SEO for Startups: 10-Step Blueprint for Growing Organic Traffic

Search engine optimization (SEO) involves making your website more accessible and understandable to search engines and users. This helps your content appear on the first page of search engines like Google. 

SEO is a great solution for startups on a tight budget that want to generate more organic (i.e., free) traffic. 

Use this guide to explain the benefits of SEO to management and start generating organic traffic by creating optimized content.

Why SEO Is a Good Investment for Startups

SEO is a good investment for startups for the following reasons:

Generate Higher Returns at Lower Costs Over Time

Organic SEO is generally more cost-effective in the long run than other marketing channels. This is because it usually yields exponential results over time. SEO continues to generate traffic and leads without recurring costs. 

In contrast, paid advertising stops driving results as soon as you stop spending.

Here's an example:

The Semrush website ranks for over 480,000 keywords in the U.S., which collectively drive around 3.2 million monthly visitors through organic search, according to the Organic Research tool. It would cost around $4 million per month to get the same amount of traffic through pay-per-click (PPC) ads.

Further reading: The ROI of SEO: How to Measure SEO ROI (with Formulas)

Target People Already Searching for Your Product or Service

Your target audience is already searching for the solution you offer. Use SEO to rank higher than your competitors on relevant search engine results pages (SERPs).

For example, if you run a pet brand that sells dog chews, people looking to buy a new pet chew will search for terms like "best pet chews" on Google. 

Optimizing your content using SEO can help your page appear on page one for that search, just like competitor brands Tibetan Dog Chew and Rover do.

Build Trust with Your Potential Customers

When users repeatedly see your website or content in top search results, they become familiar with your brand. This repeated exposure makes you seem more authoritative and credible, even if you're a new company. 

Eventually, this visibility and authority can lead to trust and sales.

How to Do Effective SEO for Startups in 10 Steps

Build a solid SEO strategy for your startup by doing the following:

1. Get Buy-In From Leadership

The first step in doing SEO for startups is to show your leadership team how SEO can contribute to overall business objectives, such as increasing revenue and improving customer acquisition. Demonstrating this will help you secure the budget and resources you need to effectively execute your SEO strategy.

One way to illustrate the value of SEO is by explaining its role at different stages of the content marketing funnel. SEO content that ranks well can:

• Attract new visitors at the top of the funnel with general informational articles
• Generate and nurture leads in the middle of the funnel with more specific, problem-solving content
• Convert leads into customers at the bottom of the funnel with case studies that showcase how your product solves their problems

Another way to illustrate the benefits of SEO is by presenting data, examples, or case studies that highlight successful SEO campaigns, especially those of your direct competitors.

Emphasize that SEO is a long-term investment and can take time to see significant results. This transparency builds trust and helps manage expectations.

2. Define Your SEO Goals

After you get approval from management, outline your SEO goals. Set small, achievable goals that align with your business objectives, taking your budget and resources into consideration.

Examples of realistic SEO goals for a startup website include:

• Gain an additional 500 monthly visitors from organic search in six months
• Generate 10 new leads per month from organic search in three months
• Achieve top three rankings for 50 target keywords in one year
• Increase organic traffic by 25% in six months
• Earn backlinks from 10 high-authority sites in three months

Avoid setting overly ambitious goals at this point. SEO for startups takes time to produce results, so setting a big goal and not achieving it may demotivate your team and hurt your bottom line.

Prioritize goals that directly contribute to your bottom line objectives, such as leads and conversions. This approach ensures your SEO efforts are driving business growth.

Further reading: How to Align Business and SEO Goals for Long-Term Success

3. Figure Out What Resources You'll Need

You need two main types of resources to execute your SEO strategy:

• People skilled in SEO and content creation
• A good tech stack (tools) that helps you perform SEO tasks

Having people skilled in SEO might mean building an in-house SEO team. If you already have team members with content marketing and SEO experience, this makes sense.

Alternatively, you could hire an SEO agency or freelancers who can help you start quickly. So you don't need to spend heavily on hiring a whole new team.

As your business scales or budget increases, add more in-house team members who will grow with your company and create content that better aligns with your goals.

For your tech stack, you need the following:

• A content management system (CMS) to publish and manage your content (e.g., WordPress)
• A complete SEO toolkit to conduct keyword research, analyze competitors, and track SEO results (e.g., Semrush SEO Toolkit)
• Website analytics tools that help you understand and optimize the customer journey (e.g., Google Analytics and Google Search Console)

4. Make Sure Your Website Is SEO-Friendly

An SEO-friendly website has pages that search engines can easily crawl (scan) and index (understand and store). Google can only rank your pages if it can crawl and index them.

Start by optimizing your website architecture:

• Keep your site structure flat. Users starting on the homepage should be able to access any page on the site within a maximum of three to four clicks.
• Group topically related content together. Organize these groups in a logical hierarchy.
• Make links to your most important pages easily visible on your homepage.

Here's an example of an SEO-friendly site structure:

Use plugins like Yoast, Smush, and Really Simple SSL to perform the following tasks:

• Create a sitemap to help search engines easily crawl and index your pages.
• Create a robots.txt file to control which pages search engines can crawl.
• Optimize page load speed to improve user experience and search rankings.
• Ensure mobile-friendliness to help users browse your site on mobile devices.
• Use HTTPS to increase the security of your website data.
• Fix broken links to maintain a smooth user experience.

5. Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research involves identifying and analyzing the queries your target audience uses in search engines. This process helps you understand what potential customers are searching for. 

By creating content that answers (and ranks for) their queries, you can bring those potential customers to your site.

Here's how to do it:

Find Relevant Keywords That Are Easy to Rank For

Relevant keywords are related to your brand, goals, or products. Ranking for these keywords should contribute to your business objectives.

For example, if you run a recipe site, ranking well for a keyword like "best cookie recipe" will increase site traffic and support your goal of increasing organic traffic. 

However, ranking for "top cookies near me" may not benefit you if you don’t sell cookies. Visitors who land on your site might realize you don’t offer what they’re looking for and leave.

To quickly find the best keywords to target for your startup, use Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool.

Here's how to do it:

1. Enter a keyword related to your brand in the search bar
2. Add your website
3. Click "Search”

The tool will generate a list of related keywords along with important metrics:

• Search volume: The estimated number of searches a keyword gets per month
• Keyword difficulty (KD%): The estimated difficulty of ranking on page one of Google for a keyword
• Personal keyword difficulty (PKD%): The estimated difficulty of ranking your specific website on the first page for a keyword

Aim for keywords with decent search volumes for your industry or niche and low KD or PKD scores (less than 29%).

Initially, the generated list may include highly competitive keywords with high KD and PKD scores, making them difficult to rank for.

To filter out competitive keywords:

• Set the KD % filter's “To” field to 29
• Set the Volume filter's "From” field to 100.

Now you’ll have a list of keywords that are easier to rank for. However, not all of them may be relevant.

For example, you might see brand-specific keywords like "infinite craft" and "taste of home" that are not relevant to your site.

To exclude irrelevant keywords:

• Click on the "Exclude keywords" filter
• Add those brand names to the exclusion list

You should now have a list of relevant, easy-to-rank-for keywords. Now, select the most appropriate keywords and add them to your keyword list.

Find Your Competitors' Target Keywords

Your competitors' target keywords can provide insights into what works in your industry and help you uncover keyword opportunities you may have missed. 

Use the Organic Research tool to find out which keywords are driving traffic to your competitors' pages.

Here's how:

1. Enter a competitor's domain into the tool
2. Choose a location
3. Click "Search”

For example, let's use underarmour.com.

Next, click the "Positions" tab and scroll down to the Organic Search Positions table.

You'll notice that Under Armour's website gets a lot of traffic from branded keywords. If you're a competing sports brand, targeting these branded keywords may not be effective. 

To focus on non-branded keywords, exclude branded terms using advanced filters like this:

Now you have a list of keywords that drive traffic to your competitors' top pages.

Another way to discover what your competitors are ranking for is by using Semrush's Keyword Gap tool. This tool analyzes your domain and up to four competing sites to show which keywords your competitors rank for but you don't.

Here's how:

1. Enter your website and your competitors' websites into the tool
2. Select keyword type and location
3. Click "Compare"

Scroll down to the keyword details table and click the "Missing" tab. You'll see keywords your competitors target and rank for, but you don't.

If you want to find keywords that at least one competitor ranks for, check out the "Untapped” tab. Prioritize low-competition keywords and use the plus button beside each keyword to add them to your list.

Now you have a comprehensive list of keywords to target on your startup website.

6. Create Genuinely Useful SEO Content

Google constantly emphasizes the importance of high-quality, useful content because they want to serve content that satisfies their users. 

Many recent algorithm updates build on the helpful content update, which clearly states that Google prioritizes helpful, reliable, people-first content. 

In other words, if you want to reach your audience through Google, create content that genuinely provides value.

Create Content Searchers Are Looking For

Identify search intent (the main purpose behind a user's search) to understand what content searchers want to see. Understanding search intent can help you create content that precisely answers users’ questions or helps them solve a specific problem.

These are the four main types of search intent:

• Informational: Users seek information like “what is a dog bone”
• Navigational: Users want to find a specific site like “petco login”
• Commercial: Users are researching products like “best dog bones”
• Transactional: Users intend to make a purchase like “buy dog bones”

To identify search intent, look up the keyword and see what content is currently ranking. For example, a quick search of “pasta recipes” shows a list of pasta recipes with sauce, not homemade pasta noodle recipes. 

Therefore, you know people searching for “pasta recipes” are probably looking for good pesto or red sauce recipes, not how to make spaghetti noodles from scratch.

Address search intent by creating content that aligns with what’s currently ranking while still providing something new, interesting, and valuable for your readers.

You can also find search intent using the Keyword Overview tool. Search for a keyword using the tool to get valuable keyword data, including search intent. 

For example, “pasta recipes” has informational intent, so people want to learn more—not buy a product.

Further reading: What Is Search Intent? A Complete Guide

Create Optimized, Quality Content

Quality content is valuable, authentic, well-researched, and actionable, often in the form of a blog post. 

SEO content for startups that answers searchers’ questions generally ranks better because Google prefers serving content that satisfies users' queries.

There are two ways to create quality content:

First, create content manually.

After conducting research, compiling your list of keywords, and understanding search intent, the next step is to create content your readers want to see. While writing, keep the following tips in mind:

• Choose a title that sets readers’ expectations
• Use headers and images to break up text and make content more scannable
• Write short sentences and paragraphs to provide bite-sized information
• Include target keywords in titles, headers, and body content
• Use primary sources of information (e.g., first-hand experience or original research) to add authenticity
• Cite only reliable sources
• Create original content (no plagiarism or duplicate content)

Use tools like SEO Writing Assistant to improve readability and check content originality. This tool checks your content as you type, letting you know immediately if you need to use more keywords, shorten or simplify sentences, and more.

Second, use AI to generate a working draft and then edit the output.

Tools like ContentShake AI generate content within seconds. Provide information about your company and the keywords you want to target, and the tool will generate a list of content ideas for you.

From there, you can:

• Click on “Generate article” beside one of the generated ideas
• Click on “My own idea” to enter your own keyword idea and generate an article

Fill out the “Create an article” form with relevant and accurate information. 

Then, check the boxes for “Add an extra SEO boost” and “Add relevant Unsplash images,” and click “Create article.”

The tool will generate a fully optimized article for you, complete with images, headers, and keywords throughout. 

Click “Go to editor” under “Customize article” to check your content for inaccuracies and tone, and to add unique insights and a human touch.

When you're done, click “Publish” to send your content to your CMS.

Further reading: Quality Content: What It Is + 10 Actionable Tips for Success

7. Build Your Site’s Topical Authority

Topical authority indicates how credible and reliable your website content is in a specific area or subject.

Building your topical authority can establish your site as a reliable source in the eyes of users and search engines, leading to more backlinks, higher rankings, and increased organic traffic.

Check your site’s topical authority using the Keyword Overview tool. Enter your target keyword or topic into the provided field, along with your URL, and click “Search.”

The tool will inform you if you have high or low topical authority, along with your PKD score and potential position on the SERP.

To build your site’s topical authority, pick a few main topics you want to specialize in and create topic clusters (or content clusters) around those topics.

A topic cluster is a set of pages with a similar theme or subject. Each topic cluster includes:

• Pillar page: A main page that provides a broad overview of the topic
• Cluster pages: Pages that cover related subtopics in detail
• Internal links: Hyperlinks from the pillar page to clusters and from each cluster back to the pillar

Here’s an illustration of a topic cluster on the subject of podcasting:

Use Semrush’s AI-powered Keyword Strategy Builder to find closely related content ideas and create keyword groups for your topic clusters.

Enter up to five seed keywords from your list, select a location, and click “Create list.”

You’ll see ideas for pillar pages and subpages.

Scroll down to Pages Details to see the pillar and subpage ideas, along with their corresponding keyword metrics like Intent, KD, and Volume. 

Click on the arrow to the left of any pillar page or subpage to see keywords you can cover with one page.

Select the pillar page and subpage ideas you like, and click “Send keywords” > “Other keyword list” > “Apply” to export these ideas and keywords to your keyword list. 

Alternatively, choose “Send keywords” > “SEO Writing Assistant” > “Apply” to open the SEO Writing Assistant and start writing.

8. Keep Optimizing and Updating Your Content

After you publish content, keep optimizing and updating it at regular intervals.

Why should you do this?

For two main reasons:

• To improve a page’s ranking if it’s not in top search results
• To maintain a page’s ranking if it’s already in top search results

Optimization is an ongoing process that involves optimizing on-page SEO elements and updating content.

Optimize On-Page SEO Elements

On-page SEO is important for both new and existing content because it helps search engines understand your pages and rank them for relevant queries.

Key on-page SEO elements include:

• URL: Make it descriptive and include relevant keywords when appropriate (e.g., semrush.com/blog/seo-tips instead of semrush.com/blog/article-12345)
• Title: Keep it concise (50-60 characters) and use your target keyword naturally
• Headings: Keep them descriptive and include keywords in H1, H2, and H3 tags
• Meta description: Write in active voice, keep it brief (around 120 characters), and include your target keyword
• Content: Create high-quality, helpful content and use relevant keywords naturally
• Images: Use small-sized images and add descriptive alt text
• Internal links: Link to other relevant pages on your site

Use Semrush's On Page SEO Checker to find optimization opportunities and get actionable suggestions.

Once you configure the project, you’ll see an overview of on-page SEO suggestions and a list of top pages to optimize.

Click the “# ideas” button next to a suggested URL to see recommendations for that specific page.

Hover your cursor over “Why should I do this?” to understand the importance and impact of that suggestion. 

Alternatively, click on “See detailed analysis” to learn more about a recommendation.

Apply the suggested fixes to optimize the page and potentially boost its rankings.

Regularly Update Your Content

Content performance degrades regularly because of new data, changes in search intent, or other factors that affect performance. Therefore, you should update your content regularly.

For example, doing SEO for tech startups means conducting a content audit at least once per quarter because information in the tech industry changes and evolves quickly.

To start the content updating process, find content that needs updating—content that used to rank well but has lost some positions—using the Organic Research tool.

Enter your domain into the tool and hit “Search.”

You’ll see a dashboard with an overview of your site performance.

Click on the “Position Changes” tab to see how your pages are performing.

Scroll down to the “All Position Changes” table and use the following filters:

• Under the “Position changes” filter, select “Declined” and “Lost”
• Set “Advanced filters” to “Include,”“Traffic Diff.,”“Greater than,” and “0”

Now you have a list of keywords you ranked for and the page URLs that ranked for them.

Go through the list and update the posts you want to keep by:

• Replacing outdated content with the latest, most relevant information
• Improving page experience (e.g., content readability, visual elements)
• Refining search intent alignment based on changes in search trends
• Consolidating pages that target the same keyword and cannibalize each other

Make updates a part of your content calendar to stay organized and consistent. It can look like this:

9. Earn Quality Backlinks from High-Authority Sites

Backlinks are links from other websites to your site. An authoritative backlink comes from a reputable, high-quality, and relevant site. 

Google considers backlinks as signals of trust and uses them to determine search rankings. 

Therefore, backlinks are crucial for SEO, especially those from reputable sources.

But how do you earn backlinks?

One effective method is creating great content that people want to share and link to. This content could be educational, entertaining, or thought-provoking.

For example, the Semrush State of Content Marketing Report has been attracting backlinks since its publication because its insights are original and link-worthy. 

According to Backlink Analytics, as of the time of publication, it has around 4,000 backlinks from 900 referring domains.

Other link-building strategies include:

• Reaching out to publishers or site owners and asking them via email to link to your relevant page
• Identifying relevant articles that link to pages that no longer exist and asking the publisher to link to your page instead (known as broken link building)
• Finding websites that link to your competitors but not to you and asking them for a backlink
• Finding sites that mention your brand name without linking to your website and asking them to add a backlink

Further reading: Link Building for SEO: A Guide to the Basics

10. Track Your SEO Results

Monitoring your startup's SEO performance helps you understand what works, what needs improvement, and what should be discontinued. 

This allows you to allocate more budget to strategies that generate business and stop spending on ineffective activities.

Consider tracking these key SEO KPIs:

• Organic traffic: Number of visitors from search engines
• Keyword rankings: Positions in SERPs for your target keywords
• Conversions: Actions like sign-ups or purchases
• Bounce rate: Frequency at which visitors leave your site quickly
• Backlinks: Number of links from high-quality sites
• Page load time: Speed at which your pages load
• Click-through rate (CTR): Percentage of users who click on your pages after seeing them in search results

Constantly monitor your keyword rankings with Semrush's Position Tracking tool. Ensure your content starts ranking within the top three results for your target keywords and maintains that position.

Why focus on the top three positions? 

Because the top three Google search results receive 54.4% of all clicks. This means most important SEO metrics—like traffic, CTR, and conversions—directly depend on your search ranking.

To start tracking your keyword positions:

1. Go to the Position Tracking tool
2. Enter your domain URL and click "Set up tracking"
3. Enter your location in the form that appears and click "Continue To Keywords”
4. Enter your target keywords (as many as you want) and click "Add keywords to campaign"
5. Subscribe to weekly emails to stay updated on how your website is ranking for important keywords.
6. When you're done, click "Start Tracking"

You will be taken to the "Landscape" report, which provides a visual overview of your tracking campaign's progress. 

You will also see the "Ranking Distribution" of your Top 3, Top 10, Top 20, and Top 100 keyword positions, including any changes across these groups.

Click the “Overview” tab and scroll down to the "Ranking Overview" section. 

Here, you will see your rankings for individual keywords and changes in their positions over the selected duration.

Click the bell icon at the top if you want to get instant notifications about important changes. 

For example, receive an instant email alert when a keyword rank drops from the top three positions, allowing you to take action to regain the position.

Further reading: How to Track Keywords: The Ultimate Guide

Grow Your Startup's Traffic Organically on a Budget

Effective startup SEO can significantly impact your company's growth. 

With the right strategies and tech stack, you can consistently generate traffic, leads, and sales—even with a limited budget. 

Use Semrush's all-in-one SEO toolkit to save time and money, and gain access to a single platform that handles everything from keyword research to data monitoring. Start with a free plan.