In my last post, we talked about SEO — and why traditional agencies often aren’t built for startup founders.
Say you’ve paid for three months on a pricey retainer. There’s a small bump in traffic at first… then flatline. You’re told to be patient. “SEO takes time.” The stars just need to align, apparently.
But where’s the urgency? Where’s the recognition that your business needs results now, not in some mystical future quarter?
Do I have a magic formula for instant SEO wins?
Of course not.
But I do believe in understanding how things work — because clarity gives you control. And I’ve seen firsthand how progress comes faster when you ditch perfection and focus on what actually moves the needle for your business.
That’s our thesis today:
SEO is far more useful when it’s built around progress, not perfection.
Founders Need Momentum, Not Masterplans
Startups don’t operate in theory. They operate in panic, pressure, pivot — sometimes all in the same day.
You’re not sitting around planning Q4 content goals. You’re trying to get something working now — so you can prove demand, attract customers, or land that next investor conversation.
And this is exactly where the traditional SEO model breaks down. Because it’s not built for motion — it’s built for scale. It wants long timelines, rigid strategies, and fixed deliverables. It assumes you’ve got time to burn. (You don’t.)
That’s why perfection is such a trap. Trying to tick every SEO box from day one — site structure, schema, blog cadence, internal links, backlinks, YouTube SEO, PR mentions, the whole lot — just freezes progress.
It’s too much. Too slow. And too fragile for early-stage reality.
What you need is momentum — quick, useful progress that stacks over time.
Get seen. Get listed. Get something in Google that’s not broken.
Then iterate.
SEO Wins Don’t Have to Be Big — But They Do Have to Be Useful
A lot of SEO agencies will talk about “quick wins.”
And yes — there are quick wins in SEO. But not all of them are created equal.
Some agencies chase wins that look good on paper:
- Ranking for obscure, low-competition keywords no one actually searches for
- Auto-generating dozens of landing pages with filler content
- Submitting your site to dozens of directories you didn’t approve, with descriptions you didn’t write
Do those things tick boxes? Sure.
Do they help your business? Not necessarily.
Useful SEO wins are different. They’re tied to what you actually offer, how people actually search, and where you need visibility now.
Think:
- Getting your key service pages indexed and crawled properly
- Creating a small handful of targeted, well-positioned blog posts — written for your real audience, not just for Google
- Cleaning up confusing navigation or duplicate page structures that quietly hurt performance
- Fixing crawl-blocking technical issues that were quietly tanking your rankings
These aren’t complicated. But they’re often missed. Why?
Because they don’t fit neatly into a packaged deliverable. They require thinking, not just executing.
The goal isn’t “quick.” It’s “quick + aligned.”
Progress that actually supports your goals — not just agency KPIs.
Adaptive Improvement: SEO That Respects the Realities of Founders
If you’re a founder, SEO probably isn’t at the top of your job description — nor should it be.
Your priority is building something that works, getting it in front of the right people, and keeping things moving under constant pressure.
You don’t need a perfect site or an exhaustive SEO plan. You need a way to make meaningful progress with the time, tools, and budget you actually have.
Here’s how that can work in practice:
1. Start With Visibility, Not Volume
The question isn’t “How do I dominate Google?” It’s “Can people find what matters right now?”
For most founders, the first SEO priority isn’t more traffic — it’s relevant, findable pages that match what your ideal client is actually looking for.
Ask:
- Are your service or product pages indexed?
- Are they targeting real search terms, or just your own internal language?
- Is your metadata written for humans, or just stuffed with keywords?
Fixing these basics often delivers more value than a 10-part blog series.
2. Leverage What You Already Have
Most founders are sitting on SEO assets they don’t realise are valuable:
- Past talks, webinars, or interviews → Turn them into targeted blog content
- Client questions from sales calls → Perfect for FAQs and search-friendly articles
- Social posts that performed well → Great foundations for longer-form content
You don’t need to create 100 things. You need to reformat and refine what’s already working — and make it crawlable.
3. Align SEO Tasks to Real Business Goals
Instead of starting with “What are the SEO best practices?”, start with:
What are you actually trying to achieve in the next 3 months?
Want more client enquiries? Focus on your local visibility and calls to action.
Trying to launch a product? Make sure your product pages are optimised, live, and visible.
Need authority in a niche? Publish a few targeted articles or landing pages and build from there.
Your SEO plan should flex around your runway, your offer, and your stage of growth — not an abstract checklist.
4. Build in Layers, Not All at Once
This isn’t about “getting your SEO sorted” in one big push. That idea is a trap — and an expensive one.
Founders are better served by thinking in layers:
- Phase 1: Fix critical issues, clarify positioning, and make sure key pages are crawlable
- Phase 2: Add focused, search-aligned content that supports your customer journey
- Phase 3: Strengthen authority — through backlinks, digital PR, or partnerships — once the foundation is solid
Each layer adds stability. Each layer amplifies the one before it.
You don’t need everything in place to start seeing results.
5. Know What to Keep, What to Outsource, and What to Ignore
Not everything needs to be done now — and not everything needs to be done by you.
- Keep: Strategic decisions, positioning, content approval — anything tied closely to your brand
- Outsource: Technical fixes, keyword audits, speed optimisation — things that are precise but low-context
- Ignore (for now): Vanity metrics, social shares, site-wide schema, mass directory submissions, etc.
This is about energy management as much as budget.
Every task should justify its place by how directly it supports your actual goals.
To be honest, SEO needn’t be a huge machine.
If your website is visible, functional, and aligned with what your audience is actually looking for, you’re already ahead of most.
The rest can be layered in as you grow.
So no — you don’t need a polished SEO operation on day one.
You need traction. You need movement. You need clarity on what actually matters — and what doesn’t (yet).
That’s what makes SEO work for you, not the other way around.
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