You have an awesome product or service and you’ve worked hard to make your business dream a reality. You are ready, willing and able to market yourself, grow and increase sales. But how do you get people to know that you exist?

As a startup, it’s likely that you need your target consumers to find your business online, and one of the main ways that will happen is through search engines.

Unless your audience has heard of you already, they won’t be searching for you by your brand name. That’s why search engine optimization (SEO) is so very important for startups.

A startup that considers SEO during the creation of their business plan is more likely to achieve positive results by building the necessary components for SEO success cohesively into the foundations of the business.

How can startups achieve great organic SEO from the very beginning?

Keyword Research

When writing copy for your website, local listings, blogs and social posts, it is critical that you do your keyword research first. Although Google will penalize you for “stuffing” your content with keywords, it is still extremely valuable to know HOW people search for products or services like yours. There are many keyword tools out there, including the excellent ones you get access to when running Google Ads. Make use of the tools to determine the ways people search for your offering and write content that addresses those terms.

Content is Key

Now that you know how people will try to find you, use every tool in your arsenal to tell them that you are there, ready to solve their problem or fulfill their desire. Create landing pages specific to search terms. Write blog posts for those topics. Use the keywords in your local listings. Run an ad campaign based on what you have learned. There are many ways to improve your organic search results, but it takes time and consistency.