Case study

SEO for Startups With Little Time and Money

Victoria Kurichenko

written by

Victoria Kurichenko

posted on

August 23, 2022

This article is my experiment and part of the Frase.io AI-writing software review.

I used Frase to generate content for this article about “SEO for startups” and optimize it for search engines.

I’ve never used AI-writing software before. This time, I wanted to check if we can trust the tools like this one and whether AI-generated content can reach the top positions despite the latest Google updates.

For the accuracy of the experiment, I maintained the original content with minor grammar changes.

You can read more about the AI-writing tools and the results of my experiment in this article.

I also created the table of contents for your convenience:

Why startup SEO is different

The landscape for startups differs greatly from large companies.

Most startups don’t have the budget to buy thousands of dollars worth of ads. They also lack brand awareness and authority. This makes it much harder for startups to rank well organically.

Startup SEO is about building up your domain authority, creating quality content, and finding ways to make sure people discover you on the web. These are things big businesses already know how to do. But for smaller companies, it takes time, effort, and a lot of money.

8 SEO hacks for startups with little time and money

Want to build your brand on the Internet? You don’t have much time or money to spend on it?

One way is to speed up the loading time of your web pages. A faster site will rank better in search engines like Google and Bing.

But what if you want to go beyond just speeding up your site? What if you want to improve the overall quality of your content?

I’ve got some tips to help you do SEO for startups with inexpensive tools and proven-to-work strategies. 

So let’s dive in. 

1. Use free SEO tools

There are tons of great free tools out there that can help you build a solid foundation for your site.

For example, here is a list of free SEO tools that every entrepreneur needs to know about.

  1. Google Search Console. This is one of my favorite free SEO tools. You’ll want to use it daily.
  2. Ahrefs. It is another great free SEO tool that can really help you optimize your site.
  3. Moz Pro Tools. It is a fantastic way to track how well your keywords perform.
  4. Buzzsumo. It is a powerful social media monitoring tool.
  5. Woorank. It is an amazing keyword research tool.

2. Start a blog with long-tail keywords

Long tail keywords work well for SEO because they target specific searches.

They aren’t broad like head terms. For example, “angel investor” might be a short keyword; “how to become an angel investor” could be a long one.

3. Help a reporter out

If you don’t already use the HARO service, you might want to give it a try. It’s one of the best places to find sources for journalists looking for expert commentary. You can even submit your own stories to help others.

4. Employ internal linking.

Google loves to see people link to each other’s content. This is because it helps Google understand what your site is about, how authoritative your content is, and whether it contains useful information.

In fact, according to Moz, one of the most important factors affecting organic traffic is the number of sites that link to yours. If you want to rank well, you must make sure your content connects to other relevant resources.

This applies to both external and internal links. Internal links help Google crawl your site better and find additional content related to your topic. They also allow readers to navigate around your site easily. External links, meanwhile, connect your brand to other sources online.

So, how do you know which links to include on your site? Here are some tips:

Include links to other articles on your blog whenever possible. Search engines like this type of content because it indicates that your article is informative and helpful.

Link to high-quality websites in your niche. These types of links show up more frequently in search results, helping your post gain visibility.

Use branded anchor text. Anchors are keywords that hyperlink to another page. For instance, if you write an article titled “How To Fix A Broken Shower,” you could use the phrase “how to fix a broken shower” as an anchor.

5. Optimize meta titles and descriptions

The meta title is the title that appears above your web page in a web browser window.

This title is important because it describes what the page contains. You want to make sure that this title is clear and concise. If you don’t know how to write a good meta title, ask yourself questions like “What is my article about?” and “How do I describe this page without being boring?

The meta description is the text that appears below your web page in a search result. This description provides additional information about the page, such as whether it’s relevant to the searcher’s question. You want to keep this description short and sweet because it will often show up beneath the page title, making it even more important.

Optimizing meta titles and descriptions requires additional keyword research, as well as writing copy that clearly conveys why someone should visit your page. For example, if you sell clothing, you might say something like “Shop for men’s dress shirts online.”

If you optimize both the title and description, you improve the chances that visitors will read the entire page.

6. Research your competitors

If your goal is to rank high for certain keywords, it helps to know who your competitor is. This includes knowing whether they’re your direct competitors or not.

You might learn that one of your competitors is actually a very good resource for information about how to do something that you’ve been struggling with. Or, maybe you’ll discover that there are several companies that produce very similar products, and you could learn from those businesses.

Asking yourself questions like these will help you determine where to focus your efforts.

7. Set SEO goals

The ultimate goal of SEO is pretty obvious — to reach prospective users through organic search and convert them into sales. This is a lofty goal, though, and it’s quite difficult to work with because it tells you nothing about how you’ll get there.

A much more effective approach is to divide a big, overarching goal into smaller “bits” that can help you achieve the outcome.

Think of SEO goals as a pyramid. At the top are the outcomes you want to achieve—your ultimate goals. These are often very broad and vague, such as generating leads, increasing brand awareness, etc. They’re almost always impossible to measure directly.

On the next level are the intermediate goals you hope to achieve. These are usually more specific, measurable, and actionable. For example, one of my clients wants to increase conversions by 10 percent over the course of six months.

At the lowest level are the tactics you use to achieve those intermediate goals. These can include things like writing better copy, creating compelling landing pages, optimizing images, etc.

8. Use keywords in the first paragraph

Keywords are one of the most important parts of writing great content. They help search engines understand what your article is about and how relevant it is to searchers.

Did you know that you don’t always want to just put the keyword in the first paragraph? There are some exceptions, like when you are trying to rank for a specific phrase, but there are plenty of reasons why you might want to place keywords throughout your body copy. Here are three ways to do that without being too obvious.

Start with the exact match phrase

If you are trying to rank well for a certain keyword phrase, start your content with that exact match phrase. For example, if you want to rank for “best mattress reviews,” the best way to go about doing that is to write a blog post titled, “The Best Mattress Reviews.”

If you are looking to rank for something like “top 10 things to do in New York City,” you could write a listicle called, “10 Things You Must Do Before Leaving NYC.”

Use related keywords

Another good strategy is to use related keywords.

For example, if your goal is to rank for “mattresses,” it would make sense to include terms like “bedding,” “comforters,” and “toppers.” These are all related to mattresses, so they will help you build context around your topic.

Add synonyms

Finally, you can add synonyms to your content.

For example, if you want to rank for “best mattress review,” you could write a post titled, “Top 5 Mattress Review Sites.” You’re still targeting the same keyword, but you’ve added synonyms to your content to make sure it appears in searches for those phrases as well.

SEO is not a get-rich-quick scheme

There are many myths about SEO, including the belief that it’s easy money.

In fact, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to succeed. If you want to rank well organically, you must know what works and what doesn’t. And while there are plenty of black hat techniques out there, you should not use them.

Victoria Kurichenko

Hello there! 

My name is Victoria.
I am an SEO expert, Medium top writer, solopreneur, and the founder of Self Made Millennials. I help companies create optimized content and attract potential customers through organic search results. In addition, I share how content creators can monetize their writing skills.

Free SEO course
Latest posts
Grab my SEO writing guide

Related blog posts

SEO writing 5 Content Marketing Books Every Marketer Should Read in 2023 written by Victoria Kurichenkoupdated on September 12, 2022 There are so many articles about content marketing books if you google this term. How to choose what’s really worth reading?  Like you, I used to google “best books on …

My eBooks

SEO writing guide Step-by-step Learn my 3-step process for creating high-ranking blog posts I’ve used to grow my website. Focused on impact Find out how I grew my website from 0 to 4,000 monthly visitors in 1 year by working on it a few hours a week. Learn more Here …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *