Why a placement needs six months to be judged
Three months build, three months measure. A profile only reads as current once the three month window that 74 percent of consumers look at contains activity, so months one to three are the ramp and months four to six are the first measurable period. A shorter term measures the ramp and calls it the result.
Why the first three months cannot be judged
A new entry starts as an unsupported statement. Nothing agrees with it yet, so nothing that checks agreement has anything to check. That is not a delay in processing, it is the absence of the thing being measured.
Recency compounds it. 74 percent of consumers look for reviews from the last three months and 44 percent at the last month, so a profile without recent activity reads as dormant even when it is complete.
At 3 reviews a month the three month window holds 9. That is the point at which the profile stops looking new, and it arrives at the end of month three by arithmetic rather than by opinion.
Which is why a two month trial answers a question nobody asked. It measures the ramp, reports it as the result, and the business concludes there was no demand.
What the second three months are for
Measurement. From month four you have a rate that can be compared against your break even, which is the monthly investment divided by the value of one enquiry.
At 250 euros a month and an enquiry worth 300 euros, that break even is 0.83 enquiries a month, so the six month term costs 1,500 euros and needs 5 enquiries across it. At an enquiry worth 60 euros the same term needs 25.
Count them yourself from month one regardless. A sheet with date, channel, outcome and value costs 10 minutes to set up and about 30 seconds per enquiry, and without it the end of the term is a discussion rather than a decision.
| Period | What happens | What to measure |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Nothing visible | Set up the counting |
| Month 2 | First enquiries mentioning the source | Enquiries by channel |
| Month 3 | Profile reads as current | Whether sources agree |
| Months 4 to 6 | A comparable rate | Enquiries against break even |
What to agree before signing
What gets counted, by whom, and what number would mean not renewing. All three are easier to agree in advance than in month six.
And agree that impressions are not the measure. An impression cannot be multiplied by a closing rate, so it cannot be converted into the only unit that compares: euros.
Put both in writing, in two sentences. What was agreed verbally is remembered differently by both sides after six months, and that is exactly the moment when the numbers should be doing the deciding.
Questions and answers
Why not a three month term?
How many enquiries should the term produce?
What if it clearly fails in month two?
What should be counted?
Sources
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 The recency window and the six source average
- Seer Interactive, AI traffic conversion study Closing rates by source for the value calculation
