Search engine optimization can be very intimidating for any business. The task of SEO gets more complicated for a small-scale company or startups. You need to keep rolling on things fast before your funds and investments weed out.
That’s the reason why log of startups and small scale companies take up negative SEO practice and regret later. They either hire an SEO agency or a freelancer who hardly have knowledge about the entire SEO process.
Google has released several algorithms to curb down negative SEO practice.
Hence, one cannot get a better ranking and position on Google by following a
black hat or negative SEO practice.
Hence, in this blog post, I’ll take you through various aspects on how startups can take their SEO game to the level of awesomeness.
Following are the points discussed comprehensively in this guide:
- What is SEO?
- Why SEO is important for startups?
- What makes SEO for startups different from regular SEO?
- How to search engines work?
- Building an SEO friendly website
- SEO content
- Tips for automating SEO process
What is SEO?
SEO or search engine optimization is the process of optimizing a website in order to improve its ranking and position on Google’s SERP or search engine result pages.
Implementing SEO can help business in getting better rankings on organic listings which occurs without paying a penny to Google.
Generally, SEO involves three important aspects:
On-page SEO;
On-page SEO refers to the activities that are done within the sections of the website to better optimize it for search engine bots. On-page SEO activities include title, heading, meta, URLs, image and website content optimization.
Off-page SEO;
Off-page SEO is a type of SEO done in order to increase the visibility and credibility of the website on the internet. Off-page SEO has a 60% role in improving the websites ranking on SERP.
Off-page SEO activities include Guest posting, blogger outreach, article submission, profile creation and a lot more.
Technical SEO;
Technical SEO refers to making your website more crawlable, search engine and user friendly. Technical SEO elements include speed optimization, site structure, website security, responsive website design, site auditing and a lot more.
Technical SEO has 20% role in improving the ranking of a site.
Why SEO is important for startups?
90% of the startup fails and there can be multiple reasons for it. Poor marketing strategy is one of the reasons for the falling of most startups across the globe.
So, if you are nothing having a proper marketing strategy, then your startup is bound to fail. And when it comes to marketing, SEO is the thing that startups need to focus on.
Here’s the thing:
Google is the biggest search engine in the world. It has more than 90% market share in search and billions of searches take place on Google every day. Hence, it is a good source of driving free traffic to the business website.
With the help of SEO, you can drive tons of traffic to your site at free of cost.
The organic result on the top spot of SERP gets 33% of click and more than 90% of total traffic for a particular keyword.
That’s why every startup company must focus on SEO during the initial days of their business.
Apart from getting free traffic, SEO can also help startups in improving brand visibility, business credibility, conversions, sales and earning Google’s trust and lot more.
What makes SEO for startups different from regular SEO?
There is no difference between SEO for startups and regular enterprise SEO. Google does not care whether you are a small scale startup company or a large multination organization with 1000+ employees.
What Google actually care about is giving relevant results to its users for the query they are looking for.
As long as you are offering great content to internet users, Google will love you.
An important point to note over here is that startups struggle to scale their SEO efforts. This may be due to a lack of proper resources, investment, team, budget and many other things.
However, with the right strategy, effort and smart work, startups can surely take their SEO game to the level of awesomeness
Search engine optimization can be very intimidating for any business. The task of SEO gets more complicated for a small-scale company or startups. You need to keep rolling on things fast before your funds and investments weed out.
That’s the reason why log of startups and small scale companies take up negative SEO practice and regret later. They either hire an SEO agency or a freelancer who hardly have knowledge about the entire SEO process.
Google has released several algorithms to curb down negative SEO practice.
Hence, one cannot get a better ranking and position on Google by following a
black hat or negative SEO practice.
Hence, in this blog post, I’ll take you through various aspects on how startups can take their SEO game to the level of awesomeness.
Following are the points discussed comprehensively in this guide:
What is SEO?
Why SEO is important for startups?
What makes SEO for startups different from regular SEO?
How to search engines work?
Building an SEO friendly website
SEO content
Tips for automating SEO process
What is SEO?
SEO or search engine optimization is the process of optimizing a website in order to improve its ranking and position on Google’s SERP or search engine result pages.
Implementing SEO can help business in getting better rankings on organic listings which occurs without paying a penny to Google.
Generally, SEO involves three important aspects:
On-page SEO;
On-page SEO refers to the activities that are done within the sections of the website to better optimize it for search engine bots. On-page SEO activities include title, heading, meta, URLs, image and website content optimization.
Off-page SEO;
Off-page SEO is a type of SEO done in order to increase the visibility and credibility of the website on the internet. Off-page SEO has a 60% role in improving the websites ranking on SERP.
Off-page SEO activities include Guest posting, blogger outreach, article submission, profile creation and a lot more.
Technical SEO;
Technical SEO refers to making your website more crawlable, search engine and user friendly. Technical SEO elements include speed optimization, site structure, website security, responsive website design, site auditing and a lot more.
Technical SEO has 20% role in improving the ranking of a site.
Why SEO is important for startups?
90% of the startup fails and there can be multiple reasons for it. Poor marketing strategy is one of the reasons for the falling of most startups across the globe.
So, if you are nothing having a proper marketing strategy, then your startup is bound to fail. And when it comes to marketing, SEO is the thing that startups need to focus on.
Here’s the thing:
Google is the biggest search engine in the world. It has more than 90% market share in search and billions of searches take place on Google every day. Hence, it is a good source of driving free traffic to the business website.
With the help of SEO, you can drive tons of traffic to your site at free of cost.
The organic result on the top spot of SERP gets 33% of click and more than 90% of total traffic for a particular keyword.
That’s why every startup company must focus on SEO during the initial days of their business.
Apart from getting free traffic, SEO can also help startups in improving brand visibility, business credibility, conversions, sales and earning Google’s trust and lot more.
What makes SEO for startups different from regular SEO?
There is no difference between SEO for startups and regular enterprise SEO. Google does not care whether you are a small scale startup company or a large multination organization with 1000+ employees.
What Google actually care about is giving relevant results to its users for the query they are looking for.
As long as you are offering great content to internet users, Google will love you.
An important point to note over here is that startups struggle to scale their SEO efforts. This may be due to a lack of proper resources, investment, team, budget and many other things.
However, with the right strategy, effort and smart work, startups can surely take their SEO game to the level of awesomeness
What do search engines looking for?
Search engine like Google has gradually evolved since its inception.
This is how Google SERP used to look like in the early 2000s
There was no featured snippet, Google local’s listing, no ads, knowledge graph and so on. In short, the SERP was less competitive and websites used to get easily ranked on Google with less SEO efforts.
Today, the SERP has completely changed and become more competitive.
The features of today’s SERP includes featured snippets, people also ask section, paid ads, local listings and organic listing. It means getting on Google has become difficult.
However, you can still get good rankings on Google if you know what Google is actually looking for?
Here’s the following that Google bot actually looks at in a website to determine its ranking and positioning on SERP.
Accessibility of web-pages.
Quality of content.
Website speed and security.
Engagement.
Level of optimization.
If your SEO strategy includes all these elements then no one can stop you from getting a better ranking on Google.
How does a search engine determine all these things?
Search engines like Google have created several algorithms that help them in determining which result is the best fit for the user query. Accordingly, it ranks the web-pages on the SERP results.
In general, it is next to impossible for anyone to get familiar with all the Google updates. Still one can focus on certain things that remain constant for Google to consider whether a web-page is suitable for better ranking or not.
So here are those things that remain constant and which you need to focus on:
Keywords
One of the very first thing that Google checks on a website is the keywords. Keywords are nothing but a search query that users types on the search box and look for information around it.
If you want to win the game of SEO, then you need to target and place your keywords smartly.
When it comes to keywords targeting, focus more on long-tail keywords with 3-5 words in them.
Long-tail keywords are less competitive, have decent search volume and highly conversational in nature.
Once you have decided which keywords to target, then you need to place your keywords in title, meta, URLs., heading, image alt tags and through the content in a natural manner.
Following are the examples of long tail keywords:
Best bote kayak reviews 2022
Best bote paddle board for 2022
Best yoga paddle board for 2022
Best kayak for stand up fishing
Links
Links are the top most ranking factor that Google takes into consideration.
Image credit:
No matter how many changes does Google makes in its algorithm, backlinks will always be its top ranking factor. Hence, you need to start creating backlinks from the initial days.
When it comes to creating backlinks, focus more on creating contextual backlinks from high DA-PA website. Avoid spammy links or links from low authority websites.
Speed
The next in this list is speed.
Whether you agree or not, but website speed has now a ranking factor for Google. This means if your site is not loading under 3 seconds then Google will place a small penalty on it.
Hence, focus on increasing the speed of your site, so that you can get good rankings on Google.
Website security
Next to website speed, website security is also a ranking factor that Google takes into consideration. In the early 2000s, only e-commerce sites used to leverage SSL certificates which provide a safe environment for users to make an online payment or to do a monetary transaction.
In 2021, website security and SSL certificate is a must for all websites if they want better rankings.
Hence, make sure that you have enabled an SSL certificate on your website.
Apart from better rankings, an SSL certificate will also help in winning over the trust of site visitors.
Ux signals
In the coming years, page experience will also become a crucial ranking factor and Google has already made it clear.
Google is focusing on giving the best experience to its users. Today, you’ll hardly find any website on top of Google with poor design, site architecture and look and feel.
Hence, you need to take care of your page-level experience by creating a good website design, architecture, UX and UI.
How startups can make SEO friendly website?
Now that you might have understood how SEO works and why is it important for your business to survive in the market. Now let us understand how you create the best SEO site for your startup company.
Here are the factors that you need to look into:
Hosting
The very first thing that will come into your while creating a website is which hosting should you opt for?
There are tons of hosting companies out there in the market. Hence, you need to be cautious while selecting the right hosting plan for you. I already mentioned that website speed is a ranking factor.
So, need to select the best hosting plan depending upon your need.
Whatever web-hosting service you choose, make sure it includes the following things:
Free SSL certificate.
Good bandwidth and storage
24*7 support.
Free email accounts.
Free site migration process.
C-panel.
Coding
The other important factor that determines the performance of your site is coding. From how search engines access your site to how fast your site is loading, coding decides everything.
Clean, fast and simply written codes are of utmost importance for exceptional website performance. If you are using a CMS like WordPress or any other, then make sure to select a lightweight theme for your site.
Even if you opt heavy theme with tons of code, then make sure to optimize it regularly.
What do search engines looking for?
Search engine like Google has gradually evolved since its inception.
This is how Google SERP used to look like in the early 2000s
There was no featured snippet, Google local’s listing, no ads, knowledge graph and so on. In short, the SERP was less competitive and websites used to get easily ranked on Google with less SEO efforts.
Today, the SERP has completely changed and become more competitive.
The features of today’s SERP includes featured snippets, people also ask section, paid ads, local listings and organic listing. It means getting on Google has become difficult.
However, you can still get good rankings on Google if you know what Google is actually looking for?
Here’s the following that Google bot actually looks at in a website to determine its ranking and positioning on SERP.
- Accessibility of web-pages.
- Quality of content.
- Website speed and security.
- Engagement.
- Level of optimization.
If your SEO strategy includes all these elements then no one can stop you from getting a better ranking on Google.
How does a search engine determine all these things?
Search engines like Google have created several algorithms that help them in determining which result is the best fit for the user query. Accordingly, it ranks the web-pages on the SERP results.
In general, it is next to impossible for anyone to get familiar with all the Google updates. Still one can focus on certain things that remain constant for Google to consider whether a web-page is suitable for better ranking or not.
So here are those things that remain constant and which you need to focus on:
- Keywords
One of the very first thing that Google checks on a website is the keywords. Keywords are nothing but a search query that users types on the search box and look for information around it.
If you want to win the game of SEO, then you need to target and place your keywords smartly.
When it comes to keywords targeting, focus more on long-tail keywords with 3-5 words in them.
Long-tail keywords are less competitive, have decent search volume and highly conversational in nature.
Once you have decided which keywords to target, then you need to place your keywords in title, meta, URLs., heading, image alt tags and through the content in a natural manner.
Following are the examples of long tail keywords:
- Best bote kayak reviews 2022
- Best bote paddle board for 2022
- Best yoga paddle board for 2022
- Best kayak for stand up fishing
- Links
Links are the top most ranking factor that Google takes into consideration.
No matter how many changes does Google makes in its algorithm, backlinks will always be its top ranking factor. Hence, you need to start creating backlinks from the initial days.
When it comes to creating backlinks, focus more on creating contextual backlinks from high DA-PA website. Avoid spammy links or links from low authority websites.
- Speed
The next in this list is speed.
Whether you agree or not, but website speed has now a ranking factor for Google. This means if your site is not loading under 3 seconds then Google will place a small penalty on it.
Hence, focus on increasing the speed of your site, so that you can get good rankings on Google.
- Website security
Next to website speed, website security is also a ranking factor that Google takes into consideration. In the early 2000s, only e-commerce sites used to leverage SSL certificates which provide a safe environment for users to make an online payment or to do a monetary transaction.
In 2021, website security and SSL certificate is a must for all websites if they want better rankings.
Hence, make sure that you have enabled an SSL certificate on your website.
Apart from better rankings, an SSL certificate will also help in winning over the trust of site visitors.
- Ux signals
In the coming years, page experience will also become a crucial ranking factor and Google has already made it clear.
Google is focusing on giving the best experience to its users. Today, you’ll hardly find any website on top of Google with poor design, site architecture and look and feel.
Hence, you need to take care of your page-level experience by creating a good website design, architecture, UX and UI.
How startups can make SEO friendly website?
Now that you might have understood how SEO works and why is it important for your business to survive in the market. Now let us understand how you create the best SEO site for your startup company.
Here are the factors that you need to look into:
- Hosting
The very first thing that will come into your while creating a website is which hosting should you opt for?
There are tons of hosting companies out there in the market. Hence, you need to be cautious while selecting the right hosting plan for you. I already mentioned that website speed is a ranking factor.
So, need to select the best hosting plan depending upon your need.
Whatever web-hosting service you choose, make sure it includes the following things:
- Free SSL certificate.
- Good bandwidth and storage
- 24*7 support.
- Free email accounts.
- Free site migration process.
- C-panel.
- Coding
The other important factor that determines the performance of your site is coding. From how search engines access your site to how fast your site is loading, coding decides everything.
Clean, fast and simply written codes are of utmost importance for exceptional website performance. If you are using a CMS like WordPress or any other, then make sure to select a lightweight theme for your site.
Even if you opt heavy theme with tons of code, then make sure to optimize it regularly.