Getting your startup off the ground can be daunting. As a new business, you must build consumer trust, compete with established companies and do it all on a limited budget. That’s a tall order, but you can check every box with effective SEO for startups.

According to research, organic clicks account for 46.1% of search engine results page clicks. Professional search engine optimization boosts organic clicks, giving you a headstart on growing your business. Of course, to get the most out of your SEO, you need a tailored strategy.

Why Invest in SEO for Startups?

When launching a startup, visibility is a top concern. Marketing is essential to spreading the word about your brand, but it doesn’t come cheap. Paid advertising can quickly eat into your budget without offering the best return on investment.

SEO appeals to search engine algorithms for long-term viability at a fraction of the price. Essentially, SEO for startups lays the groundwork for future digital marketing success. Many SEO best practices also support other marketing strategies, such as brand and content marketing.

That said, SEO is a sizable time investment for enterprises with only a handful of employees. Understandably, some startup owners have questions about the practicality of this marketing strategy.

Do Startups Need SEO?

Yes, startups absolutely need SEO. New businesses need all the help they can get, and SEO offers a generous ROI for relatively little effort. Effective SEO for startups continuously expands your marketing reach, growing your visibility without constant input. Website optimization practices also ensure visitors have a positive experience, boosting their opinion of your brand and the likelihood of purchasing. Until reviews roll in, SEO can shoulder the work of creating a good first impression on customers.

Does SEO Really Work for Small Businesses?

Yes, well-planned SEO can work for small businesses. Boosting visibility is essential to building a customer base, as familiarity breeds trust. The more consumers see your business name, the greater their willingness to give your brand a try. Well-crafted content contributes to the perception of your company as an authority, which further cements trust. Keywords also allow you to target a specific audience, which is crucial in meeting your business goals.

How Can Startups Get Started With SEO?

Your first SEO campaign doesn’t need to be massive. SEO is highly scalable, which means you can build out as your business grows and goals change. For now, focus on establishing a solid foundation with these four steps.

1. Create Goals

Knowing your goals is the most important step in creating SEO for startups. After all, you can’t hit a bullseye if you can’t see the target.

Objectives should be specific and actionable. Goals such as “grow a big customer base” are difficult to measure, making it impossible to know if you’ve made progress. “Increase purchases by 50%” is a better goal because you can easily see if you’ve achieved it by reviewing metrics.

What metrics can you use to measure SEO? There are dozens, which is great when you have multiple marketing efforts working in tandem. For now, limit your scope to the most important key performance indicators for startup SEO:

• Organic Traffic: How many visitors organically reach your page from a search engine results page
• Keyword Search Ranking: How your webpage ranks for your target keywords (first, fifth, 20th, etc.)
• Average Session Duration: Average amount of time a visitor spends on your website
• Conversion, Bounce and Click-Through Rates: Percentage of visitors who take meaningful action on your website, leave the site immediately or click on a SERP link, respectively
• Number of Backlinks: How many links back to your website appear on third-party webpages

SEO for startups should include short- and long-term goals. The specifics depend on your business objectives. For instance, if you want to improve brand recognition, you may focus on boosting the number of backlinks and your keyword search ranking. If you prioritize generating leads, you may devote more energy toward improving the click-through and conversion rates. Note that none of the above KPIs are mutually exclusive — success in one generally promotes success in the others.

2. Research Keywords

While we’ve listed researching keywords as the second step, you’ll likely tackle it and goal-setting at the same time. After all, you can’t set objectives for keyword search rankings if you don’t know which phrases you’re trying to rank for. You also need context to make realistic goals for other metrics.

The good news is that you can find plenty of free tools to help you generate keyword lists. You don’t need dozens of keywords — in fact, less is more when it comes to SEO for startups. “Keyword stuffing” (putting a ton of keywords on a single page) negatively impacts your rankings. Instead, shoot for three or four phrases relevant to the page topic.

How do you know which keywords work the best for your goals? There are two great ways to find out: researching your competition’s SEO and understanding your target audience.

SEO competitor analysis allows you to learn from the successes and failures of other companies sharing your market space. For best results, choose competitors of a similar size offering related services. Take a look at the following data to inform your own SEO strategy:

• Most effective keywords
• Sources of traffic
• Featured snippets
• Website architecture

Modeling your content after successful competitors is a great approach, but you should also look for gaps in their content. Filling these gaps gives you access to a new audience with less competition.

Speaking of audiences, developing a target audience profile is vital to writing effective SEO for startups. You must understand customers’ motivations and demographics to create an appealing brand voice. The following methodologies are excellent ways to research your target audience:

• Review insights from your social media
• Survey customers who purchased similar goods and services
• Research demographics who search your chosen keywords

3. Audit Regularly

SEO is a long game, so you won’t see results right away. Most businesses see KPI improvement within 3 to 6 months, but it can take up to a year. Once you have enough data, you should schedule an SEO audit to determine the effectiveness of your campaign.

Auditing reveals areas of weakness you can improve upon. It also exposes algorithm changes, which happen often and without warning. Auditing SEO at least once annually is critical for aligning your campaign with best practices.

When auditing SEO for startups, consider using one of the many tools available. These crawl websites and flag index issues, gauge keyword performance and other factors, then produce concise analysis to help you pinpoint your site’s weaknesses.

For example, your audits will reveal underperforming webpages, giving you a chance to revamp them. In addition to updating keywords, you’ll also have the opportunity to incorporate new industry information and capitalize on virtual trends. Visitors notice when landing pages reference the latest news, situating you as experts and on the cutting edge of your industry.

Content isn’t the only thing you need to review — audits also reveal technical issues. SEO for startups only works if users have a smooth experience once they reach your website, so it’s crucial to test for the following:

• Effective web design
• Long loading times
• Mobile-friendliness

Remember, SEO is an ongoing project, so you’ll need to continually refresh landing pages as algorithms and goals change. Think of these as opportunities to improve your digital marketing strategy.

4. Build Backlinks

Search engine algorithms crawl webpages for keywords, but content quality is also a priority. To gauge the value of a webpage, search engines count backlinks. Fortunately, SEO best practices support link building.

The number one way to build backlinks is to produce high-quality content. Webpages should have a confident voice and provide accurate information, preferably with linked, verifiable sources.

Blogs are an excellent way to build links, as they allow you to address a broader range of topics than landing pages. For example, if you offer landscaping services, you can post blogs about related subjects, such as preparing trees for winter, signs of tree disease and the most low-maintenance tree species. These posts can also utilize a wider variety of SEO for startups, as you can target consumers in the research portion of their purchasing journey.

In addition, your blogs are an excellent branding opportunity. You can relax your professional voice slightly, allowing more personality to come through your content. Consider what readers will find valuable and focus on providing it — educational and entertaining content are two popular approaches.

Once you post a blog, share it on social media. A number of platforms make it easy to reach a wide audience, and followers will spread well-made content. Social media shares also create more opportunities for your links to appear on SERPs, which you can exploit by incorporating keywords into your posts.

Where Can You Find Help With SEO for Startups?

BKA Content provides high-quality SEO for startups, including monthly plans to keep your website fresh. Our experts tailor content to your specific needs for a notably effective campaign and monitor keyword traction to keep pages optimized. We even provide link building services. Take a look at our affordable SEO plan options for more information.