SEO for Startups: How Startups Can Unlock Growth With SEO

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SEO for startups can be overwhelming — but don’t let it keep you from getting started.

Contrary to what you might think, startups have many SEO advantages. Thanks to lean processes, startups can be reactive and publish faster.

I’m an SEO consultant, and one of my clients (a startup) began working with me when they had five clicks per month; they’re now getting 15,300 clicks.

In this comprehensive blog, I walk you through everything you need for an effective SEO strategy for your startup.

I’ll cover why startups need SEO, a detailed step-by-step guide on how to do SEO for startups, and tips from entrepreneurs and SEO professionals who have had great success.

Table of Contents

Why Startups Need SEO in 2024
Why AI Overviews and AI-Powered Search Engines Matter for SEO
How to Do SEO for Startups
Expert Startup SEO Tips

Why Startups Need SEO in 2024

There are many reasons startups need SEO in 2024, but I’ll share my top four.

SEO drives business growth.

If marketing and SEO aren’t making money for your business, then there’s no point in doing it.

The primary purpose of marketing is sales. SEO should get you to the top of Google for your most desired keywords, including money-generating keywords.

I don’t want to make it sound easy because it will be a lot of work, especially if your website is new, but once you’ve earned those top spots, you can expect sales to come to you.

Here’s an example: the keyword “printed song lyrics” (and its variations) has a monthly search volume of 4,600 searches.

As pictured below, you can see Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) list Chatterbox Walls, Song Lyric Prints, Thoughtful Keepsake, Moonshine Prints, and The Bespoke Foil Company.

All of these businesses sell custom song lyrics prints. According to keyword research tools, a top spot for this keyword (printed song lyrics) could result in up to 4,600 clicks.

SEO has compounding benefits.

Once you’ve earned a rank, it’s (generally) manageable to keep it there, making SEO cost-effective or sometimes free to continue ranking.

This is the compounding benefit of SEO: your hard work pays off for months, maybe even years, after you’ve done it.

I advocate using SEO and PPC together, but I’m using a PPC example to demonstrate my point.

For the keyword above (printed song lyrics), the keyword research tool Semrush estimates ad clicks at $0.65/click (see CPC on the right of the screenshot below).