My site has been up for 6 weeks now and while it is listed, from most searches it isn't on the first page, with some search showing it 5-8 pages down. How long does it normally take?

Note: I am google-analytics and have put my url out there along with using sites to analyze for SEO optimization. My site gets about 250 unique per day, around 9500 page views per day, 30+ pageviews per user, and 30+ minutes on site per visitor, and 65% of visitors are repeats.

Based on that, shouldn't I be moving up fast?

Depends on the keywors you want rank for. Typically, the more competitive your keywords are, the longer it will take to go on top.
Anther factor is backlinks, more quality backlinks will help you rank faster.

It depends on the keywords, their competition and your niche market. If you are dealing in very competitive market it will take more time to rank on first pages however as your analytics result says, you are moving on right way. The current statistics you have shared are quite impressive. So just wait for some time, you will get it

It depends on a lot of things: how hard you work and what your keywords you have and what is the site content.

during my first month i reached 1st page second overall for a highly competitive keyword then it stayed like 1 week after that it went to page 3. this is now my 3rd month and i am happy for the result that im getting though its not first page for the main keyword but other keywords makes my web traffic

I used to promote my SEO blog with one keyword and I got first page position in 3 months.

Really depends on how much work you put into it and backlinks you make. Google likes good quality backlinks, have tons of them and you are a step in the right direction.

I agree with you.Keyword ranking depends on lots of things ,one is competition,if keyword competition will though it's difficult to push in first page.Always try to take low competitive keyword.

well agree with most of you .. keyword is important .. remember the competent keyword is hard to crack

With, say 20 choices, how do you decide which to go for? I know I can get the list and counts for different keywords, but even then they may not be 100% inclusive of the search strings people would use to find my site.

Also, I have looked at my competition and even if I have the exact search string in my meta description and my title, sites that don't still get ranked higher. I know part of it is that they are far more established, but how long does it typically take google and other search engines to essentially give your site some respect? :-)

Do you have any favorite sites you go to for seo analysis and site worth evaluations?

Note: I am google-analytics and have put my url out there along with using sites to analyze for SEO optimization. My site gets about 250 unique per day, around 9500 page views per day, 30+ pageviews per user, and 30+ minutes on site per visitor, and 65% of visitors are repeats.

Based on that, shouldn't I be moving up fast?

No!

Because NONE of that has anything to do with "ranking"

but how long does it typically take google and other search engines to essentially give your site some respect?

Anywhere between a few months and never!.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

No!

Because NONE of that has anything to do with "ranking"

I know it may not be the main factor, but are you saying it plays no role in ranking at all? What would you say are the top 5 factors, or is there a link on the site that lists them? Thanks.

How can traffic atats play ANY part in SE algos??

Do YOU makes all your traffic numbers available to them??

Well, you have to build quality back links more so that it would be on the first position.