Sorry, but it depends...It's the first question every serious business asks, and it usually comes with a frustratingly simple answer: "How long until I rank?"For years, the industry line has been a lukewarm promise of "three to six months." But that answer is outdated, oversimplified, and often simply wrong. It treats SEO as a singular, technical sprint, when the reality is far more complex.Modern SEO is no longer a simple checklist; it's brand building, it's technical optimisation, it's copywriting. And it relies - more heavily than you think - on how strong your brand already is. The real, strategic answer to "How long does SEO take to work?" is: It depends entirely on where your brand starts and how consistently you commit to a comprehensive strategy.We're moving past the notion of a fixed timeline and focusing on acceleration. Your SEO velocity is determined by five core pillars. The stronger those pillars are, the faster you will see sustainable organic growth and increased revenue.What Determines How Fast SEO Works for You?If you are serious about reducing your time-to-ranking, you'll need to take an honest look across these five strategic pillars (or get us to do it for you!). Your current standing on these points is the single greatest determinant of how quickly you’ll see organic growth. We're talking traditional search engines and AI/Large Language Models (LLMS) alike.1. How well known is your brand in the "real" world?Both Google and the powerful AI models want to prioritise proven, trusted entities. An entity is a thing, essentially: A person, a business, a product. Everything you do online adds to what search engines and AI understand about your entity.And unfortunately, they are designed to reward the known players. If your brand already commands real-world respect - through reputation, industry mentions, or just being the best at what you do and having people acknowledge that - you get an unfair head start online. That established offline trust sign...