Should My Startup Use SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) can feel a bit mystifying to those outside the marketing profession, leading many startup CEOs to wonder, Should our startup use SEO? It’s a popular term, often lauded as a powerful tool for attracting customers and achieving top rankings on Google. While SEO can indeed be rewarding, a company must approach it with consistency, patience, and a strategic mindset to see lasting benefits. Ultimately, deciding on an SEO strategy hinges on a few key factors.

Is SEO the Right Tactic for Your Startup?

Startups and smaller firms should consider these questions to determine if SEO is a worthwhile endeavor:

1. Do potential customers find my company or product through search engines like Google?
2. Am I willing to create content every week for at least six months—or invest in someone to do it?
3. Can I wait six months or more to see a return on my investment (in time, energy, or agency costs)?
4. Is my website the primary place I want to drive potential customers?

If you answered “YES” to all of these questions, SEO could be an effective tactic for your startup. If you answered “NO” to any of them, a comprehensive SEO plan might not be the best fit right now, though you can still incorporate elements of SEO into other platforms or content—a topic we’ll explore later.

Implementing SEO: Where to Start

A crucial first step in any SEO campaign is conducting keyword research. This involves identifying the terms and phrases your audience uses to search for products, services, or information in your field. By targeting these keywords, you align your content with what people are actively seeking.

A practical way to begin is by focusing on the questions you frequently hear from customers or prospects. For instance, consider common inquiries from sales calls or customer support. You can validate these keywords with research tools like Moz or Google’s Keyword Planner, ensuring these topics have demand.

As a startup, you may aim to reach a specific audience, such as niche investors or technical users. Niche or “long-tail” keywords work well for this—they typically have less competition and attract a targeted audience. For example, a keyword like “SEO strategies for fintech startups” might have fewer searches but can drive highly relevant traffic.

For each blog or webpage, focus on one primary keyword and include variations of it throughout the piece. Beyond keywords, other essential SEO elements—like backlinking—can further strengthen your ranking.

How Social Media Comes Into Play

A key element of Google’s ranking for blogs is click-through rate (CTR). If your blog is generating a lot of clicks, based on on how many times it is seen, that action tells Google your content is worthwhile. And at first, generating clicks through Google search will take some time. Therefore, a robust social media presence is critical to generating clicks for your blog. Whether your social media following is large, or growing, it can provide a great boost of clicks to signal Google your blog should rank higher.

What Really Matters in SEO?

Quality Content. This is what makes a consistent, comprehensive SEO campaign challenging: without a commitment to high-quality, consistent content, an SEO strategy won’t reach its full potential.

Too often, companies focus on quantity over quality, resulting in lackluster content that doesn’t engage readers. At the end of the day, if you’re creating content that people find valuable and engaging, your blog and SEO efforts will succeed.