How to avoid overworking on SERPs ?

Is there a limit?

[careerskk]

Hi,

I could see that after doing SEO for certain keyphrases, the search engine ranks them well (in top 10) only after 40 to 60 days.

Now say I have a key phrase "xyz". Now is it a good approach to do link building and other SEO stuff till it gets ranked well (40 to 60 days). A more smarter approach would be to limit the SEO work and move on to next key phrase without waiting on the same keyprase.

Is there some limit where I can draw a limit on the number of back links and other SEO stuff for a particular key phrase ?

[OMZen]

Just being in top 10 means little unless those terms are :

a) pulling in traffic

b) that traffic is converting into desired goals

So to answer your question on where to draw the limit on backlinks & seo stuff, i'd say:

don't stop untill you are appearing in top 5 spots on first page ( top 2 is really meaty )

real "SEO stuff" BEGINS when you reach at the top - the place to hang out then is your "Google Analytics" segmented data:)

[canadafred]

Sounds like you are more a linking strategist positioning webpages for long tail search engine result pages (SERP) contests moreso than someone actually skilled in SEO. I know that sounds mean but to think that your web pages will automatically appear in the the first page for anything competitive in 40-60 days indicates to me that you are on the wrong track as to what constitutes a meaningful niche SERP market.