There is no doubt that to begin a marketing startup, you need a proper SEO strategy. However, developing a powerful startup SEO strategy can be rather difficult, especially when you don’t know what the pitfalls of startup SEO look like.
Recent research shows that less than 10% of internet users make it to the third page on Google – so if you want your startup to be seen and found, you need to get on the first two pages.
Let’s unravel how a nascent enterprise can deal with impediments, exploit SEO to the fullest, and make its brand recognizable.
When Startups Need SEO and When They Don’t
Balancing when to concentrate on startup SEO can be a bit tricky. It’s not all about improving the appearance of your website on search engines. You should look for that ‘goldilocks’ zone, when SEO contributes to the growth of your business and doesn’t become the only strategy you depend on.
When Startups Need SEO:
- Long-term goals. Businesses with long-term plans and targets should consider SEO, as it requires time to bring meaningful results.
- Limited marketing budget. Limited-budget startups can take advantage of SEO, as it is an affordable method of attracting new customers and increasing visibility in search.
- Online business. SEO is essential to startups that operate through their online sites to get to the top of the search results, outperform competitors, and bring in users.
- App-based business. App Store Optimization (ASO) is for startups that develop apps to increase their visibility in app stores and organic downloads.
- Huge organic potential. SEO can lift a startup to a new performance level by attracting free users from the organic search results and growing high-quality organic traffic.
When Startups Don’t Need SEO:
- Testing an idea. Startups that only require testing an idea or project before coming up with a long-term strategy may not be a good fit for SEO.
- Quick results. Startups that need rapid improvements within a couple of weeks or a couple of months won’t benefit from SEO.
- Market complexities. Startups that don’t understand the niche, the market, or the purpose of their customers may not be able to make full use of SEO.
- New market. In such cases, startups in a new market with no search queries may have to leverage other channels for awareness before focusing on SEO.
Sculpting your Startup SEO Strategy
Your SEO plan for a startup requires a deep understanding of your company’s objectives, thorough keyword research, creation of quality content, establishment of a strong backlink profile, and making your website as user-friendly as possible.
1. Defining Goals and Planning SEO
Any effective SEO for startups begins with defining clear goals. If increasing organic traffic is a priority, focus on attracting more visitors to your website. This will open up more opportunities to convert them into prospects and customers. Emphasizing on driving relevant traffic helps to maximize transactional sales. Don’t undermine the power of brand awareness – make sure your startup is visible, ranks high on branded keyword searches, maintains a reputable image, and is able to find investors.
Try to brainstorm all the uses for your product. Who are your potential users? You might want to target different users with specific needs, as it makes sense to SEO-optimize your landing pages for specific problems instead of just offering solutions.
2. Keyword Research
Simply because your product exists doesn’t mean users will search for it. Understanding the language of your target audience will help you penetrate the market more effectively. Manual browsing of words that can be associated with your business and picking up Google’s autocomplete suggestions is the simplest way to find your target keywords. However, this approach is time-consuming and inaccurate. Use basic tools like Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends to create a keyword list with primary data on those keywords.
For deeper research, use a professional keyword research tool that offers data-backed lists of keywords: similar by meaning, related to your niche, question-based, and low-volume ones. Pay particular attention to such metrics as search volume, difficulty, competition, and search intent. Ask yourself how your potential users could search depending on where they currently are in the funnel.
For example, users will search for solutions to their problems at the top of the funnel but might search for a specific brand and pricing the closer they are to the bottom of it. Where in the funnel is your ideal user, and what are they searching for?
However, be mindful of your startup SEO budget and timeline – competing for popular keywords can be expensive and time-consuming.
3. Building Quality Content
Content and link building are the two main signals used by Google to decide on the ranking of your site in the search results. Relevant, properly structured content ensures a higher rating of your startup in search results, thus adding to the online influence of your brand.
Evaluate content that is proper for each visit of the search funnel. You are targeting specific customers – and so should the appropriate content. For instance, if your customer is searching for the price of a certain brand, a long and detailed article may not be of great help. Determine the most appropriate content for your audience regardless of their level.
Think about the particular actions you need from people visiting your website at either the ToFu, MoFu, or BoFu level. If they are in the ToFu stage, you may want to encourage them to read on. If they are at the BoFu level, they could be looking to try or buy. Create funnel-specific calls-to-action (CTAs) that will direct your visitors to buy and track the progress at every stage.
4. Creating a Backlink Profile
Startups need backlinks because they instill authority and credibility in their sector. There are many strategies to get high-quality backlinks. However, creativity in your link building strategy will put your SEO for startups at an advantage.
| Link-Building Strategies | Benefits | Considerations |
| Guest Blogging | Expand reach and earn high-quality backlinks | Ensure content is valuable and relevant to the host website’s audience |
| Joining Forums | Engage with the community, build your reputation, and earn backlinks | Actively participate and provide useful insights. Don’t spam with links |
| Business Directory Submissions | Improve local visibility and earn authoritative backlinks | Choose reliable directories specific to your niche |
| Brand Promotion | Boost brand awareness, improve online reputation, and achieve backlinks | Coordinate with influencers, press releases, and digital PR strategies |
Don’t forget that when building backlinks, quality is more vital than quantity. Do not use risky tactics, or else you’ll get Google penalties, and concentrate on obtaining links from relevant and respectable sources.
5. User-Friendly Website
Your website is the face of your business online. Effective SEO for startups should offer a stellar experience to users and be easily crawlable by search engine bots.
Ensure easy navigation, quick load times, and a mobile-friendly design. Consider Core Web Vitals, a new set of metrics from Google. They look at how your site loads speed-wise, its interactivity, and visual stability, and they can affect your rankings.
6. Mastering the Tech Aspects
Technical SEO ensures that search engine crawlers can navigate through your site easily, and that’s what separates you from ranking on page one and being lost.
This will have an immense impact on the overall attraction of your site from digital crawlers if you evaluate parameters like site speed, mobile-friendliness, security, and sitemap configurations. For example, by properly optimizing your robots.txt files and developing intuitive XML sitemaps, you enable search engine spiders to understand the nature of your site, thus ensuring more accurate crawling and indexing.
Besides, an important aspect of technical SEO is regularly auditing your website for potential SEO errors, such as dead or broken links and duplicate content.
7. Tracking SEO Results
Analyze your startup SEO activities to know how far you’ve come so that you can make any necessary changes in your strategy. Analyze organic traffic growth, changes in keyword rankings, and the quality of your link profile. Don’t only concentrate on rankings, always link SEO enhancements to broader startup objectives like quality traffic, conversions, and revenue.
Summary
SEO is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and each startup needs to adjust based on its requirements and timeframes. However, all online businesses can benefit greatly from SEO for startups, but it depends on your long-term goals, objectives, and resources.
Establishing an SEO strategy can give you a sustainable growth rate over time and a competitive edge. Nevertheless, bear in mind that SEO for startups is a marathon, not a sprint, and can affect your company’s growth on the competitive battlefield.
