When I started this blog (June 7, 2009) I said in a post to the ActiveRain community that I could get it ranked in the top 5 of Google results for the term "SEO for Realtors".

I thought it would take 3-5 weeks.

It took 7 days.  At least that’s when I noticed that SEOforRealtorsBlog was ranked #5.

What did I do to get that ranking?

No Magic.  I followed the steps in How to Use This Site .

As I’m writing this, I can see that I have exactly 6 backlinks to the site.  That, and my on-page SEO led to that #5 ranking.

What can you do with your website or blog, using the tips on this site?

Let me hear from you!

Update - June 16, 2009

Two days later:  SEO for Realtors has been demoted. :(  To 11th in Google rankings.  Top of page 2.  Right where it’ll be found by absolutely no one.

What does this mean?

It validates that we’re able to manipulate Google results by doing some SEO magic (as we did before).  We gained that #5 position by maintaining a pace of content building and backlink building that Google found admirable.  When we didn’t continue that pace, Google demoted us.

Google loves fresh content.  I slowed down on developing new content.

Google loves backlinks from high-authority sites.  I’d already built a few (11 as of this date), but I slowed down.

Is this typical?

Probably not.  It’s not typical to get to position 5 of Google SERPs in a week. Nor is it typical to be bumped from there to position 11 within a few days.

When you begin optimizing your site, you will have an established website with content that’s already been fully indexed by Google.  The content you add to it won’t have as great an impact as going from ground zero to 10 pages overnight - as we did here.

And, if you back away from your SEO efforts for a week, the impact of doing so probably won’t be so dramatic as what we experienced here.

SEO is an ongoing effort.

But make no mistake.  The web is constantly changing.  If you plan to do your own SEO work, you’ll need to devote at least a few hours a week to building content and backlinks.  If you can’t do that?  Hire a SEO firm.