How long until links kick in?

[Malarowski]

Hey,

We just got a bunch of great links on sites like TechCrunch and similar, but our SERP rankings and related remained unaffected. How long does it generally take for such links to "kick in" and help the website?

[jotham2]

At 10:07pm tonight.  Check then and you'll be first on SERP.

Obviously kidding, I have no certain idea just like the first two responses.  Consider some of the other factors - sites that re-post the TechCrunch article, number of shares you get on Twitter, whether or not any of the linking sites get "news" status from Google. It's like studying an elementary particle... one thing in theory but they don't exist in isolation long enough to be sure in our reverse engineering of Google's thinking.      With a surge of links from reputable sites, I'd expect a surge in rankings on some keywords within a couple days, with longer status near top if you continue to get referenced/links and a return to lower results if you don't.

[JerDoggMckoy]

I would first ask if the links you have obtained have been indexed yet by Google. Being on TechCrunch, I assume they have already been indexed. I have read here at SEOMoz that Google takes into account how long a link has been around. But that could be controversial, especially when Google is taking into account breaking news ranking algorithms such as what is hot on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Another thought is whether or not your site has been continuously getting "a bunch of links" and that is your sites typical MO, but if not, Google might not like the big rush of links and have raised some flags about the sudden boost. To answer your question, no, I don't have an answer. But those are some things to think about while you troubleshoot the situation.

[PaulRogers]

I find that this is completely variable and it varies from link to link.

Often, you will see a slight improvement in the short-term and then the website will continue to improve over time.

I have built a number of great links to sites in the past and it's been a couple of months before I've seen movement, but I've also seen a site move up considerably within 24 hours - there's no real way to tell how long it will take.