The honest answer is three to six months for visible movement on most sites. Competitive keywords can take a year or longer. Anyone who promises page one in 30 days is selling you something.
What makes it faster or slower
Site age matters. An established site with some authority moves faster than a brand-new domain. Competition matters more. Ranking a clinic in a small town is much easier than ranking for a national keyword.
Your starting point counts too. If a technical problem is holding you back, fixing it can bring results in weeks. I've seen that happen, though I wouldn't call it normal.
What a typical timeline looks like
In the first month or two, I'm auditing, fixing technical issues and planning pages. Months three and four are about content and early links, and long-tail keywords often start to move. After six months you should see real leads, if the keywords were chosen properly.
When to worry
If nothing has moved after six months and your SEO person can't explain why, ask harder questions. SEO takes time, but "be patient" shouldn't be the whole report.
Written by Aman Potlia.