Startups have the opportunity to truly nail their SEO strategy. You have a clean slate in most cases and can work to build up white-hat SEO strategies that begin to pay off right from the start. You don’t have to clean up old SEO, go through old backlinks to remove yourself from spam websites or give your website an overhaul.
The exception, of course, is if you buy and use an abandoned domain name. That is why before you commit, you should always audit the domain name you intend to use. The previous owner might have used SEO tactics that worked at the time but would now get you blacklisted. Investigate your domain name, and then follow these top five steps to get some headway on improving your search engine ranking:
1. Start with Comprehensive Keyword Research
Keyword research is essential for your website and for your backlink strategy. You will also be able to follow up later on and use your keyword research for your PPC marketing, but for now, focus on finding long tail and semantic keywords that convey intent. You will want to have a good collection of keyword types to include naturally into your website so that Google and other search engine algorithms can correctly parse through and understand what your site is about.
2. Build Your Website with SEO Optimisation Included
The best way to gain real headway with your SEO strategy is to work with an SEO agency like Searchworthy that offers website planning and technical audits. SEO is so much more than inserting keywords. Technical SEO is the very lifeblood of your website, and having a dedicated SEO agency to build your site will ensure that it appeals to users and search engines alike.
2. Increase NAP Listings
If your business has a physical address that customers can visit (not applicable to remote companies, unfortunately), then you will want to go through and add as many NAP listings as possible. NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. The best place to start is with Google My Business. By adding your company information to as many local, global, and nation-wide directories as you can, you will improve your local SEO efforts and benefit from great features from Google.
3. Create Quality Content
Your website needs to stay updated and fresh. Maintain a blog that has quality outbound links, inbound links, keywords, and useful information for your customers. Go through regularly to update and add to the content you have already written to keep it fresh and valuable.
4. PR, Collaborate and Build Those Backlinks
Backlinks are very important to SEO, but where those backlinks are featured is today incredibly important. You can use SEO services to build up backlinks for your site, but that should not stop you from working to collaborate, guest post, and encourage natural backlinks through good, old-fashioned PR work.
SEO is fluid. You cannot invest in it and then be done with it. It is an ongoing investment similar to marketing, except with the added benefit of also providing an exceptional experience for your users.
