These are the top 10 rules for a successful SEO strategy for your startup.
1) Establish Your SEO Objectives & Be Realistic about the Outcomes
This is determined by the kind of your company and how you earn money. For example, if your company earns money from online advertisements or affiliate commissions, you should prioritize organic traffic creation and content marketing.
Save time attempting to anticipate SEO or predicting how much organic search traffic you should receive. Remember, you’re a little firm that can’t afford to stay inactive. It’s preferable to explore and learn by doing. Get in the trenches and start making things happen!
2) Design a Basic Measuring System
Determine which metrics to track and how and why to do so. Create a plan based on these KPIs, but don’t go overboard. Nothing too elaborate or sophisticated is required.
• Then, among other things, set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
• Connect lead-capturing sources to your CRM and marketing automation.
3) Crawl your website and address any technical SEO issues.
This phase is especially important if you’ve been creating material for a long.
Search engine crawlers will index your site’s pages and evaluate backlinks based on the HTTP response code. To crawl your website, you may use numerous SEO tools, such as Screaming Frog (which has a freemium version). This SEER Interactive tutorial will assist you in making sense of the spreadsheet-formatted information.
The following are common items to check for in a crawl report:
- Duplicate content
- Meta robots
- Redirects
- URL structure
- Broken links
- 404 pages
4) Examine all aspects of your website’s user experience (UX).
UX is a ranking element in SEO. That is not taught in school!
Poor navigation, incompatibility with mobile devices, and other issues restricting the user’s experience on your website will cause your search ranks to plummet. Here are some alternatives:
• Use heat map tools such as Hotjar to track user involvement.
• Determine where and why users are disengaging. You may utilize the funnel function in Google Analytics.
• Create a well-organized website with clear navigation and internal links.
• Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to validate your website’s mobile compatibility.
5) Carry out on-page Optimization
This entails matching your content marketing approach to certain search phrases, subjects, and user contexts.
Here’s a quick checklist we put up to assist you in keeping track of your on-page optimization efforts:
• Target Search Term
• SERP Analysis
• Title Tag
• Target search term present
• <60 characters
• H2 Tag
• Body Copy
• Contains specific keywords in the first 200 words
• Has natural keyword density
• Buzzwords for CTR
• Meta Description
• Contains target search term
• Compelling CTA that encourages high CTR
• H1 Tag
• Contains target keyword
• Has a clear taxonomic organization
• Does not contain stop words
• Does not contain underscores
• Less than 100 characters
• Internal Links
• Contains Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords
• Content-Length
• Content Structure
• Content Assets
• Canonical Tag
• URL Structure
• Contains 1-2 deep links to relevant content
• Has specific keyword-relevant anchor text
• Is implemented naturally
• Outbound Linking
• Image Optimization
• File names contain the target keyword
• Social Metadata Optimization
• Alt Tags Contain Target Keyword
• Appropriate Image Dimensions Specified
6) Assess Branded Search Possibilities
This is the point at which brand recognition begins. You must safeguard your startup’s reputation on review sites and the Internet.
Google the name of your company and analyze the results:
• Look for unfavorable publicity and reviews.
• Check that the metadata you provided for your site displays in the search results and accurately defines your brand/products.
• Check that site links and social profiles are correctly configured and aligned.
• Increase your markup opportunities.
• Look at the bottom of the search engine results page to see what people care about when they look for your brand.
• Use auto-suggest to find long-tail keywords, including your brand name.
7) Look for long-tail keywords to rank for.
Long-tail keywords are 3-5-word phrases with low search volume and are used to drive relevant website visitors. They target niche consumers rather than broad populations.
This will help you to establish topical authority while focusing on relevant keywords that are easy to win.
Make sure to include long-tail SEO in your content marketing approach. We propose utilizing a free tool such as:
• Google’s auto-suggest
• Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
• Google’s Keyword Planner
8) Rank Content Opportunities
You may use many factors to prioritize content and keywords, such as high search volume, low difficulty, high CTR potential, and high relevancy.
You could also consider “how to” style searches since they typically represent highly practical information that will educate your target audience on doing something tactical while gaining free backlinks.
9) Increase Backlinks and Influencer Amplification
Link building can be a pain in the buttocks, but here’s a quick and easy approach to developing both focused and cost-effective backlinks.
Here are some of my best SEO methods for obtaining high-quality backlinks:
• NEVER, EVER pay for backlinks.
• Look for unlinked brand mentions in your domain name and founder/executive names.
• Locate relevant directories and round-up articles, and ensure your site is listed and linked.
• Determine where and how your rivals obtain backlinks, then obtain identical backlinks from those sites. Just make certain that they are of great quality.
• Conduct interviews and include influencers.
• Don’t waste time sending hundreds of cold emails to get high-volume links.
10) Keep up with SEO news, trends, and Google updates.
Staying current on SEO news, Google changes, and other marketing trends helps guarantee that you notice all vital information that might help your startup business grow and prosper.