Understanding the Early Stages of SEO Success
When business owners start focusing on SEO, the expectation and goals are simple. Rank number one. See an increased flood of traffic. Get new leads pouring in nonstop. It can sometimes feel like the goal is to reach the peak of a mountain and once you’re there you’re simply done climbing.
It can be frustrating, but SEO doesn’t work that way – at all. SEO success is more like climbing a long trail up a mountain and less like hopping on an elevator to the top. In the beginning, you won’t even see the peak. You might only make it from the trailhead to the first marker. The progress feels small, but it’s still progress. And every step builds momentum toward bigger results.
Success Can Start Small
Imagine you’ve never ranked for a certain keyword before. Your site hasn’t shown up anywhere for it. Then eventually, hopefully not too long after starting with SEO and digital marketing, you find your site is ranking at spot 78 in a Google search.
At first thought that doesn’t sound like much to brag about. It won’t move the sales needle for your company. Nobody scrolls that far down. You won’t get a single click. What it is though, is a sign that Google noticed your site and started connecting it with that keyword. That’s your first trail marker.
Then, a few weeks later, you climb a little higher. Maybe you’re at spot 70. Still no clicks. Still buried on page seven. But that’s another step up the mountain. You’re proving to search engines that your site deserves to be in the mix.
It’s easy to dismiss those early steps. But in SEO, ranking 78 to 70 is success. It’s how the climb begins.
Growth on Existing Keywords
With keywords you already rank for, SEO success can look different. Maybe you’re sitting at position six. You’re already ranking on the first page, but you’re still below the fold (people have to work just a bit harder to get to your link). Many people will opt for and click the top three spots, maybe the top five. You’re close – but not close enough.
With steady SEO work, you climb to position four. Now your site is more visible. You start getting more clicks. That small move up two spots can make a noticeable difference in traffic.
But SEO success isn’t just about climbing higher. Sometimes it’s about holding your ground. If you’re already at position one, success might be that your site stays there, even as competitors try to push past you. That’s like anchoring yourself to the rock face. You’re secure, and it will take someone else a lot more effort to climb past you.
SEO Success Is Ongoing
The truth about SEO is that the climb never ends – ever. Even when you reach the top and your website ranks first for the keyword, you can’t stop moving. You can’t stop doing SEO activities.
Your competitors, locally or nationwide or worldwide, are out there doing the same work you did and more to get their website up to the top spot. Simply put – they’re trying to catch up to you. They’re writing new content, improving their sites, and targeting the same keywords. If you stop, you’ll get passed.
That’s why your SEO success shouldn’t come to a stop when you’ve reached that coveted and hard won number one ranking. Being at the top of the mountain isn’t actually the end goal. The real goal is building that mountain and top spot even higher. Add more content. Strengthen your backlinks. Improve your site speed. Each improvement or new SEO activity you do raises the peak just a little higher and makes the climb harder for anyone behind you.
Think of it as if you’re sitting on top of a small hill. It won’t take long for others to catch up to you if you’re sitting on top of a small hill. But if you keep doing more SEO activities, you’ll keep stacking up more wins, and you’ll be raising your hill into a mountain and making it higher and higher. You are creating a peak that looks and feels impossible for competitors to reach.
Shaping Your Long-Term SEO Journey
The first steps in SEO success probably won’t look like fireworks or anything that impressive. They will likely look like small shifts. Going from position 78 to 70. Moving up from position six to four. Holding your ground at number one.
These steps may feel small and possibly pointless, but they’re beyond crucial. They’re building momentum. They prove to Google that your site belongs on the mountain. And over time, they compound.
SEO is a long game. It’s not a quick sprint. It’s not even a single climb. It’s an ongoing expedition. Each step makes the next one possible. Each win builds on the last. And as your mountain gets higher, the rewards grow with it. More visibility. More trust. More leads.
The key is not to get discouraged by the early stages. No climber quits when they’ve only reached the first marker. They know the peak is ahead. The same is true with SEO.
Building Momentum Toward Lasting SEO Success
SEO success at first might feel invisible. No clicks. No calls. No big surge of traffic. All of those small wins and victories are where the real SEO journey begins.
Every climb up the rankings, even if just from 78 to 70 or from six to four, is proof that your ranking is moving in the right direction. Forward. Onward. Upward. Every time you hold that hard won spot at the top, you’re making it harder and harder for others to catch up and pass you.
The SEO climb will never end. That’s what makes SEO so powerful and impactful. You’re always building, always strengthening, always creating a peak that competitors can’t easily reach.
At Full Scope Creative, we help businesses take those first steps, celebrate those early wins, and keep climbing higher. If you’re ready to start building your mountain and turning small SEO successes into lasting growth, let’s talk.