Surviving in the startup space is challenging, no matter how unique your product idea is. The sheer number of competitors makes it hard to carve a niche for your business. Online visibility can give you a winning advantage in this context.
According to a Sistrix study, the first position in Google search rankings gets a click rate of 28.5%. The same survey shows that only an average of 2.5% click the tenth result. These numbers show the significance of a robust SEO plan for a startup.
If your website fails to reach the top results or even the first page, you cannot get anywhere. Low visibility translates into low traffic, minimal conversions, and low revenues. All these factors are a recipe for disaster for a startup. Sustainable SEO can help you overcome these factors.
But SEO sustainability may take a backseat in the era of AI and quick algorithm updates. It is about staying true to the basics while navigating the challenges of new ranking factors and constantly evolving algorithms. There aren’t any shortcuts, but a strategic approach can help you achieve results and sustain them for the long haul.
Here are a few secrets of sustainable SEO to help young startups win the ranking race:
Secret #1: Stick With a Clean Code
With surveys showing that 60% of marketers plan to leverage AI for SEO and content, there is hardly any emphasis on code. Startups can capitalize on clean code when others aren’t paying attention to it. The cleaner your code, the more likely your website will get indexed and ranked in the search engines. That’s what sustainable SEO is all about.
Whether your website has long-form, visual-heavy, or interactive content, making it easy for search engines to consume and render is the key. You must invest in clean code to get search engines to crawl your site and rank it ahead of others. It is the best way to make your startup visible in a crowd of established brands.
Secret #2: UX is Everything
Did you know that 90% of users are less likely to return to a website with a below-par UX? That’s an open secret, but startups often fail to keep up with essentials like site speed, loading times, responsiveness, and intuitive navigation.
No matter how great your website looks aesthetically, these factors are the mainstay of a killer SEO plan. If you want to learn how to do SEO for lead generation, mastering the UX of your website is the first lesson.
According to CodeParachute, website design is the foundation of SEO, as it can get you higher rankings, more traffic, leads, conversions, and sales. Before you start digging deep into search algorithms and working on a strategic SEO plan, check your startup website’s design and optimize it to ensure a near-perfect UX.
Secret #3: Avoid Going Overboard with AI Content
Buyers likely go through three to five content pieces during their purchasing journey as they move from the stage of awareness to consideration and decision. Undoubtedly, quality and quantity of content make critical elements of sustainable SEO for businesses.
AI has emerged as a game-changer in this context, with 44% of marketers using it for content creation. You may feel tempted to rely fully on AI content for your startup, considering it can save time and money. But the approach can impact your SEO results because even the smartest tools cannot beat search engines.
Use AI judiciously to gain on the content quantity front. Ensure human touch for your content to get the quality advantage. Remember the basics, such as weeding thin content, avoiding duplicate pieces, and prioritizing UX.
Secret #4: Security Fosters Sustainability
Security should be your top priority if you want to build your startup with sustainable SEO. A lack of online security can lower your search rankings. Not surprisingly, businesses are taking it seriously. According to statistics, 92.2% of the top 1 million sites had HTTPS in 2022, a significant increase from 54.7% of the top 1 million websites in 2016.
When a behind-the-scenes security issue comes up, you may lose time and money to resolve it. Even worse, you can lose Google’s trust, translating into a loss of rankings and visibility. A breach means losing the trust and credibility of your customers. Fortunately, a security and monitoring plan can save your startup from all these risks.
The Bottom Line
Undoubtedly, sustainable SEO is about following the rules and being consistent with your effort. Adopt these sustainability secrets as a startup to begin on the right note. Make them a habit even as your business grows beyond the startup phase. You may find a lot of shortcuts and distractions along the way, but staying true to these essentials can help you build an SEO plan with handsome payouts.
