How long does SEO take? It depends. Well, that's a loaded question! How long does it take…to what? What exactly do you want it to do? Most people, not in “the know,” ask that question, expecting the answer to be a finite, “3 weeks,” but again, to do what? Let's break this down a bit, then build it back up with an actual answer. What is SEO? SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” Well, what does that mean? First off, a search engine like Google is a website (or app on a mobile device) that you use to search for information. You may ask, “How long does SEO take?” Google will return about a zillion answers, most of which are completely inane answers to the question. Or, you may ask, “Which Rocky movie is the best?” If the answer is Rocky IV, they're wrong. Go ask Bing . What we, as website owners want, is to optimize our website so that it shows up at the top of Google's search results for the term the user just entered.