Median time from live placement to first ranking impact: 9.4 weeks — not 'a few days'

Median time from live placement to first ranking impact: 9.4 weeks — not 'a few days'

Across 1,150 tracked placements (n=1,150, 24-month window), the lag from link going live to measurable target-page movement:

— Indexed (link crawled): median 6 days
— First impression lift on target: median 4.1 weeks
— Stabilized ranking gain: median 9.4 weeks
— p90 for stabilized gain: 19 weeks

The gap between 'indexed' and 'ranking impact' is where clients panic and teams over-correct. A link working as intended often shows nothing for 6-7 weeks.

Faster-moving links skewed toward higher topical relevance, not higher DR.

Set the impact-measurement checkpoint at week 10, not week 2.