Updated: April 3, 2023.

In this quick SEO FAQ, I am sharing with you my insights on the disadvantages of SEO and what I think is the biggest con of SEO.

What are the disadvantages of SEO?

What are the main disadvantages of SEO? Does SEO even have indvantages? What advantages does SEO have over PPC?

Watch my video below and check my notes to learn!

What is the main disadvantage of SEO? [Video]

Here is my video where I explain the main disadvantage of SEO – that it takes time – and provide my website as an example.

Key points on the disadvantages of SEO

  • Search engine optimization is a long-term strategy that requires patience and consistency. It is not an instantaneous process. It can take many months to see any changes in ranking, and the rankings may change without notice.
  • If you want to have immediate results (get traffic to your website instantly), you need to invest in PPC.
  • However, PPC is working and bringing you traffic only for as long as you are paying. The moment you stop paying, the traffic from PPC stops.
  • With SEO, you need to wait months or years for the traffic to come, but once it comes, it won’t stop the moment you stop doing SEO. Depending on the niche, your site may run on autopilot for months or even years.
  • Again, depending on the site and the niche, it may take 6-18 months to start to see any effects of SEO.
  • If you are starting from scratch with a brand-new website, be prepared that you won’t see any results in the first year or year and a half.
  • My website started to grow after around 6 months of constantly adding new content and working on it.

Check my other articles about SEO

I have a lot of other interesting articles and videos with frequently asked questions about SEO & learning SEO. Make sure to check them all.

Check the below articles:

Olga Zarr is an SEO consultant with 10+ years of experience. She has been doing SEO for both the biggest brands in the world and small businesses. She has done 200+ SEO audits so far. Olga has completed SEO courses and degrees at universities, such as UC Davis, University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins University. She also completed Moz Academy! And, of course, has Google certifications. She keeps learning SEO and loves it. Olga is also a Google Product Expert specializing in areas, such as Google Search and Google Webmasters.