New site organic rankings

[WayneD]

Hi

We launching a new site on a .com domain that is about 10 years old but has only had a landing/splash page for years.

The site will have proper and extensive content matching the produscts/services sold (Not AI/ChatGPT created)

I have read that Google can take up to 9 months to index new sites and start listing them nicely for organic results.

My question is really: As the domain is old and the site will have lots of relevant content, would it still take ~9 months to have some good organic results and index well on Google?

[not2easy]

Hi WayneD and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

You are essentially starting from scratch if the domain had no content for its first 10 years. You will be in a state of 'New Site' until they finish assessing and evaluating your content but things don't normally stay flat. There is usually a short term 'top of the list' effect for new content and then it drops down to work its way up to it level. Its level is determined by all of Google's preferences and algorithms and depends largely on how it stacks up compared to the existing sites in the field.

It can help if you check out the competition and see where your strengths and weaknesses lie in comparison, possibly working to better your chances during the adjustment period. Google likes new.

[RedBar]

would it still take ~9 months to have some good organic results and index well on Google?

Well WayneD at least you're being realistic with your expectations!

Having had a splash page you may be lucky and have things moving and ranking in 3-4 months but don't count on it. Even well-established sites can experience slow rankings for new pages and even amended pages on low volume sites can seem to take ages.

Now this can also depend where your market is? International, national, regional, local will all vary depending upon your widget market AND country target.

[tangor]

Regardless of the age of the site, it will be treated as "new". Predicting how long it will take g to give it serp love is hit or miss. HOWEVER, g will find the site really quick (so will the other major SEs) and since there is early sandbox love you might get a taste inside a month to six-weeks. After that your content, competition, and uniqueness will eventually determine if that ranking will do leaps and bounds, or be a slow, incremental growth.

That said, slow and incremental can be a very good starting point as it will help reveal your strengths and weaknesses in the long run!

Good luck!