GoKawiilOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Listen to this post
Key Takeaways SEO success depends less on the tools you use than on following the right sequence of research, optimization, content creation and measurement.
This article outlines a 10-step framework founders can use to build sustainable organic growth before hiring an SEO agency.
When founders ask me how to start with SEO, they usually expect a tool recommendation. The honest answer is that the tool isn’t the problem. The sequence is.
For the past few years, my agency has been refining the same end-to-end SEO process — the one I now use with every new client and break down across an eight-module curriculum we run for our team. The steps work because they’re ordered. Most founders fail at SEO not because they skip steps but because they do them in the wrong order: writing content before researching keywords, building links before fixing crawl errors and chasing traffic before defining what kind of traffic moves their business.
Here’s the 10-step sequence I follow, in the order I follow it. You can run all of it yourself for the cost of two free tools and a few weekends.
1. Start with niche research, not keyword research
Before you type a single seed keyword, define what your business actually has the right to win on. A skincare brand selling to dermatologists shouldn’t try to rank for best moisturizer. A SaaS for restaurant owners shouldn’t compete on small business software.
Write down the three or four sub-categories your business owns. Sanity-check each one against the competition in Google’s results. If the first page is dominated by Wikipedia, government sites and major publications, narrow further. Niche before keywords. Always.
... continue reading