When it comes to SEO for startups, thinking outside the box and approaching things differently than established, big-company SEO is crucial. This is particularly true for bootstrapped startup founders who recognize the immense potential of SEO as a powerful growth channel early on. The sooner they start investing in SEO, the better.
In this article, we'll discuss the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for startups. We’ll also show you how BriefBid, a small team with a limited content marketing budget, successfully outranked massive competitors like Hootsuite and HubSpot on competitive target keywords through smart SEO practices.
Why SEO is a smart bet for startups
SEO stands out for its measurability and predictability, letting startups see exactly how their efforts translate into traffic and leads. Unlike paid ads, SEO's benefits grow over time, with content continuing to drive traffic long after it's published. Plus, SEO-generated leads are often more likely to convert because users trust search results, especially when they see startups competing with big names.
Most crucially, SEO helps startups build a strong competitive advantage, or "moat." Once they rank high on Google, it's tough for competitors to knock them off, securing their market position. While SEO requires patience and effort, the long-term rewards make it a smart investment for any startup looking to grow and stay ahead.
BriefBid startup
At their first startup, BriefBid, the founders were a small team with a limited content marketing budget. Yet, through smart SEO practices, they managed to outperform massive competitors like Hootsuite and HubSpot on some of the most competitive target keywords. They did this not by trying to beat them at their own game, but by reframing the entire game.
They employed a similar approach at DeckLinks, quickly ranking on the first page for terms like "how to use Chat GPT for sales," despite having no affiliation with Chat GPT. They simply tapped into the surrounding interests of their sales rep audience.
The most amazing part? Despite not publishing any new content on BriefBid since 2021, they still received over 14,000 organic visits to that old content last year alone. The SEO moat they built years ago continues to work its magic.
The biggest mindset shift for successful startup SEO is realizing that it's not about the product – it's about the customers and what they're searching for. SEO is 100% focused on tapping into the search intent of the startup's ideal customer profile (ICP).
Instead of creating content around what the product does, startups need to deeply understand the problems, questions, and topics their ICP is already Googling.
BriefBid discovered that junior media buyers frequently sought definitions of industry-specific terms such as "TRP" and "GRP". In response, the company created a thorough glossary of articles explaining these acronyms to improve their search engine rankings for relevant keywords.
They can utilize free tools and resources like Reddit communities, the "People Also Ask" section on Google, and keyword research tools to gain insight into what their ICP cares about. The goal is to create dense content clusters around those topics and relevant keywords to build topical authority.
By nailing this audience-first approach, startups can attract their ICP through the top of the funnel when they're just doing research, nurturing them towards becoming customers organically.
How SEO efforts can help you build a startup moat
As a bootstrapped startup founder, it is hard to overemphasize the importance of implementing SEO strategies early on. While Search Engine Optimization may seem like just another marketing tactic, for bootstrapped startups, it creates an incredibly effective moat against competitors, especially newcomers. Here are the top reasons why startups should invest in SEO from day one:
- Dominating a niche
When executed thoughtfully with a long-term vision, SEO can help startups utterly dominate a specific niche or target keyword category in search engine results. By optimizing for search engines (specifically Google) early, startups can get ahead while their competitors are still finding their feet. This first-mover advantage in SEO lays the groundwork for long-term search visibility and brand recognition that even well-funded latecomers will struggle to replicate. By strategically creating content clusters and building authority around specific topics, startups can effectively "own" that niche and block out any future upstart competitors, creating the ultimate defensive moat.
- Compounding search rankings
Unlike paid advertising, the SEO efforts put in today will keep driving organic traffic to a startup's website far into the future. With the right technical SEO, quality content creation tailored to search intent and the target audience, and strategic link building, startups can secure top positions in search results over the long run. Even industry incumbents will find it extremely challenging to displace a startup's strong search rankings. Every new blog post, technical optimization, and high-authority backlink contributes to a self-perpetuating cycle of improved search visibility and organic traffic growth. The more high-quality content produced around a certain topic, the stronger the topical authority becomes, making it easier to rank for more specific keywords without worrying much about keyword difficulty.
- Amplifying marketing channels
While paid advertising drives quick wins that stop once spending is cut, search engine visibility amplifies the impact of all other marketing channels like content marketing, social media marketing, and influencer marketing for more cost-effective growth.
- Attracting high-intent leads
The beauty of capturing organic search traffic is that potential customers come prequalified with a specific intent in mind. They're not just browsing aimlessly, but actively looking to solve a pain point the startup can address. This high buying intent makes a startup SEO strategy an incredibly efficient and cost-effective lead generation engine.
- Maximizing marketing ROI
As a bootstrapped founder, simply outspending big competitors and well-funded Bay Area startups on paid advertising is not an option. However, startups can absolutely out-hustle and out-optimize them with an effective SEO strategy.
- Boosting online brand visibility early
For today's potential customers, most buying journeys start with a search query. By optimizing the startup website to rank well for relevant keywords, startups can prominently showcase their brand narrative and solutions when people are actively searching.
- Measurable and data-driven
Unlike many marketing tactics that rely on gut instinct, SEO is driven by cold, hard data. With SEO tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google AdWords, and Bing Webmaster Tools, startups get highly actionable data on what content attracts quality organic traffic that actually converts or what content makes potential customers come back to the website and eventually convert. This data-driven feedback loop helps continually optimize SEO efforts toward higher ROI rather than guesswork.
Unless a startup targets a very niche B2B audience, SEO should be one of the core growth strategies to invest in early on. The compounding effects of SEO make it one of the most sustainable moats a startup can build from the ground up. It takes patience and persistence, but it's David's slingshot against Goliath's war chest!
The most common startup SEO misconceptions and myths
When it comes to SEO for startups, there's a lot of misinformation and straight-up BS out there. Let's debunk some of the most common myths and misconceptions around SEO for startups:
Myth #1: You need to spend a lot of money on SEO content marketing
This is probably one of the biggest myths perpetuated by typical shady SEO agencies. The truth is, organic SEO is one of the most affordable, high-ROI marketing channels for bootstrapped startups, especially with the advent of AI tools. At BriefBid, they were outranking VC-funded unicorns with a tiny, part-time SEO team consisting of a fresh grad copywriter and a freelance SEO specialist. No big money is required when you nail audience search intent.
Myth #2: It takes years of SEO efforts to see results
BriefBid was ranking on the first page for ultra-competitive keywords within months through smart keyword research and an E-E-A-T focused content strategy. With DeckLinks, they got their founder-led sales guide on the #1 page of Google and in the Google snippet in under two weeks just by collaborating with an industry expert to inject real-world experience. Results can come quickly with the right SEO strategy.
Myth #3: You need a lot of backlinks to rank high in search engines
While having a lot of backlinks and a high domain authority rating (DR) helps, it's not the only factor. By building authority and topical clusters around the specific keywords and subjects your ideal customers search, you can rank for very competitive keywords while having a lower DR. You can get way higher search engine visibility writing about niche use cases because of your tight focus. You can rank above other websites with way more backlinks if you have good topical authority and properly set up internal links.
Myth #4: SEO for startups is a set-it-and-forget-it channel
Organic search traffic is amazing for its compounding, self-perpetuating nature, but you can't just kick up your feet. Google's algorithm updates, evolving standards, and search results mean you need to constantly refresh old content, publish new pieces, monitor SEO performance, and adapt your SEO strategy. This is an active, living, breathing content marketing channel that requires nurturing.
The bottom line is that startup SEO should absolutely be a top priority from day one of your bootstrap journey. It offers insane ROI and an unbeatable acquisition moat when done right. Just don't fall for these common misleading SEO myths proliferated by shady SEO agencies and bad actors.
Navigating the AI-powered SEO landscape
The advent of AI has democratized SEO, making it more accessible and cost-effective for startups. However, this increased accessibility also brings increased competition. Startups must leverage AI strategically while prioritizing quality and authenticity.
Key considerations:
- Avoid publishing AI-generated content as-is: Focus on editing, adding unique perspectives, and optimizing for human readers, not just search engines;
- Prioritize quality and relevance: Create content that genuinely addresses the user's search intent and provides valuable insights;
- Embrace the E-E-A-T framework: Focus on creating content that demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
Google's E-E-A-T framework: A cornerstone of modern SEO
In response to the influx of AI-generated content, Google has introduced the E-E-A-T framework to prioritize high-quality, trustworthy content. Startups must understand and embrace this framework to build a sustainable SEO moat.
Key elements of E-E-A-T:
- Experience: Content should reflect real-world experience and insights;
- Expertise: Leverage the knowledge and expertise of credible industry professionals;
- Authoritativeness: Back up claims with data-driven research and unique insights;
- Trustworthiness: Cite reputable sources and build a reputation for accuracy and reliability.
Beyond optimization: The importance of user engagement
While optimizing content for search engines is crucial, the ultimate measure of success lies in user engagement. Metrics such as bounce rate, time on page, and return visits provide valuable insights into the quality and relevance of your content.
Key takeaway: Creating content that resonates with users and satisfies their search intent is paramount for long-term SEO success.
By understanding and addressing these key considerations, startups can leverage the power of SEO to build a strong online presence, attract high-quality leads, and achieve sustainable growth.
Their E-E-A-T content strategy
They've put a lot of thought into how they can create content that checks all the boxes of Google's E-E-A-T framework. It's a multi-pronged strategy:
For the Experience component, they lean heavily on their customers' own first-hand experience. Instead of just generic "how-to" guides, they co-create detailed case studies and tutorials directly with customers. Their unique stories, use cases, and lessons learned help them position their content as coming from a place of real-world experience and application, not just theoretical regurgitated fluff that AI content is famous for. If one has worked with AI tools like ChatGPT even for a short period, they can probably smell the content written by AI from a mile away.
On the Expertise side, they make it a point to collaborate with industry experts, thought leaders, and respected authorities for co-authored pieces. Their expertise adds layers of credibility. For example, their guide on using SIPOC diagrams involved partnering with experienced consultants who literally teach how to use SIPOC diagrams to clients.
Building authoritativeness is all about including unique proprietary research, data studies, and other assets that position them as authoritative sources worth referencing and linking to. This can help one create backlink magnets that will help boost their domain authority and search engine rankings.
Trustworthiness comes down to diligent research and linking to reputable, respected sources whenever including external data points or claims. They prioritize linking to high-domain authority sites like .edu websites from universities or .gov resources from official authorities. They don't link to sites like Wikipedia. They always look for the original trustworthy source. Linking out to sketchy, lower-quality blogs and websites is an absolute no-go for building trustworthy signals.
Another thing to keep in mind is if one is going after a specific target keyword, they should NOT under any circumstance link to website pages that are also targeting those same specific keywords. They'll be giving "SEO juice" to their competitors, making it harder for them to compete in the search results. If for whatever reason they absolutely have to do it, they can give them a 'nofollow' backlink. Here's an example of a 'nofollow' link: <a href="http://www.example.com/" rel="nofollow">Link text</a>. A 'nofollow' tag will significantly diminish the strength of that backlink in the eyes of search engines.
The biggest SEO mistakes startups make
They're about to save startups a ton of headaches and wasted effort by calling out the biggest SEO mistakes they see startups making over and over again:
SEO Mistake #1: Prioritizing their own messaging over search intent
This is probably the deadliest sin in startup SEO. Startups can't just create content around what their product does or how they position their messaging. That's putting the cart before the horse. The very first step is deeply understanding the actual problems, questions, and topics their potential customers are already googling. What are their burning pains and needs? That's what startups should optimize their SEO content marketing strategy around first through keyword research. At BriefBid, they wouldn't have stood a chance ranking for media planning software. But they crushed it for terms junior media buyers were searching like "What is GRP?" and "TRP definition." Startups should match that search intent and target less competitive long-tail keywords if their domain authority is low.
SEO Mistake #2: Overlooking technical SEO
Even the most brilliant content strategies won't move the needle for startup websites that are riddled with technical SEO issues slowing down or confusing Googlebot. Site structure problems, duplicate content, slow page speeds, poor mobile UX – these seemingly small issues can tank rankings in search results quickly. Startups should do technical SEO audits frequently to identify and fix any on-site bugs!
SEO Mistake #3: Neglecting brand authoritativeness and expertise
With the rise of AI-generated content, Google has doubled down on prioritizing content with robust expertise, authority, and trust signals. Startups should go beyond generic content to capture first-hand experiences through customer or influencer content collaborations. They should drive topical authority from unique data studies and research, and link out to respected trusted websites. If their content lacks those E-E-A-T signals, it's getting filtered out.
SEO Mistake #4: Not measuring or adjusting SEO strategy
Simply publishing a bunch of content and hoping for the best is a surefire way for startups to waste time and resources. SEO has to be an iterative, measured approach. Startups should set up their Google Search Console account and Bing Webmaster Tools immediately to monitor critical metrics. That data should steer their ongoing content and link-building efforts based on what's working. Search engine algorithms also constantly evolve. If startups are not tuning into industry sources for major updates and pivoting their SEO strategy accordingly, they'll get left behind.
The bottom line: As bootstrapped startup founders, they simply cannot afford to make avoidable SEO mistakes that sabotage their growth engine and defensibility.
Content Collaboration Tips for Startup Founders
Collaboration is essential for creating E-E-A-T content that builds a defensible SEO moat for a startup. They simply don't have the resources or budget to do it alone.
That's why they live by the mantra of "collaborate or die" with their SEO strategy. They know they can't possibly have all the first-hand experience and expertise in-house across every use case, industry, and topic their potential customers care about.
So they get scrappy about partnering up with different parties who bring those E-E-A-T ingredients to the table. Here are some of the ways they do it:
- Co-creating with customers
Their customers are a goldmine for first-hand, battle-tested experience. They frequently loop in customers to co-author detailed articles, guides, and use case examples.
Not only does this allow them to capture first-hand experience signals for Google, but it's also an awesome way to generate social proof, referral leads, and strengthen customer relationships!
- Collaborating with industry experts
Finding and partnering with respected thought leaders and subject matter experts is key for injecting true expertise into their content. Whether it's co-hosting a webinar, guest posts, or quotes in a piece – their credibility automatically elevates the content's E-E-A-T value.
For them, this has meant collaborating with consultants, sales reps, and other practitioners who add relevant, credible expertise.
- Co-marketing content collaborations
Partnering with complementary companies and brands on co-marketing content collaborations is a win-win. They combine their respective audiences, assets, and budgets into a single, higher-quality piece of content that checks all the E-E-A-T boxes and gives them another content distribution channel.
The key with all of these collaborations is to use collaborative linking and author bios to highlight the first-hand experience and subject matter expertise.
As a resource-strapped bootstrapper, one simply can't build a defensible SEO moat without leveraging the force-multiplying power of strategic content collaborations.
How to Implement SEO and Build a Defensive Moat
So, one might be thinking, "This all sounds great, but how do I actually build an SEO moat around my startup?"
Start early
The first key is to start early and be relentlessly consistent with SEO efforts. Don't make the mistake they made at BriefBid by deprioritizing SEO early on.
They had this incredible SEO engine just humming along, outranking giants like Hootsuite with just a tiny team of contractors. All because they optimized for search intent over shiny vanity metrics from day one.
One needs to get that SEO momentum before their competitors gobble up all the prime real estate on the first page.
Having a defensible moat
Once one has earned high keyword rankings, they'll have a defensible moat because dislodging them from the first page becomes very difficult and costly for other websites. Especially if they've nailed the E-E-A-T factors, they'll become embedded into search engine algorithms as the definitive resource.
It will take a massive, coordinated effort for any competitor to out-invest and out-optimize them for the same keywords. If they implement SEO right, even if a competitor somehow pulls it off, it will be incredibly costly for them while the startup will still benefit from organic traffic.
How to create an impenetrable SEO moat?
And if one really wants to make it an impenetrable SEO moat? Bury the competition by keeping the content library updated. It's recommended to do a content refresh at least once a year. For certain keywords, it may have to be done more frequently. Make sure the content always satisfies the search intent and evolves with fresh examples, data, expert quotes, visuals, and more.
Track target keywords' performance. If a target keyword is performing really well, the startup is on the first page of search engines but not yet in positions 1-3, try improving the article. Give them a couple of weeks and see if the search rankings improve. Going from position 5 to 1-3 in many cases can literally 10x the organic traffic coming from that article. Hunt for those low-hanging fruits. Search engines already trust the startup with those keywords. The articles just need a little push!
SEO Startup checklist
If one wants to build an unbreachable SEO moat around their startup, they've got to nail these SEO checklist items. No cutting corners.
- Define SEO goals
First things first, get crystal clear on the objectives. Actual SEO goals, no messing around with vanity SEO metrics that many shady SEO agencies like to focus on to distract their clients. Is the startup looking to increase overall organic traffic? Rank for those juicy "money" keywords? Or would they rather start by building the "informational" keywords foundation first? Drive more conversions from organic search? Spell it out.
- Do keyword research and match search intent
This is the core of any good startup SEO strategy. One has to deeply understand what their ideal customers are already searching for and then build their whole content strategy around matching that intent.
Use every tool under the sun – Ahrefs, SEMRush, Reddit communities, and even the "People Also Ask" section on Google to identify the keywords, topics, and specific search queries the audience cares about most.
If one is not sure what the search intent is, just go to Google and Bing, search for the target keyword, and see what pages appear in the search results. Do search engines display product pages or information content? Do they show video content over written content? Is it a branded keyword and search engines give priority to a specific website?
Search engines process billions of search queries daily. Engagement data helps them understand search intent. Use the first page of Google to your advantage. It literally spells out what the search intent is, i.e., what people are expecting to see when they search for a specific keyword.
- Run a technical SEO audit and fix issues
Even the most brilliant, E-E-A-T optimized SEO efforts get derailed by technical SEO issues. Use SEO tools like Ahrefs, Screaming Frog, or Lumar (formerly Deepcrawl) to identify any indexing errors, site structure problems, duplicate landing pages, slow page speeds, and other gremlins bogging the website pages down. Fix that immediately! If using WordPress, Yoast SEO Premium plugin is highly recommended to fix many technical SEO issues.
- Make the website user and mobile-friendly
Google, and search engines in general, is all about user experience! Fast load times, easy navigation, zero friction, and optimization for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. If the website pages are slow and don't provide a great experience on mobile devices, one can kiss those first-page search rankings goodbye. Mobile organic traffic these days drives nearly 70% of organic traffic according to SimilarWeb.
- Perform on-page optimization
Technical SEO or on-page optimization is foundational. Optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt text, and using relevant keywords or LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords help search engine crawlers better understand what the content is all about. Make it easy for search engines to crawl and rank the content in search results.
- Create quality content that offers value to potential customers
At the end of the day, search engines' #1 priority is identifying content that provides the best possible answer and experience for searchers. That means startups have to create robust, thorough, high-quality content directly answering users' search queries.
For simple search queries, they should give the answer right away. They shouldn't make website visitors waste their time scrolling through walls of text. People have short attention spans. If they don't find what they're looking for, they will bounce back to the search results and click on other websites. This will send a signal to the search engine that the content may not satisfy the search intent. This can result in the page losing its ranks in the search engine results pages.
That's not to say startups should avoid long-format articles. They just need to make sure they structure them properly and add a table of contents so they're easy for website visitors to navigate.
- Do off-page SEO by building high-quality backlinks
A kick-ass backlink profile loaded with authoritative, highly relevant inbound links from other trusted sites? That's the dream for bootstrapped startups. It should be a top priority through partnerships, PR, influencer marketing, and content collaborations. High DA (Domain Authority) or DR (Domain Rating) will make it much easier to rank those juicy high-difficulty keywords with massive search volume.
One thing to keep in mind, startups should not fall for cheap DA or DR boost services. They'll find a lot of them on places like UpWork and Fiverr. It's a waste of their hard-earned money. Backlinks that they'll get will artificially boost their DR or DA but in the eyes of search engines, they are 100% meaningless.
- Track SEO performance with Google Search Console (GSC) and Bing Webmaster Tools
Consistent measurement and iteration is everything in SEO. Startups should get their Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools accounts set up ASAP to monitor critical metrics like rankings, traffic, impressions, indexing issues, and more.
- Stay up-to-date with SEO best practices
SEO is a constantly evolving game as algorithms and guidelines of major search engines get updated. Startups should stay glued to industry news sources, blogs, and forums. If they have any questions about SEO, they can always reach out to the author on LinkedIn or BYVI.
If startups hit all these SEO checkboxes, they'll have laid the strongest possible off-page and on-page SEO foundation. An unbreachable SEO moat.
FAQs
How does SEO work?
Search engine optimization focuses on optimizing websites to gain higher positions in search engine rankings. SEO strategies include keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building to boost organic traffic. It aims to amplify website visibility in search engines to gain organic traffic and potential customers.
How can startups improve their search engine visibility?
To improve search engine visibility, startups should start with keyword research to find relevant keywords. They should optimize on-page SEO, including meta tags and content, and ensure the website is mobile-responsive. Building backlinks via content marketing and collaborations is also crucial. Startups should gauge their SEO performance with Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
Is coding required for Search Engine Optimization?
Coding is not required for SEO, but understanding basic HTML and CSS can be beneficial for technical SEO tasks like optimizing meta tags and improving site speed. However, many SEO tasks can be accomplished using SEO tools and Content Management Systems (CMS) without coding knowledge.
What tools can startups use for SEO?
For SEO, startups can use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor performance, keyword research tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or WordStream, and SEO plugins like Yoast SEO for WordPress optimization. SEO tools provide insights into website performance, keyword rankings, search volume, etc.
How long does it take to see results from Search Engine Optimization?
Seeing results from startup SEO efforts can take several months, depending on factors like competition, domain authority, and the effectiveness of the SEO strategy. Typically, consistent SEO efforts can show noticeable improvements in search engine rankings and organic traffic within 6 to 12 months.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, SEO for startups is about prioritizing SEO from the very start. It is one of the highest-leverage activities a startup can invest in. While paid advertising puts them on a marketing treadmill, an effective organic search strategy provides predictable, and compounding growth.
More importantly, startups can fortify an incredibly defensible, hard-to-displace competitive moat by aligning their content marketing strategy to match audience search intent, building topical authority, and optimizing for Google's E-E-A-T signals.
Once startups earn those first-page keyword rankings and cement their website as the definitive resource on those topics, it will become exponentially more difficult for deep-pocketed competitors to outrank them. The ROI curve will keep compounding in their favor.
