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How To Start and Grow Your SEO Business

Stevie Carpenter

11 min. read

Updated May 10, 2024

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There’s never been a better time to start an SEO business. In this day and age, SEO is all but essential to businesses. It’s crucial for helping brands get seen by the right customers at the right time.

Consequently, starting an SEO business can be a lucrative venture.

But with so much competition, it takes time and effort to successfully grow an SEO agency that stands out against your competitors. In this piece, we look at how you can start growing your SEO business, from business plans to lead generation.

• What is an SEO business?

As the name suggests, an SEO business is a company or agency that performs SEO services for and on behalf of a brand.

For those not in the know, SEO refers to  search engine optimization . This is the practice of helping a website appear higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for keywords related to their specific product, service, or niche. An SEO business, then, is one that offers this practice as a service.

With  81% of people looking to search engines  to find a product or service and a further 74% of those people actually making a purchase, SEO is clearly essential to businesses.

However, the actual process of optimizing your website can be complex, requiring a degree of technical and niche knowledge in order to do so. SEO businesses provide the skills, experience, and tools to help their clients optimize their digital presence so they appear higher in the SERPs.

Naturally, with SEO so important to growing businesses, there are plenty of potential clients out there. But actually winning those clients is a different matter.

• How to write an SEO business plan that outlines your goals

A business plan is essential for any growing SEO business. It’s what guides your SEO agency’s growth and trajectory, identifying where you want to go — and how to get there.

Here are a few key points you should bear in mind while writing your SEO business plan:

Identify your target customers

Who are you targeting  your SEO business’ services towards? You might want to be an all-rounder SEO agency or, as we discuss later in this piece, you may want to specialize your verticals.

Build a solid value proposition

There are a lot of SEO businesses out there — what sets you apart from your competitors? Do you have a proprietary tool that you leverage? Expertise in a specific industry vertical or process? Work to set yourself apart early and showcase to both customers and investors why they should choose you over other agencies.

Write a concise executive summary

The  executive summary  is a general overview of your SEO business that covers all aspects of your business plan. Be sure to save this part of your plan for last, since it should function as a concise representation of your larger business plan.

Outline your financial plan and forecast

Your  financial plan  will include your cash flow statements, estimated sales forecasts, profit and loss statements, and more. This is an essential component of your plan that will help you layout steps for growth and help prove that your SEO business is viable.

These are just a few points that your SEO business plan should include. For a full and comprehensive list (with business plan templates), check out our  step-by-step guide to writing a business plan .

• How to get SEO clients with a solid sales pitch

Part of the trouble with getting clients for your SEO business (or, indeed, retaining them) is that it is difficult to convince prospects that are not familiar with SEO of its value and necessary tactics.

SEO takes time to execute and take effect. Indeed, it is often in constant competition with  PPC for budget . PPC is comparable to a speedboat — fast, agile, and quick to pivot but, as it requires constant refueling, it can soon get expensive.

SEO, on the other hand, is more like a sailboat. Sure, it’s slow, to begin with, and it can take a while to gain momentum. But once a sailboat gets going, it really comes into its own, spurred along by the wind — no expensive refueling required.

Due to this relative lack of speed on SEO’s part, it can be difficult to make the case for it, but leaning on data can help.

Prospects that are unfamiliar with the intricacies of SEO (and why it’s arguably better than PPC) might be reluctant to sign up as a client. Or if they do, they may be reluctant to stay on past their contact’s end date because they haven’t seen the instant results they desire.

That’s why it is essential that you thoroughly outline your forecasted results for your clients during your sales pitch,  and  back those predictions up with solid data.

Present value with data

This guide from SEOmonitor  explains that you need to demonstrate the value of your targeted keywords and showcase where a brand stands against its competitors. Use this to create a forecast that showcases what really matters for the business: the link between clicks and conversions.

Convincing prospective clients of the benefits of SEO all comes down to one thing: the positive impact on their business. Clients that are familiar with how SEO works might be an easier sell, as they know that good SEO takes time and effort to implement and to see results. But for those clients that are new to SEO (and, indeed, for those that aren’t), it requires a solid, data-backed forecast of the expected results from your proposed optimizations.

By backing up your predictions with hard data — translating ranking increases into estimated clicks, conversions, traffic, and so on — you can convince even the most skeptical clients of the value of your SEO business.

Educate your customers

In the same vein, you should also seek to educate your customers. Offer one or two real insights, relevant to your prospect’s niche, that they can use and that demonstrate your own expertise and authority.

Don’t share too much, of course — give too much away, and your prospect won’t need your help. But by providing a few nuggets of useful information at first, you then prime them for further collaboration, helping your sales pitch convince and convert as a result.

• Sell local SEO services to local businesses

Many local businesses rely on word-of-mouth, local out-of-home (OOH) advertising, or high street footfall to get customers. But as consumers increasingly turn online to search for their desired products or services, these traditional marketing tactics fall short.

Now, in a post-COVID world, OOH advertising and customer footfall have become less valuable. With the rise of eCommerce during the course of the pandemic, these habits will likely remain long after the world returns to any semblance of normality.

Consequently, SEO businesses looking to grow should target local businesses with the offer of local SEO services.

Why offer local SEO services?

Local SEO helps your clients reach new customers in the same area, customers who might otherwise have looked to national brands to buy a product. As consumers become increasingly conscious of the benefits of buying local, this is essential.

It also helps them appear ahead of their competitors in local searches. By ranking higher in the SERPs, local SEO gives them a slight (but valuable) edge.

Beyond this, local SEO can also help your clients expand into new (but still local) regions. Rather than limiting their reach to the strict geographical area, your clients can appeal to customers in the next town or district.

The essentials of SEO for local businesses include, but is not limited to:

• Completing your Google My Business listing:  a business’s Google listing is essential for SERP success. These appear first in local search results, so it’s important your client’s listing is complete.
• Optimize page titles, meta descriptions, and URLs:  metadata is essential for targeting local keywords. While meta descriptions aren’t important for SEO, they can help convince customers to click on your client’s result.
• Get your schema markup right:  your client’s schema markup helps search engines understand your client’s website and display relevant results in local search queries.

These are just a few ways you can build local SEO for your clients —  this Search Engine Journal guide to local SEO  outlines them more in-depth.

But by targeting businesses with the offer of local SEO services (and clearly outlining the benefits of it to them), you can increase your roster of smaller (but paying) clients.

• Grow your SEO business by specializing in your verticals

When you first start your SEO business, it can be tempting to take on clients from all industries. As long as they are willing to pay and take onboard your actions, they’re a worthy client.

While this is certainly a valid approach, you run the risk of overreaching. Trying to cater to every business under the sun can be done, but it is often more manageable (and, indeed, more lucrative) to  go niche .

Often, the best way to increase your client base is to narrow the scope of industries your SEO business caters to — your verticals. Although most SEO techniques can be applied to any business, each industry has its own unique challenges and issues.

Take pharmaceutical clients, for instance.

If you are  working with online pharmacies  or drug manufacturers, they will be subject to strict and specific guidelines over what they can and can’t say on their websites.

Potentially misleading claims could result in strong penalties, both from industry regulators and from search engines themselves. This requires a working knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry from a digital point of view. An all-rounder SEO business might struggle to get to grips with these complex regulations.

But an SEO agency that specializes exclusively in pharmaceuticals would hit the ground running with any new client from that industry, leaning on tried-and-tested tactics that provably grow their business.

By specializing in one, two, or a few specific verticals, you can build up your knowledge of the challenges and requirements these industries face in SEO. Consequently, you can look to offer a broader skillset and depth of experience to potential clients. Your value as an SEO business grows considerably and will help grow your client roster as a result.

• Improve your own SEO, improve your SEO business

If you’re looking to grow your SEO business, you should first start by  ensuring your own SEO is in order . Your prospective clients should be able to enter the keywords relating to your SEO business and see you appear in the first search engine results page, at least.

This starts with a modern-looking website that is well-designed, quick to load, and represents your brand and its SEO offerings. Build out your service pages so they clearly outline exactly what you do, and how potential clients can benefit from it.

Accompany this with plenty of relevant keyword-optimized content that demonstrates your value as an SEO business, both to potential clients  and  to search engines.  As outlined by this Search Facts blog , building expertise, authority, and trust are essential for good SEO, and your website is where this begins.

Your website also includes the other basic elements of SEO: optimized metadata, good site structure, plenty of backlinks, and so on.

But alongside this, you should also improve your accompanying digital channels too. Your social media profiles, email newsletter, paid ads, and so on all create a comprehensive digital presence that, whether directly or indirectly, enhances your business’ SEO.

• Market your SEO services by offering something for free

Every growing SEO business needs a solid lead generation strategy, and one of the best ways to grow your SEO business this way is by offering something free.

A contact form is a good way of building up your potential client base, creating an email recipient list that you can target with value-adding email marketing newsletters. But getting relevant, qualified leads to actually sign up for your newsletter isn’t always easy.

Convincing prospective clients to hand over their personal details requires a value exchange, and in order to incentivize potential customers to sign up, you need a way of encouraging them to provide their contact details.

Consequently, it is worth offering something free to achieve this.

For SEO businesses, this typically means a  free SEO site audit , but this can get expensive if you’re not guaranteed a sale out of it. But you could also look at including content templates, tools, social media calendars, and so on.

Whatever incentive you decide to offer should appeal to your target client, relevant to SEO, and adding value without detracting from or replacing your own services.

While this won’t guarantee clients, it will increase your potential audience base for your SEO business and help you get your marketing messages to the right people, boosting your business as a result.

Starting and growing an SEO business 

The tips and tactics outlined above are just a few ways  you can start growing  your SEO business. Start with a plan, set milestones, and explore opportunities to differentiate your service offerings. With time, effort, and no small amount of patience, you could soon build up a solid client base that spurs your SEO business growth.

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Stevie Carpenter is an experienced writer and editor with over 10 years of experience. Passionate about marketing and developing profitable side hustles, Stevie specializes in writing about business and entrepreneur-related topics.

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How to Write SEO Business Plan + Free Template

In the cut-throat competition, every business wants to be known. And the “known” thing comes after proper SEO, digital marketing, and traditional marketing. Thus, you know by choosing an SEO business, you are indulging yourself in a profitable venture.

However, to make it successful and importantly, to keep it successful – a business needs careful planning, foresightedness, and funds. All these things are possible with a solid SEO business plan, but do you know how to write a business plan?

Well, here is when we come to your rescue. This is our SEO business plan guide with various examples that will support you in writing yours. Excited? Let’s dive right in.

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How to Write an SEO Business Plan?

Writing an SEO business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan:

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and summarizes each section of your plan.

Here are a few key components to include in your executive summary:

Introduce your Business

Start your executive summary by briefly introducing your business to your readers. This section may include the name of your SEO business, when it was founded, the type of SEO business, etc.

Market Opportunity

Summarize your market research, including market size, growth potential, and marketing trends. Highlight the opportunities in the market and how your business will fit in to fill the gap in the industry.

SEO Services

Highlight the SEO services you offer your clients. The USPs and differentiators you offer are always a plus.

Marketing & Sales Strategies

Outline your sales and marketing strategies—what marketing platforms you use, how you plan on acquiring customers, etc.

Financial Highlights

Briefly summarize your financial projections for the initial years of business operations. Include any capital or investment requirements, associated startup costs, projected revenues, and profit forecasts.

Call to Action

Summarize your executive summary section with a clear CTA, for example, inviting potential partners or investors to get interested in your business.

Ensure your executive summary is clear, concise, easy to understand, and jargon-free.

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2. Business Overview

The business overview section of your business plan offers detailed information about your company. The details you add will depend on how important they are to your business. Yet, business name, location, business history, and future goals are some of the foundational elements you must consider adding to this section:

Business Description

Describe what kind of SEO company you run and the name of it. You may specialize in one of the following SEO businesses:

• General SEO agency
• Local SEO agency
• Link building agency
• SEO consultants agency
• Technical SEO agency

After that, describe the legal structure of your SEO company, whether it is a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership, or others.

List the names of your SEO company’s founders or owners. Describe what shares they own and their responsibilities for efficiently managing the business.

Mission Statement

Summarize your business’ objective, core principles, and values in your mission statement. This statement needs to be memorable, clear, and brief.

Business History

If you’re an established SEO service provider, briefly describe your business history, like—when it was founded, how it evolved, etc. Additionally, if you have received any awards or recognition for excellent work, describe them.

Future Goals

It’s crucial to convey your aspirations and vision. Mention your short-term and long-term goals; they can be specific targets for revenue, market share, or expanding your services.

This section should provide a thorough understanding of your business, its history, and its plans. Keep this section engaging, precise, and to the point.

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section of your business plan should offer a thorough understanding of the industry with the target market, competitors, and growth opportunities. You should include the following components in this section.

Target market

Start this section by describing your target market. Define your ideal customer and explain what types of services they prefer. Creating a buyer persona will help you easily define your target market to your readers.

The target market for an SEO company can be small and medium-sized companies, eCommerce websites, or niche-specific companies.

Market size and growth potential

Describe your market size, growth potential, and whether you will target a niche or broader market.

For example, the market size in terms of revenue of the SEO and internet marketing consultants industry was around $75 in 2022.

Competitive Analysis

Identify and analyze your direct and indirect competitors. Identify their strengths and weaknesses, and describe what differentiates your SEO services from them. Point out how you have a competitive edge in the market.

Market Trends

Analyze emerging trends in the industry and explain how will you cope with all the market trends. Some of the market trends in the industry are artificial intelligence, machine learning, user experience, video SEO, voice search SEO, etc.

Regulatory Environment

Here, present the list of licenses or permits you need to operate the SEO business in a particular location.

Some of the regulations are:

• Consumer protection laws
• Data protection & privacy laws
• Advertising laws
• Competition law
• Anti-spam laws

These rules and regulations differ on location, niche of your SEO business, and other such factors, so consult before you apply for the registrations.

4. SEO Services

The product and services section should describe the specific services and products that will be offered to customers. To write this section should include the following:

Describe your services

Mention the SEO services your business will offer. This list may include services like,

• Keyword research
• On page optimization
• Technical SEO
• Content creation and optimization
• Link building

After listing all the services, mention the details about each service, how you provide them, and when to expect results.

Quality measures

This section should explain how you maintain quality standards and consistently provide the highest quality services.

This may include keyword research quality, regular quality audits, effective use of meta-tags- descriptions, content quality, quality link building, etc.

In short, this section of your SEO plan must be informative, precise, and client-focused. By providing a clear and compelling description of your offerings, you can help potential investors and readers understand the value of your business.

5. Sales And Marketing Strategies

Writing the sales and marketing strategies section means a list of strategies you will use to attract and retain your clients. Here are some key elements to include in your sales & marketing plan:

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Standing out in this competitive world is a must. Especially, when the world is digitalizing and the number of SEO companies are rising constantly.

In this situation, only having USPs will help you drive the clients to your business. Some of the USPs can be a results-oriented approach, white-label SEO, local area SEO mastery, personalized services, etc.

Pricing Strategy

Not just competitive services, but competitive prices are also important to make your business successful. Describe your pricing strategy—how you plan to price your services and stay competitive in the local market. You can mention any discounts you plan on offering to attract new customers.

Marketing Strategies

Discuss your marketing strategies to spread the reach of your SEO business. You may include some of these marketing strategies in your business plan—social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and search engine marketing (SEM).

Customer Retention

Describe your customer retention strategies and how you plan to execute them. For instance, introducing loyalty programs, discounts on annual payments, personalized service, etc.

Overall, this section of your SEO business plan should focus on customer acquisition and retention.

Remember : Have a specific, realistic, and data-driven approach while planning sales and marketing strategies for your SEO business, and be prepared to adapt or make changes in your strategies based on feedback and results.

6. Operations Plan

The operations plan section of your business plan outlines the processes and procedures involved in your business operations, such as staffing requirements, quality measures, and operating hours. Here is an example,

Operations plan for OptiRank Solutions

OptiRank Solutions is dedicated to providing strategic SEO solutions for businesses aiming to enhance their online visibility. The staff includes SEO specialists, content writers, and analysts based on workload and client needs. Regular training sessions are conducted to keep the team updated on the latest industry trends and tools.

The business operates during regular hours from Monday to Friday, with flexibility for monitoring and urgent client needs outside standard hours. OptiRank Solutions employs high-performance computers, industry-standard SEO tools, collaboration and video conferencing tools, and a secure server for data management.

The client onboarding process involves an initial consultation, an SEO audit, and the development of a customized strategy. Quality assurance measures include internal audits and regular client feedback. The plan also outlines scalability strategies, ensuring OptiRank Solutions remains at the forefront of the SEO industry.

Adding these components to your operations plan will help you lay out your business operations, which will eventually help you manage your business effectively.

7. Management Team

The management team section provides an overview of your SEO business’s management team. This section should provide a detailed description of each manager’s experience and qualifications, as well as their responsibilities and roles.

Founders/CEO

Mention the founders and CEO of your SEO company, and describe their roles and responsibilities in successfully running the business.

Key managers

Introduce your management and key members of your team, and explain their roles and responsibilities.

Executive managers for an SEO business can be digital marketing managers, content writing managers, SEO head managers, client services managers, etc.

Compensation Plan

Describe your compensation plan for the management and other members. Include their salaries, incentives, and other benefits.

This section should describe the key personnel for your SEO business, highlighting how you have the perfect team to succeed.

8. Financial Plan

Your financial plan section should provide a summary of your business’s financial projections for the first few years. Here are some key elements to include in your financial plan:

Profit & loss statement

Describe details such as projected revenue, operational costs, and service costs in your projected profit and loss statement. Make sure to include your business’s expected net profit or loss.

Cash flow statement

The cash flow for the first few years of your operation should be estimated and described in this section. This may include billing invoices, payment receipts, and any other cash flow statements.

Balance Sheet

Create a projected balance sheet documenting your SEO business’s assets, liabilities, and equity.

Break-even point

Determine and mention your business’s break-even point—the point at which your business costs and revenue will be equal.

This exercise will help you understand how much revenue you need to generate to sustain or be profitable.

Financing Needs

Calculate costs associated with starting an SEO business, and estimate your financing needs and how much capital you need to raise to operate your business. Be specific about your short-term and long-term financing requirements, such as investment capital or loans.

Note : One of the most interesting parts for readers is the financial plan, so make sure to keep it understandable and add graphs & charts to it.

Be realistic with your financial projections, and make sure you offer relevant information and evidence to support your estimates.

9. Appendix

The appendix section of your plan should include any additional information supporting your business plan’s main content, such as market research, legal documentation, financial statements, and other relevant information.

• Add a table of contents for the appendix section to help readers easily find specific information or sections.
• In addition to your financial statements, provide additional financial documents like tax returns, a list of assets within the business, credit history, and more. These statements must be the latest and offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations.
• Provide data derived from market research, including stats about the industry, user demographics, and industry trends.
• Include any legal documents such as permits, licenses, and contracts.
• Include any additional documentation related to your business plan, such as product brochures, marketing materials, operational procedures, etc.

Use clear headings and labels for each section of the appendix so that readers can easily find the necessary information.

Remember, the appendix section of your SEO business plan should only include relevant and important information supporting your plan’s main content.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

This sample SEO business plan will provide an idea for writing a successful SEO plan, including all the essential components of your business.

After this, if you still need clarification about writing an investment-ready business plan to impress your audience, download our SEO business plan pdf .

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Frequently Asked Questions

Should i include a swot analysis in my seo business plan.

Adding SWOT analysis helps one to know the current market positioning of their SEO business in the market. Also, it will support you in understanding your competitive edge. Thus, SWOT analysis is highly recommended.

Can a good SEO business plan help me secure funding?

Indeed. A well-crafted SEO business plan will help your investors better understand your business domain, market trends, strategies, business financials, and growth potential—helping them make better financial decisions.

So, if you have a profitable and investable business, a comprehensive business plan can certainly help you secure your business funding.

Do I need charts and graphs in my SEO business plan?

Everyone gets bored with text and text, of course, adding graphs and charts will help you keep your audience engaged. This way your readers can skim-read your business plan and still get an idea about your SEO business. Adding graphs and charts is a must, but don’t overdo it.

How detailed should the financial projections be in my SEO business plan?

The level of detail of the financial projections of your SEO business may vary considering various business aspects like direct and indirect competition, pricing, and operational efficiency. However, your financial projections must be comprehensive enough to demonstrate a complete view of your financial performance.

Generally, the statements included in a business plan offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations.

What is the easiest way to write your SEO business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any SEO business plan example and edit it as per your needs. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our AI-powered business plan software .

About the Author

Vinay Kevadiya

Vinay Kevadiya is the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, the #1 business planning software. His ultimate goal with Upmetrics is to revolutionize how entrepreneurs create, manage, and execute their business plans. He enjoys sharing his insights on business planning and other relevant topics through his articles and blog posts. Read more

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How to Create an SEO Strategy for 2024 [Template Included]

Updated: March 14, 2024

Published: April 02, 2018

Here‘s a cliche among digital marketers: Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t what it used to be.

Here‘s a true statement you don’t hear as often: Your SEO strategy shouldn't focus on keywords.

These days, most businesses understand the basic concepts of SEO and why it's important.

However,  when developing and executing a sound SEO strategy for your business, just creating content for the keywords your customers are searching for is both arduous and wrong .

In this post, we’ll explain an SEO strategy and how you can create your own to help you meet your content marketing goals.

Know precisely what you need? Jump to one of the following sections:

• What is an SEO Strategy?

SEO Content Strategy

Best seo examples, seo process, seo monthly plan, what is an seo strategy.

An SEO strategy is a process of organizing a website’s content by topic to improve the likelihood of appearing in search results. Essentially, it is the process you follow to maximize the opportunity to gain organic traffic from search engines.

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An SEO strategy is essential because it helps you stay on track when creating content. Instead of just making what you think people are looking for, your plan will ensure you create content people search for.

For content marketing, an SEO strategy is a critical piece of the puzzle because it is how your content will be seen in the first place, especially in search engine result pages (SERPs). If your content is scattered and unorganized, search engine bots will have more difficulty indexing your site, identifying your area of authority, and ranking your site pages.

Mobile SEO Strategy

Keeping mobile SEO in mind when creating your overall strategy is crucial. Mobile optimization ensures your site and content are available and accessible to visitors on mobile devices. (That means they can have the same experience and receive the same value as desktop browsers.)

Mobile optimization is also essential because Google practices mobile-first indexing . Instead of crawling a desktop site, the algorithm will use the mobile version of your site when indexing and ranking pages for SERPs.

Aside from mobile-first indexing, mobile SEO strategy also matters to consumers. According to HubSpot Blog’s 2023 Web Traffic & Analytics Report :

“54% of consumers use their phones most often when looking up a question on a search engine.”

Over half of online shoppers pick up their phones to ask questions that may lead to purchases. Optimizing your site to reach and capture that market share makes sense when all's said and done.

While it’s not an entirely separate process, there are distinct considerations for mobile SEO, like monitoring page speed, responsive site design, local SEO, and creating high-quality content, regardless of the device it’s viewed on.

Expert Insight

I spoke with Mersudin Forbes , a p ortfolio SEO director and agency advisor with 15 years of experience in SEO.

“When it comes to thinking about a mobile strategy for SEO, it is important to think about how a user is seeking to complete their desired transaction and ensuring that this matches their expectations on mobile,” says Forbes.

Forbes explains that it’s not only Google that practices a mobile-first indexing system but most search engines. So, ensuring that relevant content and functionality is surfaced on mobile remains essential.

Pro tip: “You may also want to test your website speed by throttling page speed tests to 3/4G to ensure that user experience and page responsiveness don't decline with less bandwidth,” says Forbes.

What is a search engine optimizer (SEO)?

Search engine optimizers (SEOs) optimize websites to help them rank higher on SERPs and gain more organic traffic. A search engine optimizer is a highly specialized content strategist who helps a business discover opportunities to answer people's questions about their respective industries.

There are three types of SEO that an SEO strategist can focus on:

• On-page SEO . This SEO focuses on the content on site pages and how to optimize it to boost the website's ranking for specific keywords.
• Off-page SEO. This SEO focuses on links directed to the website from elsewhere. The number of backlinks a site has from reputable sources helps you build trust with search algorithms.
• Technical SEO. This SEO focuses on a website's backend architecture, like site code. Google cares just as much about technical set-up as it does content, so this position is essential for rankings.

Bear in mind that every business has different objectives, so it’s an SEO’s job to examine their industry, determine what their audiences care about, and develop a strategy that gives them what they’re looking for.

Below, I’ll go over some steps you can take to ensure your SEO strategy sets you up for success.

SEO Strategy for Beginners

I’ve been an SEO for the more significant part of the past decade, and I can tell you that our industry has never seen anything like this before.

The search landscape is no longer the same in 2024. With the advent of search AI and AI-generated content , we must implement new approaches to keep our sites ahead of unprecedented competitive challenges.

The good news is that the basics of SEO remain the same. Focus on the user first, always. Focus on helping them, always, and not just gaming the algorithm. Your goal isn’t just to rank highly — it’s to get the right content in front of the right people.

I will walk you through a basic SEO strategy I would use to start a site in 2024 for the first time. Later, below, I’ll cover a more sophisticated SEO content strategy that has generated millions of organic traffic visits for the HubSpot blog.

Let’s get started.

1. Search for your company’s head term on Google.

If I were trying to start an SEO strategy in 2024, my first step would be to look for my company’s head term on Google.

“Head term” refers to the general word or phrase you’d use to describe your product, service, or even the topic you’d like to write about. If I were trying to launch HubSpot for the first time, I would look up “marketing software,” our product’s head term.

And if I were trying to start a blog about publishing, I’d look up “publishing blog.”

Head terms are usually high-volume, meaning many people search for the terms every month. That makes them more challenging to rank for.

What we’re trying to do with this step is not find keywords but rather build our awareness of the search landscape. Take note of everything you see, including the terms suggested after you type in your head term.

We don’t need to use any fancy tools yet, though you’re welcome to use them if you’re familiar with SEO tools . With Semrush, for instance, you can look at the exact number of searches a term receives and an estimation of how difficult it’d be to rank on the first page.

But I’d caution against using tools just yet. Looking directly at the SERPs as you create an SEO strategy is crucial because Google comes up with new SERP features daily.

I’m not just talking about AI-generated results. Featured snippets, local packs, image packs, knowledge packs, and “People Also Ask” boxes can be valuable sources of information that can help you optimize your website later.

2. Look at Google’s suggested searches and filters.

After looking up your head term, the most critical step is to look at Google’s generated filters, highlighted below.

Don’t look at the standard filters, such as “Images, “Shopping,” “Maps,” and so on. You’re looking for the unique filters Google generated for your head term.

These filters are invaluable for answering several questions:

• What are people looking for that's related to your head term?
• What would they find most useful?
• Does your service or product match what people are looking for?
• Can you offer a product page or article that people would find helpful?

If I were building a product page for Marketing Hub , I would be able to answer these questions favorably. Marketing Hub is free, small businesses can use it, and it’s useful for digital marketing.

That means I could probably address a person’s goal when they’re looking for this term. This is good strategic information to have. I wouldn’t execute it just yet because I haven’t considered how difficult it is to rank for this term.

Remember: Head terms are more difficult to rank for, so you’ll want to aim for longer keywords (also called “ long-tail keywords ”) in your SEO strategy. You can begin getting ideas on long-tail terms by clicking on the filters below your head term.

Now, for my publishing blog, I see that I could focus on the publishing industry or self-publishing, as seen by the filters below.

That’s good news — but later down below, I see that Google has included a “What to read” search feature.

That tells me that a blog could be a good fit for this term but that people are also looking for books on publishing. I would then revise my initial head term or revise my blog strategy to slant toward thought leadership.

3. Examine the SERPs.

Once you’ve found a good head term and perused the filters, take a look at the SERPs. I’d recommend going several filters deep so you can get an approximation of a long-tail keyword.

We’re looking for several pieces of information here:

• How many people are trying to rank for this term?
• What kinds of publishers and companies are ranking? Well-known publishers like the New York Times or Nerdwallet, or niche publishers and companies?
• What is located “above the fold” (the area in the upper part of the page before the user scrolls)?
• What SERP features is Google including?
• What kinds of pages and articles are ranking?

For “marketing software for small business,” a relatively long-tail keyword, I saw that Google delivered 850M+ results.

Yikes. That’s a lot of competition.

But the truth is Google has excellent crawlers. It will find just about any website related to a term and rank it to answer a searcher’s query. Don’t be discouraged by large search results.

You should pay close attention to what’s happening in the results themselves. For instance, “marketing software for small business” has multiple SERP features:

• Sponsored ads.
• “From sources across the web” product panels.
• A “People also ask” box.

Yikes again. All of these conspire to give us fewer chances for ranking for this keyword because the SERP features push us down, and we’re already competing against publishers like G2.

Even if we managed to rank on the first page, our click-through rates would probably be lower because this is such a competitive term. Click-through rate refers to the number of people who see your search result compared to the number of people who actually click on it.

I would do one of the two things below:

• Search for an even longer long-tail keyword to try to rank for.
• Continue examining the SERPs for opportunities related to the same search intent, like related searches and FAQs.

Search intent refers to what the user wants to do when they input a keyword in Google.

If I search “how to bake kale chips,” then I intend to not only bake kale chips but also stay “healthy.” As smart as it is, Google would deliver both recipes and related questions about kale chips’ “health value.”

The SERP features for “marketing software for small business” are all supposed to serve a single intent: A searcher who wants to market their small business using software.

Therefore, every SERP feature you see is an additional opportunity to serve content to the same searcher.

The “People also ask” box is a gold mine for finding related questions that the same user probably has, giving us an opportunity to answer those questions.

With SEO, what matters most is not just that your page ranks — but that the right user finds you and ends up becoming a customer (or signing up for your newsletter, subscribing to your YouTube channel, etc).

If I were creating an SEO strategy for Marketing Hub in today’s search landscape, the “People also ask” box is probably where I’d start for keyword and content ideas, and not the head term itself.

The questions, after all, serve the same user and are much less competitive.

You could also use a tool such as Answer the Public to find questions and related terms.

Image Source

Of course, don’t forget a classic: Looking at suggested searches at the bottom of the SERPs. These will give you alternative terms you could try to rank for and additional long-tails and hints about your top competition.

4. Analyze your competition.

When you find a keyword you’re happy with, it’s time to start looking at your competition.

I would say that with SEO, it’s less about what we do and more about what they do than beating them. The thing is, though, that how we beat competitors has changed. It’s no longer about who has the longest blog post or the most backlinks (although these are still important).

The Google search algorithm has gotten more complicated than ever. It’s important to take into account a wide variety of factors like website age, authority, user experience, and even website structure.

Looking at these elements can help you decide what you should put on your website and learn what Google is currently favoring.

When trying to rank for the term “publishing blog,” I found three top competitors: Selfpublishing.com, thatpublishingblog.wordpress.com, and janefriedman.com.

I would look at several things when trying to beat these competitors.

• What kind of content do they publish?
• What kinds of categories do they address?
• What’s the publishers’ or owners’ personal and professional history? Jane Friedman, for instance, is a known industry veteran.

The first question, in particular, is essential for mapping out my SEO content strategy.

For instance, selfpublishing.com has the following categories:

If you’d asked me years ago how I would approach beating this publisher, I would say that I would copy all of their categories and add three more just for kicks.

But Google is no longer the same. It values authority and expertise . It wants to know that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re not just gaming the system.

Therefore, based on my personal expertise, which is in children’s fiction, I’d probably choose two to three categories where I feel I could create a wealth of content: Writing, Children’s Fiction, and Publishing.

If I were trying to rank for “marketing software for small business,” I would ask:

• What kinds of articles or pages are ranking?
• Because this is such a competitive term, what kind of authority or history do I need to rank?
• Could I create something similar?

Look at your competitors’ pages, and keep their qualitative attributes, such as their history in the industry, in mind. But don’t be discouraged by long-time industry players.

When I was an SEO at a transportation startup , we were competing against transportation companies that had been in the industry for 30+ years.

But with a strong content SEO and backlink-building strategy, we managed to get one of our transportation partners to the top of the SERPs.

Once you’ve scanned your competitors, it’s time to dive into a simple three-pronged strategy:

Authority, content, and backlinks.

5. Generate online authority.

If content is queen and backlinking is king, authority is the kingdom.

Authority, in fact, is everything.

These days, SEO isn’t just about writing SEO-optimized content and hoping the algorithm will discover you.

Once upon a time, you used to be able to include the keyword in the title, headings, and text and rank well.

Now, there are a wide variety of content quality factors that Google takes into account, such as:

• Experience.
• Trustworthiness.

Collectively, these are called E-E-A-T , and they’re part of Google’s Search Quality Rater guidelines . Google wants to know that you’re qualified to deliver information to searchers. And if you’re selling a product, it wants to know that you’re legitimate.

Let’s go back to the publishing blog example. Jane Friedman, who ranks #3 for the term “publishing blog,” is a well-documented industry veteran. Her site ranks for 30K+ keywords, and she has more than two hundred thousand backlinks.

Her blog post, “ How to Find a Literary Agent ,” ranks #1 for the highly competitive head term “literary agent,” above top publishers such as Reedsy and even Wikipedia .

Because Friedman has plenty of E-E-A-T — she’s an expert with experience, and therefore, she’s authoritative and trustworthy.

There are several ways to build your authority when creating an SEO strategy for a new site or company:

• Include your credentials across several sources on the web: LinkedIn, Facebook, your personal website, etc.
• Interview experts and include their insights in your pages and blog posts.
• Hire freelance writers who specialize in your niche, and use their name, content, and insights on your website.
• Publish guest blog posts in authoritative blogs and websites to slowly build a digital footprint.

The Google algorithm is smart. It can cross-reference hundreds of thousands of sources to determine whether you’re an authority in the field.

To make it a bit easier for the algorithm, you should also make your authority clear, as Jane Friedman does below in her biography.

If I were launching Marketing Hub for the first time, I would:

• Cite my nearly decades-long digital marketing experience on the “About” page.
• Publish guest blog posts on marketing blogs and websites.
• Start another media outlet, such as a podcast or blog, to publish my marketing opinions and insights.
• Publish an ebook with my marketing expertise.
• Hire software developers who’ve created proven products before — and publicize that Marketing Hub was made by the developers who made X.

As you foster authority, you should concurrently create content on your website, which I cover next.

6. Create search engine optimized content.

This step is probably what you thought of when I first started talking about an SEO strategy. And for good reason. According to the web analysts and SEO experts surveyed for HubSpot Blog’s 2023 Web Traffic & Analytics Report :

“Optimizing your on-page content around target keywords is the most effective strategy for ranking highly in SERPs.”

Remember all that research we did at the beginning? It finally comes into play because it’s time to create content that’s optimized for those long-tail keywords.

I recommend using a tool to help you find potential keywords, such as Ahrefs or Semrush.

Here’s a guide on keyword research to help you out .

I follow one simple rule when creating content I want to rank: Write for humans first, search engines second.

I like to think of it this way. I’m writing an article or page to help a person. But also to hold the algorithm’s hand a little bit. Google is smart, but not so smart to rank your page unless you give it a few hints.

Therefore, I like to stick to the basics.

1. Include the Keyword in the Page Title, H1, Text, Meta Description, and URL.

I generally include the keyword a few times on and off your page to give Google a hand.

As an example, our product marketing team optimized Marketing Hub’s page to a T.

What we like: They include the keyword in the page title (which is the text that appears in search results, pictured above), the H1, and the very first line of text at the top of the page.

And, it works: We rank #3 for the highly competitive term “marketing software.”

You’ll also want to include your keyword in the meta description and the URL.

2. Be helpful.

Be helpful with your content. Ask yourself: When a person lands on this page, what would they be looking for?

You can answer this question by examining the SERPs and your competition. You can also think through your reader’s thought process and their search intent.

For Marketing Hub, we included commonly asked questions, even those related to one of our competitors.

And Jane Friedman includes information on what to expect from a good literary agent.

What we like: Notice that this content is not necessarily beautifully formatted, nor does it target a specific keyword. It’s supposed to help the reader first and foremost — and by helping the reader, you help yourself.

After all, Google only wants to rank content that genuinely helps someone do or learn something.

3. Include alt text and compress images.

Image alt text still remains one of the most underrated ways to optimize your page.

Not only does it improve web accessibility, but it gives you a chance to rank in Google’s image pack and image results. That ultimately means more traffic to your website.

And if you don’t believe me: Here’s a traffic snapshot from HubSpot’s image pack rankings (look under the column titled “Traffic”).

Just from our position for “resignation letter example,” we’ve received more than 6K organic visits .

Not surprisingly, the image that ranks has the alt text “gracious resignation letter sample.”

In addition to describing what the image contains, you should include your keyword in the alt text to give you a better chance of ranking.

Lastly, don’t forget to compress your images so that your page loads more quickly .

4. Build Internal Links

After creating content, internal linking is paramount.

It creates a network for Google to follow. Remember, the Google algorithm is smart, but it still needs a hand here and there. How will it know certain pages are topically related unless you tell it?

So, by internally linking from one page to another, you’re giving the algorithm a pattern to follow.

At the HubSpot blog, we call this the pillar-cluster model , which helped us overcome a year-long traffic plateau.

By internally linking, you’re telling the algorithm that a number of your pages are interrelated. You’re also signaling that you cover specific topics at length and that you’re, therefore, an authoritative resource.

And authority is everything.

I reached out to Nedim Mehic , who has 10 years of experience in SEO. He’s also the founder of Beki AI, an internal linking software .

“As an internal linking software founder, I might be biased, but I can confidently say that in 2024, internal linking remains a pillar of effective SEO strategies," says Mehic.

Mehic explains that by strategically interlinking pages, we accomplish two major goals: “We guide users in navigating the site with ease and assist search engines in effectively understanding and organizing our content.”

Aside from achieving those two goals, internal linking can garner significant results in other areas. “I've seen so many websites find success after improving their internal linking strategy that they neglected for years,” says Mehic.

When I asked what “success” looks like in this context, Mehic cited a user in the beta test phase for Beki AI. The user reported an 800% click increase after adding relevant internal links to a page that was struggling with traffic.

7. Build backlinks.

Content is still queen — but she has to be accompanied by her king: Backlinks.

You could have the most beautiful, SEO-optimized website, but Google won’t rank it unless you receive “votes” from other sites.

We’ll cover backlinks again for your SEO content strategy below. However, I can’t underemphasize how important they are, so I’m going to repeat it again.

Backlinks are the most quantitative way to build authority in your industry. The more backlinks you have, the more authoritative you seem to the Google algorithm.

Why? Because a site wouldn’t link to you unless you were a legitimate, trustworthy source of information.

Here's a selection of my favorite backlink strategies :

• Publish guest blog posts on other publishers’ websites and link back to your site.
• Write helpful content that other sites will want to link to.
• Publish original research that other publishers will want to link to.
• Partner with companies on co-marketing campaigns.
• Join industry membership organizations with public profiles.
• Sponsor events and conferences.

Here’s an example of some original research by Design Bundles that generated backlinks.

What we like: The research isn’t just compelling but highly tailored to the company’s niche. That means it likely generated relevant backlinks, and thus relevant viewers, to the website. The research methodology is also sound. Plus, we love that Design Bundles repurposed the research and press coverage across its social channels. Here’s how The Calvert Journal featured the research .

Next up, I’m going to dive a little more deeply into the SEO content strategy that’s driven millions of visits to the HubSpot blog.

• Make a list of topics.
• Make a list of long-tail keywords based on these topics.
• Build pages for each topic.
• Set up a blog.
• Create a consistent blogging schedule.
• Create a link-building plan.
• Compress media files before uploading them to your site.
• Stay up-to-date on SEO news and best practices.
• Measure and track your content's success.

1. Make a list of topics.

To get your SEO content strategy off the ground, make a list of topics you’d like your content to address.

To start, compile a list of about 10 words and terms associated with your product or service. Use an SEO tool ( Google's Keyword Tool , SE Ranking , Ahrefs , SEMRush , or GrowthBar , just to name a few) to research these words, identify their search volume, and come up with variations that make sense for your business.

You can also speed up the process with HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator . You can type in your main keyword or a brief description of your blog’s contents, and the platform will generate topics, sub-headings, and even drafts based on your input.

The tool also integrates with SEMRush to help you fine-tune the generated output with relevant high-performing keywords. 

By doing this, you are associating these topics with popular head terms (or short-tail keywords, if you'd prefer), but you’re not dedicating individual blog posts to these keywords. Let’s go over an example of this process using the image below.

Let’s say a swimming pool business is trying to rank for “fiberglass pools,” which receives 110,000 monthly searches. This short-tail keyword can represent the overarching topic for creating their content, but the business will also need to identify a series of related keywords to include in their content. For example, they could opt to use the “fiberglass pool prices” or “fiberglass pool cost” to achieve additional rankings for the overall keyword of fiberglass pools.

Using search volume and competition as your measurement, you can create a list of 10-15 short-tail keywords that are relevant to your business and are being searched for by your target audiences. Then, rank this list based on monthly search volume.

Each of the keywords that you’ve identified are called pillars, and they serve as the primary support for a larger cluster of long-tail keywords, which we’ll discuss below.

2. Make a list of long-tail keywords based on these topics.

During this step, you’ll begin optimizing your pages for specific keywords. For each pillar you've identified, use your keyword tool to identify five to 10 long-tail keywords that dig deeper into the original topic keyword.

For example, we regularly create content about SEO, but it's difficult to rank well on Google for such a popular topic with this acronym alone. We also risk competing with our own content by creating multiple pages that are all targeting the exact same keyword — and potentially the same SERPs.

Therefore, we also create content on conducting keyword research, optimizing images for search engines, creating an SEO strategy (which you're reading right now), and other subtopics within the SEO umbrella.

This helps businesses attract people who have varying interests and concerns, and ultimately creates more entry points for people interested in what you have to offer.

Use your long-tail keywords to create blog posts or web pages that explain the specific topics within the pillars you’ve selected. Together, all of your long-tail keywords create a cluster around a pillar topic. Search engine algorithms depend on the relationships between clusters to connect users with the information they're looking for.

Here's a short video on this concept:

[Video: Topic Clusters: The Next Evolution of Content Strategy ]

Think of it this way: The more specific your content, the more specific the needs of your audience can be, and the more likely you‘ll convert this traffic into leads. This is how Google finds value in the websites it crawls — the pages that dig into the inner workings of a general topic are seen as the best answer to a person’s query and will rank higher.

3. Build pages for each topic.

When it comes to websites and ranking in search engines, trying to get one page to rank for a handful of keywords can be next to impossible. But here's where the rubber meets the road.

Use the pillar topics you came up with to create a page or post that gives a high-level overview of the topic using the long-tail keywords you came up with for each cluster in step two. These pillar pages can essentially be a table of contents, where you’re giving a description of the main topic and briefing readers on subtopics you’ll elaborate on in other posts.

Ultimately, the number of topics for which you create pillar pages should coincide with your business needs, like the number of products and offerings you have. This will make it much easier for your prospects and customers to find you in search engines no matter what keywords they use.

4. Set up a blog.

Blogging can be an incredible way to rank for keywords and engage your website's users. After all, every blog post is a new web page and an additional opportunity to rank in SERPs. It’s no wonder, then, that marketers cite blogging as the top media format they aim to use for the first time in 2024. ( HubSpot’s Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2024 )

Long story short? If your business does not already have a blog, consider creating one. As you write each blog post and expand on your clusters, you should do three things:

• Don‘t include your long-tail keyword more than three or four times throughout the page, as Google doesn’t consider exact keyword matches as often as it used to. In fact, too many instances of your keyword can be a red flag to search engines that you're keyword stuffing to gain rankings, and they’ll penalize you for this.
• Second, always link out to the pillar page you created for your topics. You can do this in the form of tags in your content management system (CMS) or as basic anchor text in the body of the article.
• Once you publish each blog post, link to it within the parent pillar page that supports the subtopic. By connecting both the pillar and the cluster in this way, you‘re telling Google that there’s a relationship between the long-tail keyword and the overarching topic you're trying to rank for.

5. Create a consistent blogging schedule.

Your blog should be a trove of information for your prospective customers. That means not every blog post or web page you create needs to belong to a topic cluster. There's also value in writing about tangential topics your customers care about. Doing so will help you build authority with Google algorithms.

But it'll take time to build that authority, so make it a point to blog at least once a week. Remember, you’re blogging primarily for your audience, not search engines, so study your target market and write about things that they’re interested in.

It may also be helpful to create a content strategy to stay consistent with your blogging schedule and focused on your goals.

I spoke with Zoe Ashbridge , Senior SEO Strategist at forank . Ashbridge has nearly a decade of experience in digital marketing and SEO.

"Your blog will likely become your biggest traffic generator, providing you're doing it properly,” says Ashbridge.

"Weekly blogging can feel like a lot, but if you're starting out, content production is truly what you need. You want to become the most trusted resource within your niche so your users are served and Google prioritizes your site in SERPs,” Ashbridge explains.

Pro tip: A simple Google sheet helps manage blog production.

“At minimum, use a Google sheet to keep a record of the blogs you‘re posting, their keywords, the date published, the cluster they belong to, and the live URL. Refer back to this sheet when you’re monitoring performance or for internal linking,” she says.

6. Create a link-building plan.

The topic cluster model is your way forward in SEO, but it‘s not the only way to get your website content to rank higher once it’s been created.

While our first five steps were dedicated to on-page SEO, link-building is the primary objective of off-page SEO. Link-building is the process of attracting inbound links (also called backlinks) to your website from other sources on the internet. As a general rule, sites with more authority that link back to your content have a more significant impact on your rankings.

Dedicate some time to brainstorming all the various ways you can attract inbound links. Maybe you’ll start by sharing links with local businesses in exchange for links to their own sites, or you’ll write a few blog posts and share them on different social media platforms. You can also approach other blogs for guest blogging opportunities through which you can link back to your website or find different agencies that provide link building services .

7. Compress media files before uploading them to your site.

This is a small but important step in the SEO process, especially for mobile optimization.

As your blog or website grows, you‘ll undoubtedly have more images, videos, and related media to support your content. These visual assets help retain your visitors’ attention, but it's easy to forget that these files can be very large. Since page speed is a crucial ranking factor, it’s important to monitor the size of the media files you upload to your site.

The bigger the file size, the more difficult it is for an internet browser to render your website. It’s also harder for mobile browsers to load these images, as the bandwidth on their devices is significantly smaller. So, the smaller the file size, the faster your website will load. But how do you compress images and still retain quality?

It’s worth considering the use of a compression tool to reduce file sizes before uploading images, videos, and gifs. Sites like TinyPNG compress images in bulk, while Google's Squoosh can shrink image files to microscopic sizes. However, you choose to compress your media, keeping files in the kilobytes (KB) range is a good rule of thumb.

8. Stay up-to-date on SEO news and best practices.

Just like marketing, the search engine landscape is ever-evolving. Staying on top of current trends and best practices is an important strategy, and there are multiple online resources that can help you do so. Here are a few resources to check out:

• Search Engine Roundtable .
• Search Engine Land .
• Diggity Marketing .

9. Measure and track your content's success.

SEO can take a lot of time and effort, and because of this, you’ll want to know if your strategy works. It’s important to track your metrics to understand the success of your overall process and identify possible areas for improvement.

Not sure where to start when it comes to metrics? According to 2023 HubSpot data , sales, leads, and conversions are the most important metrics tracked by web analysts. Next up are total monthly visitors, click-through rate, search traffic, and bounce rate.

You can monitor organic traffic using your preferred web analytics tool or create your own dashboard using Excel or Google Sheets. For a more comprehensive solution, consider using HubSpot's Marketing Analytics and Dashboard software , which provides a centralized platform for tracking all your key SEO-related metrics. 

Also, tracking indexed pages, conversions, ROI, and your rankings on SERPs can help you recognize your success as well as identify areas of opportunity.

Creating an SEO Report

An SEO report is an overview of the SEO efforts you’ve enacted over a specific period of time. It essentially shows how successful you’ve been, as well as any areas that need improvement. Having a consolidated report also helps you present the data to relevant stakeholders to display why your SEO activities are important and how they drive growth for your business.

Your SEO report can contain metrics like organic traffic results, the SEO health of your website, inbound link generation, and also address any areas where growth has declined that need to be addressed for future improvement.

The image below is an example of an SEO report from Ahrefs, which has given an overview of the link-building progress of the SEO efforts.

What we like: We love that the report is broken down across one, seven, and 30 days, so it’s clear to see the traction of link-building campaigns over a given period. You can then identify what’s working and what isn’t across these intervals.

In order to fuel your SEO report, you’ll actually need to have completed some SEO activities, and below, I’ll give some high-quality examples of successful SEO.

As mentioned above, there are a variety of different things you can do for your business to enact your SEO strategy. Below, I go over some examples of what this looks like in practice that you can use as inspiration for your own processes.

There are a variety of different things you can include in your SEO strategy. Consider the following.

1. Writing Compelling Meta Descriptions

A meta description is the snippet of text below a title and link in search results. The description, well, describes the content of the page to the person conducting the queries so they know what to expect. The image below is the result of a search query for market research.

What we like: This is a high-quality meta description because it lets Google know exactly what the page contains, helping your content surface in the correct search results and helping audiences understand exactly what they’re about to click on.

2. Getting Content Backlinks and Inbound Links

A backlink, also called an inbound link, is when another website links back to your website or blog content. It’s usually placed as a hyperlink on a string of text that relates to your content, and when clicked, they’re taken to your site.

Backlinks are an effective SEO tool because they show search engines that your content is authoritative and relevant, helping you rank higher in SERPs. The image below is an example of a blog post from the Content Marketing Institute that has a backlink to the HubSpot Blog post that you’re reading right now.

Pro tip: You can use different paid tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush to find your existing content backlinks. But to find this one, I made use of Ubersuggest’s free backlink checker.

3. Optimizing Your Site Pages for Page Speed.

Page speed is how quickly the content on your website loads when someone visits a specific page on your website. Google began taking page speed into account for SERP rankings in 2018, making it a critical area of focus when you enact your strategy.

Pro tip: Try the “Compress media files before uploading them to your site” step I outlined above in your SEO strategy. This is a critical step in optimizing your site for page speed.

4. Local SEO

Local SEO is improving search engine visibility for your business’s location. An effective local SEO strategy will surface your content in search queries from customers in your local area, letting them know your business is there to meet their needs.

The image below is a SERP result example for “best restaurants Brooklyn,” showing local SEO in action.

What we like: The three businesses that appear in results have an optimized Google My Business profile that contains information that helps it surface in results for Brooklyn-area restaurants. Having up-to-date information here doesn’t just help the restaurant’s wider SEO efforts. It also helps potential customers find the information they need.

I contacted Christopher Levy , senior manager of SEO at Marketing Six , for comment. Christopher has ten years of SEO experience and specializes in local.

“While most SEOs have had to compensate for traffic erosion due to Google's increasing use of rich features and paid ads on search engine result pages (or SERPs), local SEOs must compete with two of the most visually appealing and authoritative features that dominate local,” says Levy.

Christopher explains that local service ads (or LSAs) are one of these features. This ad format is exclusive to local businesses in fields such as plumbing, law, dentistry, preschools, childcare, and massage, to name a few.

The other is the local pack or Google Maps — this SERP feature takes up nearly the entire browser menu on mobile search. Google Maps often meets the searcher's needs by providing geographic proximity, reviews, and an easy click-to-call feature.

“A business's presence on Google Maps is managed via Google Business Profiles (or GBPs)... Administering a client's GBP is an important skill set that a local SEO must learn,” Chris emphasizes. This skill set includes optimizing the listing to be up-to-date and accurate, with relevant and compelling visuals.

“You can also share content, updates, and offers on a GBP,” he offers.

Pro tip: “Soliciting and responding to reviews is another important role in managing a GBP that draws on skills needed for outreach. It would be best if you worked with your local clients on a strategy for soliciting reviews from their customers,” he says.

Once you’ve created your SEO strategy, you should also build a process to continue optimizing for new keywords and evolving search intent. Here are a few steps you can take.

1. Historically optimize your content.

Devote some time each month to updating old blog posts with new and up-to-date information to continue ranking in SERPs. You can also use this time to add any SEO best practices that weren’t initially addressed, like missing image alt text.

2. Look out for changing keywords and new search intent.

After a few months, track how your blog posts are ranking and which keywords they're ranking for. This can help you adjust subheadings and copy to leverage new search intent that your audience may be interested in.

3. Add more editorial value to your old content.

Sometimes, you'll find that a post is completely out of date. In this scenario, you should go beyond the average historical SEO update and give it a full refresh. You can do this by updating out-of-date information and statistics, incorporating new sections for added depth, and adding quotes or original data to give the post more referral traffic.

4. Create a monthly content plan.

To keep up with your SEO strategy, it can be helpful to create and refine a monthly content plan. You can place it into a spreadsheet, and your teams can track it accordingly. The list below is an example of a monthly content plan that takes the above steps into account.

• Devote time to keyword research related to your industry.
• List blog post ideas that leverage opportunistic keywords.
• Identify blog posts that can be updated or refreshed.
• Identify other SEO opportunities, such as holidays.
• List content ideas in a Search Insights Report.
• Assign content to your team.
• Track progress at the end of each month.

With a monthly SEO plan like the one above, plus a tracking document like a search insights report, you can build out and execute an efficient SEO strategy. You can also identify and leverage low-hanging-fruit topics to discuss related to your industry.

Create A Strategy That Supports Your Business Goals

Ranking in search pages can be difficult. While it may seem enticing to create content that is centered around high-traffic keywords, that strategy may not help you meet your business goals.

Instead, opt to create an SEO strategy that helps you address your individual business needs, like increasing customer acquisition, for greater marketing success.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in April 2019 but was updated in January 2024 for consistency and freshness.

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How to Start an SEO Business

Importantly, a critical step in starting an SEO business is to complete your business plan. To help you out, you should download Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template here .

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

14 Steps To Start an SEO Business:

• Choose the Name for Your SEO Business
• Develop Your SEO Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your SEO Business
• Secure Startup Funding for Your SEO Business (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your SEO Business with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your SEO Business
• Buy or Lease the Right SEO Business Equipment & Software
• Develop Your SEO Business Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your SEO Business
• Open for Business

1. Choose the Name for Your SEO Business

The first step to starting an SEO business is to choose your business’ name.  

This is a very important choice since your company name is your brand and will last for the lifetime of your business. Ideally you choose a name that is meaningful and memorable. Here are some tips for choosing a name for your SEO business:

• Make sure the name is available . Check your desired name against trademark databases and your state’s list of registered business names to see if it’s available. Also check to see if a suitable domain name is available.
• Keep it simple . The best names are usually ones that are easy to remember, pronounce and spell.
• Think about marketing . Come up with a name that reflects the desired brand and/or focus of your SEO business.

2. Develop Your SEO Business Plan

One of the most important steps in starting an SEO business is to develop your business plan. The process of creating your plan ensures that you fully understand your market and your business strategy. The plan also provides you with a roadmap to follow and if needed, to present to funding sources to raise capital for your business.

Your business plan should include the following sections:

• Executive Summary – this section should summarize your entire business plan so readers can quickly understand the key details of your SEO business.
• Company Overview – this section tells the reader about the history of your SEO business and what type of profitable SEO business you operate. For example, are you a service, software, or education SEO business. Service businesses provide on-site optimization, link building, and other services to help clients improve their search engine rankings. Software businesses make and sell SEO tools, such as rank checkers, backlink checkers, and keyword research tools. Education businesses offer courses and tutorials on how to do SEO.
• Industry Analysis – here you will document key information about the SEO business industry. Conduct market research and document how big the industry is and what trends are affecting it.
• Customer Analysis – in this section, you will document who your ideal or target customers are and their demographics. For example, how old are they? Where do they live? What do they find important when purchasing SEO services like the ones you will offer?
• Competitive Analysis – here you will document the key direct and indirect competitors you will face and how you will build competitive advantage.
• Marketing Plan – your marketing plan should address the 4Ps: Product, Price, Promotions and Place.
• Product : Determine and document what products/services you will offer 
• Prices : Document the prices of your products/services
• Place : Where will your business be located and how will that location help you increase sales?
• Promotions : What promotional methods will you use to attract customers to your own agency? For example, you might decide to use pay-per-click advertising, public relations, search engine optimization and/or social media marketing.
• Operations Plan – here you will determine the key processes you will need to run your day-to-day operations. You will also determine your staffing needs. Finally, in this section of your plan, you will create a projected growth timeline showing the milestones you hope to achieve in the coming years.
• Management Team – this section details the background of your company’s management team.
• Financial Plan – finally, the financial plan answers questions including the following:
• What startup costs will you incur?
• How will your SEO business make money?
• What are your projected sales and expenses for the next five years?
• Do you need to raise funding to launch your own business?

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3. choose the legal structure for your seo business.

Next you need to choose a legal structure for your SEO business and register it and your business name with the Secretary of State in each state where you operate your business.

Below are the five most common legal structures:

1) Sole proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is a business entity in which the owner of the SEO business and the business are the same legal person. The owner of a sole proprietorship is responsible for all debts and obligations of the business. There are no formalities required to establish a sole proprietorship, and it is easy to set up and operate. The main advantage of a sole proprietorship is that it is simple and inexpensive to establish. The main disadvantage is that the owner is liable for all debts and obligations of the business.

2) Partnerships

A partnership is a legal structure that is popular among small businesses. It is an agreement between two or more people who want to be business partners. The partners share in the profits and losses of the business. 

The advantages of a partnership are that it is easy to set up, and the partners share in the profits and losses of the business. The disadvantages of a partnership are that the partners are jointly liable for the debts of the business, and disagreements between partners can be difficult to resolve.

3) Limited Liability Company (LLC)

A limited liability company, or LLC, is a type of business entity that provides limited liability to its owners. This means that the owners of an LLC are not personally responsible for the debts and liabilities of the business. The advantages of an LLC for an SEO business include flexibility in management, pass-through taxation (avoids double taxation as explained below), and limited personal liability. The disadvantages of an LLC include lack of availability in some states and self-employment taxes.

4) C Corporation

A C Corporation is a business entity that is separate from its owners. It has its own tax ID and can have shareholders. The main advantage of a C Corporation for an SEO business is that it offers limited liability to its owners. This means that the owners are not personally responsible for the debts and liabilities of the business. The disadvantage is that C Corporations are subject to double taxation. This means that the corporation pays taxes on its profits, and the shareholders also pay taxes on their dividends.

5) S Corporation

An S Corporation is a type of corporation that provides its owners with limited liability protection and allows them to pass their business income through to their personal income tax returns, thus avoiding double taxation. There are several limitations on S Corporations including the number of shareholders they can have among others.

Once you register your SEO business, your state will send you your official “Articles of Incorporation.” You will need this among other documentation when establishing your banking account (see below). We recommend that you consult an attorney in determining which legal structure is best suited for your company.

4. Secure Startup Funding for Your SEO Business (If Needed)

In developing your SEO business plan , you might have determined that you need to raise funding to launch your business. 

If so, the main sources of funding for an SEO business to consider are personal savings, family and friends, credit card financing, bank loans, crowdfunding and angel investors. Angel investors are individuals who provide capital to early-stage businesses. Angel investors typically will invest in an SEO business that they believe has high potential for growth.

5. Secure a Location for Your Business

Having the right space can be important for your SEO business, particularly if you’d like to meet potential clients.

To find the right space, consider:

• Driving around to find the right areas while looking for “for lease” signs
• Contacting a commercial real estate agent
• Doing commercial real estate searches online
• Telling others about your needs and seeing if someone in your network has a connection that can help you find the right space

6. Register Your SEO Business with the IRS

Next, you need to register your business with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which will result in the IRS issuing you an Employer Identification Number (EIN).

Most banks will require you to have an EIN in order to open up an account. In addition, in order to hire employees, you will need an EIN since that is how the IRS tracks your payroll tax payments.

Note that if you are a sole proprietor without employees, you generally do not need to get an EIN. Rather, you would use your social security number (instead of your EIN) as your taxpayer identification number.

7. Open a Business Bank Account

It is important to establish a bank account in your SEO business’ name. This process is fairly simple and involves the following steps:

• Identify and contact the bank you want to use
• Gather and present the required documents (generally include your company’s Articles of Incorporation, driver’s license or passport, and proof of address)
• Complete the bank’s application form and provide all relevant information
• Meet with a banker to discuss your business needs and establish a relationship with them

8. Get a Business Credit Card

You should get a business credit card for your SEO business to help you separate personal and business expenses.

You can either apply for a business credit card through your bank or apply for one through a credit card company.

When you’re applying for a business credit card, you’ll need to provide some information about your business. This includes the name of your business, the address of your business, and the type of business you’re running. You’ll also need to provide some information about yourself, including your name, Social Security number, and date of birth.

Once you’ve been approved for a business credit card, you’ll be able to use it to make purchases for your business. You can also use it to build your credit history which could be very important in securing loans and getting credit lines for your business in the future.

9. Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits

To start an SEO business, you will need to obtain a business license and a permit to operate a business in your state. You may also need to register your business with the state or local government. You can find more information on the licensing and permitting requirements for your state or local jurisdiction online or by contacting your local government office.

10. Get Business Insurance for Your SEO Business

Other business insurance policies that you should consider for your SEO business include:

• General liability insurance : This covers accidents and injuries that occur on your property. It also covers damages caused by your employees or products.
• Workers’ compensation insurance : If you have employees, this type of policy works with your general liability policy to protect against workplace injuries and accidents. It also covers medical expenses and lost wages.
• Commercial property insurance : This covers damage to your property caused by fire, theft, or vandalism.
• Business interruption insurance : This covers lost income and expenses if your business is forced to close due to a covered event.
• Professional liability insurance : This protects your business against claims of professional negligence.

Find an insurance agent, tell them about your business and its needs, and they will recommend policies that fit those needs. 

11. Buy or Lease the Right SEO Business Equipment & Software

When starting an SEO business, you’ll need some key pieces of equipment to get you started. First and foremost, you’ll need a computer and an internet connection. You’ll also need software that can help you with your SEO work, such as a keyword research tool, a backlink checker, and a plagiarism checker. You may also want to invest in some SEO course materials or coaching to help you get started.

12. Develop Your SEO Business Marketing Materials

Marketing materials will be required to attract and retain customers to your SEO business.

The key marketing materials you will need are as follows:

• Logo : Spend some time developing a good logo for your SEO business. Your logo will be printed on company stationery, business cards, marketing materials and so forth. The right logo can increase customer trust and awareness of your brand.
• Website : Likewise, a professional SEO business website provides potential customers with information about the services you offer, your company’s history, and contact information. Importantly, remember that the look and feel of your website will affect how customers perceive you.
• Social Media Accounts : establish social media accounts in your company’s name. Accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and/or other social media networks will help customers and others find and interact with your SEO business.

13. Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your SEO Business

The most important software for an SEO business is a keyword research tool. A good keyword research tool will help you find the right words to target for your SEO campaigns. Other software that can be helpful for an SEO business includes a website analysis tool, a link analysis tool, and a backlink checker.

14. Open for Business

You are now ready to open your SEO business. If you followed the steps above, you should be in a great position to build a successful business. Below are answers to frequently asked questions that might further help you.

How to Finish Your SEO Business Plan in 1 Day!

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With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

How to Start an SEO Business FAQs

Is it hard to start an seo business.

No, it's not hard to start an SEO business. In fact, there are a lot of steps you can take to make it successful. Here are some tips:

• Make sure you have a good understanding of SEO basics.
• Choose the right niche for your business.
• Develop strong branding and marketing strategies.
• Offer quality services and customer support.
• Stay up to date with the latest trends and changes in the industry.

How can I start an SEO business with no experience?

There are a few things you'll need to do in order to start an SEO agency with no experience. First, you'll need to learn about SEO basics. You can find a lot of information online, or you can take a course to get started. You'll also need to create a business plan and find potential clients.

What type of SEO business is most profitable?

There are a few different types of new SEO agencies that can be profitable. The most profitable type of SEO business is one that provides a comprehensive suite of services, such as search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and web design. However, it is also possible to be successful with a more limited offering, such as only providing search engine optimization services.

How much does it cost to start an SEO business?

The cost of starting an SEO business can vary depending on the size and scope of the business. However, most local many business owners will need some basic equipment, including a computer, internet access, and software. Additionally, most businesses will likely need to invest in marketing and advertising to generate leads. Startup cost can range from $500 to $5,000. 

What are the ongoing expenses for an SEO business?

Some of the most common ongoing expenses for an SEO business include marketing materials, website hosting and maintenance, and employee salaries. It's important to carefully consider these costs when starting an SEO business so that you can accurately budget for your business' success.

How does an SEO business make money?

One way for an SEO business to make money is by selling its services to businesses who want their websites to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). These businesses will typically pay the SEO business a monthly fee in order to have it optimize their website for certain keywords or phrases. Another way that an SEO business can make money is by selling advertising space on its website. Advertisers will pay the SEO business a certain amount of money each time one of their ads is clicked on. Finally, an SEO business can also make money by referring customers to other businesses that offer related products or services. When these customers purchase something from the other business, the SEO business receives a commission.

Is owning an SEO business profitable?

An SEO business can be very profitable if done correctly. There are a few things you need to do in order to have a successful SEO business.

The first thing you need to do is find a good SEO company to partner with. A good SEO company will be able to help you with everything from website design to link building. They will also be able to help you create an effective SEO strategy.

The next thing you need to do is create a good website. Your website should be well-designed and user-friendly. It should also be optimized for search engines.

The last thing you need to do is market your SEO business. You can do this by creating a marketing plan and targeting the right audience. You can also use online marketing methods such as PPC, email marketing, and social media marketing.

Why do SEO businesses fail?

There are a few key reasons why SEO companies can fail. One of the main reasons is a lack of understanding of how SEO works. A lot of business owners think that they can do it on their own, or they hire an inexperienced consultant who causes more harm than good. Additionally, some business owners don't bother to track their results and simply throw money at the problem without seeing any improvement in their rankings. And finally, another common reason for failure is when business owners stop investing in SEO once they see some initial success – eventually their rankings will drop and they'll be left scrambling to catch up again.

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