We've been doing SEO for six months with almost zero leads — when should we expect results before pulling the plug?

We spent 2,000 USD a month for 8 months in industrial refrigeration. Traffic jumped from 500 to 3,000, but it was all college students researching homework assignments. The moment we pivoted to narrow, high-intent landing pages targeting terms like "wholesale industrial refrigeration manufacturing," we started pulling in 5 solid RFQs a week off just 400 monthly visits.

What does the geographic breakdown look like for those 1,400 visitors? Are there location filters on your reports? Sometimes traffic comes from broad global searches in random countries and gets passed off as organic growth. Are these visits actually coming from within the US and the specific states you target?

Have you tried filling out the quote request form on the site yourself? Check if the form works properly whether the buttons shift on mobile, and if emails are ending up in the spam folder. Sometimes the problem isn't SEO, it's having 15 unnecessary fields on the form or a technical delivery issue.

classic agency tactic unfortunately. they write articles targeting high-volume generic keywords with zero commercial intent and brag about skyrocketing traffic... like in b2b furniture, getting 1,400 visits with zero quote requests is basically impossible the audience targeting is totally off.

In your next meeting with your consultant, put these three metrics on the table: 1) What is the click-through rate from your top 5 traffic-driving pages to your quote pages? 2) Has a search intent analysis been done for the targeted keywords? 3) What is the direct organic visit count to your product pages over the last 3 months?

Honestly, spending 15,000 USD over six months just to get two form submissions is a massive flop. The consultant's "it takes time" excuse only applies to sites that can't rank; you already have the traffic. If you have traffic but no conversions, that's not SEO success—it's bad storefront design and poor targeting.

In B2B, SEO conversions don't happen as fast as in B2C; corporate buying cycles can take 2-3 months. However, during that cycle you should at least see micro-conversions like catalog downloads, spec sheet requests or newsletter sign-ups. If visitors aren't leaving any trace at all even without requesting a quote right away the quality of that incoming traffic needs to be questioned.

We got stuck at the same point for a while. A competitor's ranking might come from years of accumulation, not just their content.

Don't hesitate to ask; those who don't ask always pay more.

We got stuck at the same point for a while. If you get three different answers on a topic, the question was asked wrong.

If you have questions, write them; I'll answer as best I can.

Correct.

I've been down this road, let me tell you. Map listings bring more business than blog posts for most local businesses.

I'm also curious if anyone does it differently.

this thread is archived.

I'll try it. Updating an existing page yields faster results than creating a new one.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks, that was the answer I was looking for. If it's your first time, start small; scaling comes later.

Updating an existing page yields faster results than creating a new one. Correct me if I'm wrong.

i'll try it. everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

taking nottes for two weeks yields better results than a six-month estimate... tbh correct me if Im wrong.

I felt relieved reading this answer so it's not just me. Taking notes for two weeks yields better results than a six-month estimate.

Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth. If you post the result here it will help others too.

You're right, I've been down that road too. If you get three different answers on a topic, the question was asked wrong.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

We got stuck at the same point for a while. The answer varies greatly by industry; there is no one-size-fits-all rule.

That's all, sorry if I went on too long.