Do startups really need search engine optimization (SEO)?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is yes. Read on to find out why search engine optimization is important for all businesses, big and small.
What is search engine optimization (SEO)?
You might have heard of the term but never quite realized what it meant. It’s definitely a buzz word now. You hear it everywhere you go. Some people like to make it sound complicated when it isn’t. We’ve already explored what search engine optimization is, but here’s a refresher.
Search engine optimization is when businesses make their websites more visible when people do relevant web searches. A top-end shoe retailer specializing in women’s shows would do SEO to help make searches using the terms “women’s shoes”, “shoes for women” and “luxury women’s shoes” bring up their website in the first page. It’s a great way to make your online presence known.
The reason companies invest in SEO is that without it they’re harder to find online. Before buying something, people and businesses alike often do a web search to find what they’re after. They do this by typing in keywords that are relevant to the products and services they’re interested in. People (and businesses) seldom go past the first search engine results pages (SERP). So it’s important for businesses to have their websites on the first page, as close to the top spot as possible.
And if potential customers have a harder time of finding them, there will be fewer people buying goods and services from them online. We shouldn’t forget that businesses often invest on getting a website in the first place so they can expand their operations beyond traditional local markets. The internet is the gateway to local, national and international markets. So when it’s hard for customers to discover their website online, they lose on sales they could’ve otherwise made.
How useful is search engine optimization for a startup?
SEO is critical to the success of your startup. Think about it: as a startup, you need your idea, business model, products and services to be available and easily accessible. Your business isn’t a well-established brand. It’s a startup, and for startups to be successful, they need to make lots of sales. To do that, you need search engine optimization.
If done right, your startup can benefit a great deal from search engine optimization. This is especially true if you try to optimize your website so it appears on Google’s search engine results page (SERP). Google processes over 3.5 billion searches per day. This translates to over 1.2 trillion searches annually! So optimizing your website for Google is a must.
So regardless of your industry, as a new and upcoming company, you benefit immensely from a well-run SEO campaign. It’s a must.
Some SEO tips for startups
Content is king. You need to write new content weekly if not daily. This can be done through blog posts. You also need to keep improving existing web pages. The more relevant content you have, the more keywords you can cover. And with more keywords, the more Google and other search engines like Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo and Qwant can index.
Another search engine optimization technique involves looking for valuable backlinks. It’s important that these are relevant and high-quality, or else Google will punish your SEO campaign in the long-run by burying you further in its SERP. For example, a shoe retailer shouldn’t have a dozen car mechanic websites linking to them, as they’re in different industries.
Constant website analysis, competitive analysis and initial keyword nomination are important. They help you stay in touch with your campaign. An out-of-touch approach will hurt your business instead of helping it.
Having a search engine optimization strategy is the key to long-term success. And SEO is a long-term prospect. A campaign takes months for its effects to show, and upwards of years for you to meet all your SEO goals and objectives. Even then, as it’s an imprecise art involving lots of guesswork and speculation, nothing can be guaranteed. It’s a cycle of continuous improvement.
SEO services for startups
Fortunately, you don’t have to manage your own SEO. As mentioned earlier in this blog, defining SEO isn’t too hard, and that’s true. 
However, doing it can be tough. For one, even the experts need to guess how different search engines rank websites based on their respective criteria. Imagine how much harder it is for you to have to deal with it all on top of everything else. And as a startup, you’re likely spending all your time and attention on having your business take off.
Naturally, as Houston’s leading SEO company, we should be your first option. We’re the go-to digital marketing agency for startups. triHead has worked with many startups, so we understand what startups want and need to succeed online.
We have several SEO checklist templates that come in handy for different client types. One of them focuses on SEO services for startups. It’s our propriety 40 point SEO checklist for startups we’ve created to help us best serve our clients. It enables to serve you better than other SEO agencies in Houston, Texas.
These SEO checklists help us make sure that we get everything that’s important, from the big to the small, covered for our clients. The end result is a great campaign. One that’s well-optimized and relevant to people.
Do you only work with startups in Houston, TX?
No, we work with businesses across the United States. We even have clients overseas. Some of our oldest customers are located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. We continue to work with anyone who needs our help.
Speaking of which, we’re proud to announce that triHead is now officially expanding its operations to serve startups and other businesses in Los Angeles, California. We believe we have done a great job with the Texas community and can’t wait to serve businesses in Los Angeles. We already have an address registered in Los Angeles and can’t wait to get things started!
