3 Top SEO Tips for Startups

July 28th 2022 | By Emma Grant

Launching a new business? Join us as we explore three of the top SEO tips for startups to help you get a head start in your industry.

Any business that wants to grow, and has the potential to do so through online channels, is going to need SEO, or search engine optimisation. Without an SEO strategy in place, it’s going to be almost if not completely impossible to be found online. And if your customers can’t find you online, then where are those leads going to come from that will drive the sales you need for business growth?

This is all the more important for startup businesses. When you’re first finding your feet in the world of commerce, it’s a massive challenge to carve yourself a niche, build your brand and reputation and gain authority in your industry. Even harder to start rising above the competition.

Which is where SEO comes in. It’s all about getting you that foot into the search results, then building you up so that not only do you rank above the competition, you also become more ‘clickable’, so that you get more web traffic – relevant traffic – which equates to more leads.

When you think about it, with more than 70 per cent of search engine users most likely to choose one of the top five results, and 60 per cent destined to click on one of the top three, there’s no way that getting into these positions will ever happen by accident. It only happens because you’ve got an SEO strategy and content marketing plan in place.

So what are the best SEO tips for startups? Let’s take a look.

1. Don’t hang around

SEO is a competitive playground. The longer you wait to get started, the further ahead your competition will get, and the harder – and more expensive – it will be for you to catch up.

Waiting till ‘the right time’ is likely to do you more harm than good. SEO should be something you factor into your startup costs, rather than something that’s a nice to have luxury down the line.

It’s important to realise that organic SEO is a slow burn strategy that builds up over time. You need to be prepared to see things take shape and start to deliver results gradually. The great thing is, once you’ve achieved your rankings goals and got into those top positions that are driving traffic and leads, you can move to SEO maintenance to keep your search positions in place.

The longer you wait to get started with SEO, the further ahead your competition will get.

2. Mix SEO with PPC to gain a head start

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising drives traffic to a website through paid adverts. With the likes of Google Ads, you can target specific keywords and pay to make sure your business appears at the top of the search results. When someone clicks your link, you get charged.

Organic SEO is different, because you don’t pay when someone clicks on your link in the search results. But it’s not instant like PPC. It’s a long term strategy, but it gets 80 per cent of web traffic.

For startups that want to get ‘out there’ and fast, there is a case for combining both organic SEO for long term, value-added gain, and PPC for more instant results whilst the organic SEO is building. It’s one of the top SEO tips for startups because, as soon as a PPC campaign goes live, the ads start displaying in the search results and, providing they’re relevant and well-written, the traffic will start flowing in straight away.

This PPC/SEO tactic is widely used when launching a new business or product, or running seasonal campaigns or time-sensitive offers. It’s also a good strategy when you want to dominate your competitors in the search results for particular keywords.

3. Take time to plan your SEO strategy

The secret behind creating an effective SEO strategy lies in good planning. There are various elements you need to consider when working out how to plan a successful SEO strategy.

From keyword research to SEO competitor research, and from content planning to considering whether you need to rebuild your website for SEO, there is plenty to think about. Not least whether you’ve got the capacity, skills and knowhow to go down the DIY route and manage your own SEO campaign, or whether it’s best to take some time to choose the right SEO agency for your business.

Whatever route you take, it’s vital that you spend time in the planning stage so that you’ve got a roadmap to follow towards your goals, and KPIs in place so that you can measure your SEO return on investment.

SEO tips for startups? Talk to Figment!

If you’re just starting out with a new business, and could use some expert guidance getting a head start in the world of SEO, talk to Figment.

We’ve been working with all types of businesses since 2006, and have gained a string of awards and a proven track record of success. To learn more about our managed SEO campaigns, and to discover how we can help support your new business in achieving its goals, please do get in touch.