SEO For Startups: Beat The Competition With These Tips

Today is the age of entrepreneurs and startups, and for the success of any startup, SEO is crucial. There are lots of fish in the ocean and the big fish take away all the spotlight. So how can your startup business make a mark? 

This is where SEO for startup businesses comes in to save the day. With startup SEO you have a wide range of techniques that can help you establish your brand even if you are just a budding business. 

SEO is your weapon in this battle against the giants.

So let’s get started with our SEO tips for startups.

SEO Strategy For Startups To Achieve Success

Establish Clear Goals And Objectives

The goals and objectives you have in mind for your business majorly depend on 2 factors, your revenue model and the type of business you run. 

For instance,  ecommerce businesses focus entirely on sales through their website which means that their SEO strategy needs to be robust and well thought out, or SaaS businesses that value SEO highly as it helps drive results. 

Here are some common start up SEO objectives that must at the top of your list:

• Increase the incoming traffic on your product pages and aim at driving high-quality traffic.
• Improve the position of your startup in your particular sector.
• Focus on factors such as scroll depth, session duration, etc to increase the reach and engagement of your brand.
• Enhance the reputation of your startup in your specific industry to establish trust within potential customers and to establish yourself as a leader.

Always Measure! Make a Smart And Robust Measurement Plan

There are some fundamental steps to achieving success in SEO, such as:

• Set up a Google Analytics account for your business and use it actively.
• Monitor the performance of your website with Google Search Console.
• Configuring Analytics’ Goal Conversion Tracking is crucial.
• Link your lead-generation channels to the CRM and marketing automation software.
• Associate a data source with each of your metrics by creating a map.
• Automate reporting by using dashboard solutions.

Perform Thorough Technical SEO Analysis And Crawl Meticulously Through Your Website

For a holistic SEO audit, here are some key points to remember:

• Website Crawl

Website Crawling with a tool like Screaming Frog is crucial to keep a check on every page of your website. 

• Crawl Report Analysis

Once you crawl your site, you will have a detailed report full of valuable information. Use it to your advantage.

• Repetitive Content

Content that is repetitive or duplicate that appears on your website in multiple locations can be a problem. Keep a check for duplicate content to avoid encountering any issues.

• 404 pages

Pages that do not exist any longer or are invalid are known as 404 pages. These can be irritating and off putting for people visiting your website and ultimately impact your ranking on SERPs. Implement a simple 301 redirect to get rid of this issue.

• Broken Media Assets

404 Error when you are trying to play a video can happen due to a broken media file. You can find tools in SEMrush that help eradicate this error and fix the issue.

• Slow Loading Pages

Pages that take a long time to load are a menace. They are frustrating to both the visitor as well as the search engines. Use tools offered by Google to help with this issue.

• Broken Links

Links from trusted sources and websites are a great source of endorsements. But, in case these links are broken, it can affect your SERPs ranking. Tools like Moz, Ahrefs, etc can help identify these broken links and fix them.

Perform Website UX, Mobile Responsiveness and Navigation Checks

SEO is a user centric technique, which is why it is crucial to keep in the user experience when creating a website for your startup business. 

If the users find it difficult to access your website on mobile devices, if they are unable to understand the structure of your site, if they struggle to navigate your website or if they encounter ads frequently, it can cause them to abandon your site which will affect your rankings negatively. 

Here’s what you can do to enhance your SEO efforts for your website:

• Ensure That Your Website is Mobile Friendly

To identify any pages that are not compatible or responsive to mobile devices, you can use testing tools offered by google to check a page’s mobile friendliness. You can also use the API along with the URL profiler as it allows you to check multiple URLs at the same time, this makes the process smoother and quicker. Any other information can be accessed by checking the insights offered by Google Search Console.

• Track Site Engagement

Nowadays, with the evolution of technology, it has become a lot easier to track as well as analyze engagement with the use of heatmaps. Heatmaps offer valuable insights into the behavior of website visitors such as clicks and interactions, etc. You can use the freemium version of Hotjar for this purpose. It is a tool that offers budget friendly solutions for businesses that have a smaller budget.

• Optimized Site Navigation

Clarity and organization are 2 essential components of a well ranking website. This is because both the search engines as well as the users are sure to stick to your website for longer periods of time if they find what they are looking for easily and quickly. The navigation on your website must be user friendly and not too complex. Data, if left disorganized, hampers your ranking on SERPs.

Leverage Every Opportunity To Maximize On-Page Optimization

On-page optimization is one of the most important yet most underrated and overlooked aspects of having a winning SEO strategy. When you align the keywords in your content with the user search queries at each stage of their buyer journey, this is called on-page optimization.

You can enhance your content witht he use of on-page optimization by maintaining an easy checklist of “what-to-dos”. 

Here is a list we have compiled so that you don’t have to go through the meticulous task:

• Choose the right targeted keywords.
• Analyze SERPs to understand if you can rank for said keywords.
• Add keywords to the title tag to create a click-worthy and engaging title.
• Ensure you stay in the 60-char limit while creating a title tag.
• Use target keywords while writing the meta description to make it more visible.
• Try to incorporate a clear CTA in your meta descriptions.
• Create an H1 tag that is optimized for your target keyword.
• Most people do not know this, but secondary keywords are as important. Create your H2 while keeping this in mind.
• Always remember to include target keywords at least once within the first 200 words you write for the body copy.
• Keyword stuffing is never a good idea. Keep it as natural and seamless as possible.
• Make sure your content is easily readable and can be understood by the reader without any difficulties.
• Enrich your content with captivating visuals such as images or videos.
• Include targeted keywords in your URLs.

Final Thoughts

To sum it up, there are specific challenges when it comes to SEO for tech startups, especially for those with a small budget.

To achieve success in the online world, SEO must be used strategically and with the right planning. As we have discussed various tips that are the best SEO for startups, there are a few hacks that may make a huge difference.

• Focus on the small wins. The small victories matter the most as they pave the way for bigger success in the long run. 
• Competing with well established industry leaders needs a lot of skill and patience. Establishing authority is a process and it takes time and hard work. Do not aim for quick wins as they seldom last long.
• Quality above Quantity. Create content that offers some substance and value to the target audience. Do not solely focus on promoting your business, instead offer valuable insights for the reader.

By strategizing meticulously and implementing the above listed SEO techniques, you are sure to achieve success and take your startup to new heights.