SEO for new start-ups with limited budgets

Start-ups often have one problem when it comes to SEO: there is no time, no team and hardly any budget for SEO. However, setting up a good SEO strategy is possible, provided you know where your focus should be. I share with you an approach that helps start-ups with limited resources to become visible online.

1. Start with an SEO structure that is scalable

If you have little budget, you need to do it right the first time. That starts with a good foundation of your Web site.

What you need at a minimum:

• One well-thought-out main navigation structure (services, sectors, locations)
• SEO-friendly URLs
• Title tags and meta descriptions on every page
• Internal links that are logically structured

From day 1, work with an established content structure. This makes later expansion (such as city pages, industry pages) easier and cheaper.

2. Choose content based on intent, not volume

Entrepreneurs with start-ups often make the mistake of choosing only keywords that have high search volumes. But only paying attention to search volume without keeping conversion intent in mind does not yield much.

Choose rather:

• Buyer-focused search terms: “software for accountants,” “sustainable packaging materials for web shops”
• Information with direct relevance: “how do I choose [your product] as an SME?”
• Terms on which large parties do not sit, but which are bought

Also use free tools such as Google Search Console, AnswerThePublic or the free version of Ahrefs. Ubersuggest is also a good option.

3. Publish once a week, focusing on value

Consistency and quality win out over volume in the long run. One in-depth article a week is better than five superficial ones a month.

The structure of a good SEO page:

• One central question or search term
• Answer in the first paragraph
• Substantiated with examples, steps or data
• Internal links to related pages
• CTA at the bottom (contact, demo, free download)

Feel free to let AI help with initial setup, but manually optimize for search intent and tone of voice.

Getting started with SEO? Feel free to get in touch.

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4. Technology: ensure a fast, clean site

Are you using WordPress? Then choose a light theme (such as GeneratePress or Astra), limit the number of plug-ins and work with caching.

This is a checklist for your website:

• Is your website mobile-friendly? (Test this with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test)
• The pagespeed score must be higher than 90, on mobile and desktop
• There should be no indexable test or filter pages
• The XML sitemap and robots.txt must be present
• Use hreflang tags with multilingualism

This costs nothing extra, but does provide an advantage over competitors with slow or cluttered sites.

5. Backlinks? Start small and close

You don’t have to have a big link building budget to build authority. I have some great tips for building link building authority:

• Make sure your company is on all relevant business directories and industry pages Chamber of Commerce, Sortlist, Appwiki)
• Ask partners, customers or suppliers for a listing
• Publish a guest blog on one relevant niche platform
• Deploy internal links smartly (from strong pages to new content)

Quality is more than quantity. One link from a relevant industry partner is more valuable than ten random directories.

Summary

SEO for start-ups is all about making choices. You don’t have to do everything, but what you do has to be right. Focus on a strong structure, intentional content and a technically sound site. That’s how you lay the foundation for sustainable growth, without depending on advertising budgets.