Let’s set the record straight; the days of spammy content and directory abuse are long gone because Google’s (News - Alert) algorithm punishes all websites that still use these strategies. At some point in the past, SEO was about spammy link-building, but since then, it took some great hits, it made considerable changes to rebuild its reputation.

Search engines and SEO have changed since their early days and now they focus on high-quality content and reliable information. Semantic search is a new trend in SEO because it improves the accuracy of search engines by identifying the user’s intent.

Even if SEO is known for its success, many start-ups still refrain from using it to reach their audience.

Why?

Common excuses start-up founders use to avoid SEO

After reading many articles to find out the reasons start-up founders avoid using SEO, we identified three significant excuses.

• They don’t afford SEO because it’s expensive to hire an expert
• SEO is too competitive because famous brands already dominate the industry
• It takes too long to get results, and they need leads fast

Let’s debunk these them together.

They don’t afford SEO

HubSpot published a study that reveals that SEO is the lowest risk, highest ROI B2B marketing channel. SEO is worth it because it offers incremental gains and colossal income. You don’t have to spend money on buying software to do your job, and you can work with professionals who ask for competitive prices. Be wary of the companies that talk a big game but cannot refer to previous clients. Whenever someone sounds too good to be true, they probably are. Read reviews and testimonials to find out what results their former clients had.

SEO is too competitive

The truth is that few industries lack competition nowadays. SEO is very competitive, but it’s not something negative. Building an organic presence is top companies’ priority in all world regions, so the longer you postpone it, the higher your competition’s advance will be.

Start-ups enter a competitive market, no matter how unique the business is, they need to use all the tools available to gain brand recognition reach the public.

SEO takes too long

SEO may take some time to deliver results, but it guarantees long-term success. Don’t forget that you run a start-up with a limited budget, so you have no money to waste on paid marketing. The leads you get via channels like PPC disappear the moment you stop paying. It would be a mistake to waste your start-ups’ funds on paid marketing. SEO allows you to make some mistakes because they cost no money. According to Forbes, the average period to see SEO results is between 4 and 6 months.

SEO is different now

The way people use search engines changed, so SEO evolved. Online marketing in 2020 is different now. SEO continues to be a critical part of digital marketing for organizations from all industries, but its use varies from a business to another.

If, in the past SEO was an isolated strategy, nowadays, you’ll find it hard to draw a line between SEO, PR, social media marketing, and content marketing. They all work together to drive leads.

For example, outreach has two goals, it promotes content publication on website directories with a broad audience (the PR goal) and includes links from trustworthy sources to boost performance in search engines (the SEO goal).

Hire a reputable SEO Company to assist you when you launch or relaunch your website because you need to optimize it to reach your target audience. SEO experts build keyword-led metadata, internal linking and complete 301 redirects.

It’s expected SEO to change even more in 2020

To understand what SEO can offer to your start-up take a look of what’s ahead for it in 2020

Google launched the BERT algorithm in 2019, and it drew plenty of attention because now, SEO companies need to consider it when they optimize pages. Nowadays, the focus changed to user-centered optimization and the technical delivery of content. They check the mechanics of how websites are crawled, indexed, and served in various search environments.

Internet users can now select from more options on how they want to search for things, so SEO experts need to ensure they deliver fresh content and architecture. Content must address the reader rather than responding to a keyword search. It’s expected keyword research tools to be less relevant in 2020 because SEO intends to talk to customers to find out what they want to receive.

Content affects all aspects of SEO, from the links you build to the structure of a web page. To get results in 2020, you need to write content relevant for your audiences. The day when the best content wins is close, and companies need to hire people who know how to write valuable content.

Your New Year’s resolution should be to publish the best content on the Internet for your niche. This allows your website to compete for long-tail searches and boost site authority. This type of content is exactly what Google is looking for right now, to deliver its users the best results to their queries.

In 2020 Google will check your company’s E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) and reputation. Expect only reputable companies to rank first results in engine searches. SEO plays a crucial role in building a reputation, so no start-up should ignore it.