc) on Nov. 28, 2009]
[edit reason] See WebmasterWorld TOS [/edit]

[tedster]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "stable" in this case. From what I've seen, I'd say some types of backlinks, especially those in so-called social media areas, can hit very strong at first and then quickly lose power. Backlinks in other areas can begin with just a minimal influence that then seems to grow as months go by.

And as years go by, there can be another effect. Links can start losing power if they come from pages that don't change, and they're pointing to pages that don't change and no longer attract new backlinks - in other words, the whole interlinking area is a kind of dead spot on the link graph of the web.

[walkman]

His question was this (I think so:)): Say, CNN links to me and I should get a x boost. When will I see that boost?

[zehrila]

Walkman: if they link to your deeper page, which is not very competitive then i'm sure it would start ranking instantly. If they are linking to your home page and luckily that CNN page gets viral, you should see pretty massive boost in traffic and with in 2-3 weeks you might start showing up for your main keywords, this shall affect your deeper pages as well and they would start ranking as well.

[walkman]

zehrila, you are saying that google changes ranking as soon as they see your new backlink?

[walkman]

After reading about this looks like from some links you get an immediate boost (some say newspaper /news sites) but for the rest it takes time to kick in. I did sign up on about 10 social sites and did get a 30% boost for a week but now it's gone back to where it was. Most were nofollow but as they get mashed some are bound to be follow.

More here [webmasterworld.com...]

[zehrila]

You probably got pushed up in serps due to freshness of your content, just try to get a link or two again and see if your page goes back to old position.

[walkman]

My content was the same, but Google probably thought "He's making some waves" so maybe there's something there.