T.I.M.E. formula

T = Technique (The foundation)

I = Indexation & Impact (The moment you become visible)

M = Momentum (How quickly Google crawls your site)

E = Efficiency (The practical limitations that slow everything down)

Technique

If the technique is not in order, crawlers cannot access or understand the site. This is the "foundation of the pyramid."

Time to impact: Within 24 hours to a few days, depending on how quickly Google crawls.
Examples: Removing a "noindex" tag, adjusting robots.txt, fixing an orphan page, or adding an XML sitemap.
Exceptions: The timing of impact will change if the issue has persisted for an extended period. For example, when a page has been accidentally de-indexed.

For popular websites, this can happen within a few hours. Smaller websites may take significantly longer. However, in both cases, the fix will be implemented shortly after Google detects it.

Indexing & Impact

A page can be indexed quickly, but that doesn’t mean it will immediately receive meaningful traffic. There’s a significant difference here.

Indexing: When Google crawls a new page, it can be added to the index. This can happen quickly (within 24 hours) or take weeks.
Impact (traffic): Even if the page is indexed, it doesn’t mean it will immediately attract traffic. This depends on its ranking (position in Google).

Momentum

Momentum in the T.I.M.E. formula is one of the most powerful yet perhaps the most misunderstood components. Let’s clarify this concept and ensure it seamlessly aligns with the meaning of authority.

This is the "accelerator" in the formula. The higher the authority, the faster Google crawls and processes updates. Here, it’s important to distinguish between "Authority" and "Domain Authority (DA)."

Momentum refers to the speed and frequency with which Google crawls your site and updates it in the search results. It is directly tied to how Google perceives your authority within your niche. The more authority you have, the faster Google crawls your site, and the quicker changes become visible in the search results.

Authority is often confused with domain authority (DA) or link building, but that is too simplistic.

Authority primarily relates to Google’s trust in the quality of your content, your internal link profile, and how valuable you are within your niche.

Momentum is a result of authority.

If your website has higher authority, it gains higher momentum. This means your site is crawled more frequently, changes become visible more quickly, and updates can be implemented faster. Momentum is, therefore, the "speedometer" of SEO.

Efficiency

Efficiency refers to the practical constraints that slow down processes in SEO implementation. While a smaller business may have the flexibility to quickly implement changes, larger organizations often face delays due to complex workflows, approvals, and departmental involvement.

Efficiency is about how smoothly and swiftly resources, teams, and tools can align to implement SEO strategies. It bridges the gap between potential impact and actual execution speed.

This is the "reality of the work." In small businesses, changes can be implemented quickly. In large corporations with legal departments, a small change can take months.

The real answer lies in the known and the unknown. The fact is, everyone has a different timeline. Establishing specific factors within the T.I.M.E formula can help provide a more accurate and personalized answer to the question of how long SEO should take.