How long to re-rank changed content

[member22]

I changed the content of one of my webpage, google has picked up the content but not changed the ranking yet… How long does it take to change the ranking if it is deemed to be changed…

[netmeg]

There's no set time. And just because you change the content doesn't mean the ranking will change. There's a lot more too it than that.

[frankleeceo]

I changed one of my popular content page recently by updating it. I considered it as a major update with roughly 30% changed information. It took roughly 1 week for visible ranking change. Although the ranking change was minor with only 1 place up.

Maybe it will take way longer for Google to finalize and calculate the change to assign it the final ranking. At least it appears that way for me.

[member22]

Someone people say a week maximum ( for example news website rank within hours with their articles). Has anyone seen major ranking changes after a content change and how long did it take ?

It would be interested to see if for someone it took a week to see a slight change and then if after 3 weeks or 2 months there was another change or if the change after one week was the final one ?

[bhartzer]

Fastest way is to 'encourage' Google to re-rank it or look at it again. You can get some more links to that content from trusted sites--and get some more social media shares to the updated content.

[member22]

If the content is change but I have no external links coming to it do you mean that it could take a while before it re-ranks ? whereas if I have a few links or social media shares it will re-rank it " right away". Is that correct ?

[not2easy]

Try to seek natural links from related sites. If you have added content that is likely to get a lot of people wanting to share it, that can work well. It starts with having content that other webmasters might want to share with their visitors, then making an effort to see if you can let them know about the content. If it is good content, you may find sites who will link and talk about what you wrote.

[muzza64]

Getting more links will cloud the issue as you won't know whether any ranking changes are down to the content or the links.

More links won't necessarily speed up the re-ranking process and you could be opening up a whole new can of worms. A safer option is to promote the page more within your site, but again that alters the balance of things and could bring about ranking improvements regardless of the content changes.

If your site ranks well generally and the page in question is reasonably prominent within your site then you just need to wait. If it's going to make a difference you'll probably see it within a few weeks, but don't expect too much - it takes more than a bit of extra content on the page to influence rankings significantly.

Another thing to note is that if you change a page significantly Google has to re-evaluate it which has an unsettling effect on rankings and it can take months for things to settle down to the 'final' position (by which time Google will have updated the algo dozens of times and you still won't know if your content was the cause or not).

[member22]

I agree with you I don't think it is a wise idea to find links I would rather wait and see… The thing is that I have heard many thing some say that when you create new content you should rank within a few days some says like you that google has to re-evaluate everything and that is can take a few weeks, who is right I don't know ;-)

The thing that I know is that without being signed in after 72 hours the page in question was ranking where it has never ranked before ( it stayed there for a while, then I cleared my cache and it was gone )

Did I get lucky and will it come back where I saw it weeks from now not sure…

Or in order to rank will I need external links ?

However, the only thing that I find strange is that when a major news site creates a article or someone creates a discussion on this forum like I did within hours this question is ranked within google for "re-rank changed content" why wouldn't it be the same for the content of my webpage ( why would it take weeks to re-evaluate ? )

On long term key phrase If I take 8 or 10 words from my page content it find the pages and ranks it but on shorter terms like 3 words that it where it doesn't rank it.

[netmeg]

A major news site is probably going to have more trust, authority and history. And possibly the forum, too.

[member22]

I just checked my trust flow compare to yours and in fact webmaster world is almost 2.5 times more trusted than my website.

[member22]

I am curious what is the best to check your trust ? majesticseo or moz ?

Majestic gives me a big difference between the website I am comparing, moz is very similar for all the sites… who is right ?

[muzza64]

some say that when you create new content you should rank within a few days some says like you that google has to re-evaluate everything and that is can take a few weeks, who is right I don't know

A new page is a different issue, it didn't exist before so it goes straight into the evaluation process. New pages can rank very well very quickly (in minutes if it's on a major news site or a popular forum like this, but for most average sites it will take a few days) and rankings will fluctuate until it finds a final resting point.

An existing page has been evaluated previously so tweaks to content are unlikely to produce any significant ranking changes. It can happen but in my experience once a page is established it takes a major change to improve ranking, and usually only links or linking to it from your home page are likely to produce a significant difference.

The thing that I know is that without being signed in after 72 hours the page in question was ranking where it has never ranked before ( it stayed there for a while, then I cleared my cache and it was gone )

Did I get lucky and will it come back where I saw it weeks from now not sure…

The rankings you saw were local/personalised, not 'real'. Clearing your cache removed any personalisation. I've become excited on many an occasion and been baffled by the lack of extra traffic only to discover it was only me seeing the ranking change.

Or in order to rank will I need external links ?

If the page doesn't already rank and you're changing the content to get it to rank, there may be some other problem with your site as a whole. For example, sites severely affected by Panda or Penguin can struggle to get any new or existing pages to rank no matter what they do.

On long term key phrase If I take 8 or 10 words from my page content it find the pages and ranks it but on shorter terms like 3 words that it where it doesn't rank it.

Either your site or the page in question does not have sufficient authority/trust to rank for anything other than long tail phrases.

I am curious what is the best to check your trust ? majesticseo or moz ?

I find Moz a good enough indication. Other tools may be more accurate/reliable but Moz will give you a very good idea how your site compares to others you're competing against in terms of trust/authority.

[netmeg]

I am curious what is the best to check your trust ? majesticseo or moz ?

In my experience neither of these tools provides anything useful as far as measuring "trust" Honestly I don't think anyone but Google knows how Google measures trust. Your best indication is going to be from your users, not an outside party's pseudo measurement.

[GreyBeard123]

^^^ OP, you won’t get a better answer than this ^^^

Many ‘low’ trust sites outrank sites with ‘major’ trust…

[OldFaces]

My two cents....If it's a major algo update it can take as long as upwards until the next specific algo update. However, we recently got hit HARD by Panda 4.0 (1st time ever in over 14 years), have made changes to those specific pages hit, and have started to notice a small increase back to our initial organic traffic.

In short - no one knows. But to help your mindset a bit - anywhere from a few days to 6 months. I know that doesn't help :/