how to create an seo strategy

 Which startup unicorns have the best SEO strategy (2022)?

There are a variety of factors that contribute to the success of a start-up. Once a company has reached product-market fit, the ability to scale often depends on marketing. While marketing can span many different channels, SEO can be one of the most important sources of brand awareness, pipeline, and revenue.

how to create an seo strategy 

For startups, it can be helpful to understand which comparable companies have risen to the top of the SERPs and what strategies they are implementing. We recently analyzed the marketing campaigns of 20 top startup unicorns to find out which of them are successful with SEO. 

Why is this important? We believe this data is particularly relevant given the current economic environment. Many startups have recently raised millions of dollars in venture capital in a very buoyant market. Back then, growth was more important to investors than profitability. Consequently, much of the money has been invested in marketing channels, such as paid advertising, which are predictable. Putting X dollars into Google and Facebook ads and getting Y dollars in return sounds like a sure thing when you need to maintain a certain growth rate. 

b2b seo strategy 

But with the stock market declining in 2022, the valuations of technology stocks and VC-backed startups have fallen rapidly. The companies that will survive the downturn best can efficiently acquire new customers, and SEO remains one of the strongest marketing channels to do so. We see this in well-funded startups like Hoping, an all-in-one event management platform. Although Hoping has acquired five startups, raised over $1 billion in venture capital, and was valued at $7.3 billion, the company had to lay off 29% of its workforce in March 2022, around the same time it saw a huge drop in visitor numbers.

Having failed to move to more sustainable customer acquisition practices, Hoping has already laid off a third of its workforce, and it is still unclear whether the layoffs will continue.

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Companies that benefited from the pandemic but invested heavily in SEO see it differently today.

Methodology

To maintain consistency, we analyzed search data from Ahrefs. The average growth from year to year is intended to ensure that the rankings do not favor startups that have been around for a long time and therefore had more time to establish themselves with SEO. 

Note: This data was retrieved on May 6, 2022.

Our methodology for this analysis was very simple. First, we collected all the relevant data, as shown above, and then created a ranking for each KPI from 1 (lowest value) to 20 (highest value).

In summary, we ranked each company for each KPI compared to the other companies and then averaged their position across all KPIs to get the final placement in the list. Canva, for example, ranks number one on the list because it ranks highest on almost all KPIs.

Below are some of our data collection considerations:

• Domain Rating (DR) is a metric that shows the relative strength of a website's backlink profile. 

• Instead of taking into account the total number of backlinks, we analyzed the number of referring domains (since external links from a small number of domains are less valuable and easier to manipulate than links from a variety of websites) and do-follow links (which are the kind of links that search engines consider).

• Market value is the estimated monthly price for acquiring the equivalent of organic traffic of a website via ads. Ranking for many valuable keywords means that a company can reduce spending on advertising and use the budget for other marketing channels.

• Although the number of keyword rankings is a good indicator of SEO success, only non-brand keywords attract people who have not previously come into contact with the company or product, which increases brand awareness and lead generation – crucial indicators of a positive return on investment.

• We calculated the annual growth in organic traffic to level the field between the newest and oldest startups on the list.

7 Startups That Win Big in Search Engines

If your startup even comes close to achieving the SEO performance of one of those unicorns, it could take your business to a whole new level.

However, there is no point in not taking a closer look at the strategies and efforts of these companies.

Let's take a look at seven unicorn startups that get the most out of their SEO investments.

1. Canva

Canva is an online design and publishing tool launched in 2013 that allows designers to create graphics for social media, websites, and print media. In our list, Canva is the one that brings in the most traffic, ranks for the most keywords, and has the largest traffic value of all at a whopping $31 million. For comparison, the second-highest market value comes from Instacart at $6 million — which is 81% less than Canva.

As a design tool, Canva creates landing pages for each of its product features and use cases. The company has set up a learning center with content on product marketing for its software and graphic design in general.

It's worth noting that two of the sites are "free" tools/resources. The page with the templates contains 100 templates that users can use or be inspired by, while the page with the color wheel is a free tool that allows users to quickly create color palettes. However, these two sites bring in more than just visitors. They also generated about 10k backlinks.

The Canva team has also created more than 50 language versions of its website to diversify global traffic.

2. Grammarly

Grammarly is a writing assistant that uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to help users avoid spelling mistakes and improve written communication. Grammarly has the second highest organic traffic with 19 million searches per month and the third highest traffic value in the list.

The Grammarly blog records around 8.5 million monthly searches (half of all traffic) and offers educational content around writing. Some of the most successful sites are:

Although English speakers use the tool, some of the most visited pages on Grammarly are aimed at people who speak English as a second language

Grammarly has also created pages that target brand-related long-tail searches, which shows how SEO and brand marketing can complement each other.

Just like Canva, Grammarly offers a number of free tools on its website to drive relevant traffic and generate backlinks.

This grammar checker brings in around 1.7 million monthly visits and has 2.16 million referring domains.

3. Instacart

Instacart provides retail solutions to over 750 grocers in more than 70,000 locations, making it easier for consumers to access fresh and high-quality food from the region. According to our research, Instacart has the highest number of unbranded Page 1 keywords at 434k.

Unlike Canva, Instacart doesn't rely on educational content hubs because the tool isn't meant for creative work. Instead, it focuses on creating a simple process for grocers and retailers to use their products. There are landing pages for every location, business, product, and industry they serve.

Instacart has put search intent at the heart of its strategy and increased traffic to its website by creating pages that meet the specific needs of its target audience – which in this case includes buying goods in local stores. In fact, most of the pages that bring visitors to the site are store and location pillar pages.

4. Stripes

Stripe is a payment service provider that facilitates the acceptance of online payments. The company is known for providing the infrastructure that makes it easier for software developers to build complex solutions faster. It has the strongest domain rating with 93, the second highest number of do-follow links and the most referring domains with 491k.

Stripe's visibility in search is based on the authority of the website and a strong brand. Stripe has positioned itself as THE online payment processor. Of the total of 466k organic keyword rankings, only 7k are non-brand keywords, and the blog surprisingly only brings about 8k monthly visits.

Most of the traffic comes from the different language versions of the homepage and the pillar pages. In other words, Stripe's search success is based on its strong brand positioning rather than top-of-funnel content marketing.

5. Zapier

Zapier is a codeless automation tool that connects different apps to automate complex processes without a single line of code. Although the traffic is significantly lower than the top startups on the list, Zapier has the highest number of do-follow links with 37 million and the third highest number of referring domains with 68,000.

Zapier has an advantage over other tools when it comes to SEO: its large library of integrations. Each app has its own landing page that shows the different combinations that users can work with, benefiting from the brand authority of other companies and intercepting existing search demand.

However, Zapier's biggest source of traffic is the blog, which brings in around 1.1 million organic searches per month on all topics related to process automation, productivity tips and remote work.

As you can see, list articles and articles about productivity applications are at the top of the most searched pages. In fact, these five pages are followed by several "best-of" list articles, each with more than 10,000 visits per month.

The key takeaway from Zapier's approach is that you need a clear understanding of your target audience and their issues to create content that brings visitors to your website.

Note: Most companies that work with Zapier have a site that promotes their Zapier integration, so Zapier has no shortage of high authority backlinks.

6. Fanatics

Fanatics is a global digital sports platform that enables the purchase of licensed sporting goods online, in stores and at events. On our list of startup unicorns, the company has the second highest number of brand-independent placements on page 1 and the fourth highest organic traffic.

Their website is structured primarily as an eCommerce platform, offering options based on sports, teams, players, and products.

However, these numbers for Fanatics are a little tricky because sports-related keywords are seasonal. In busy times, Fanatics could get more traffic and ROI than at any other time of the year

All of these pages are high-level category pages, some of which rank for more than 500 keywords.

Something that also strikes us is the URL structure. With regard to search engine optimization, it is advisable to make URLs short and easy to read for users and to avoid special characters.

However, Fanatics' URL structure is a clear indication that this is just one piece of the puzzle and that we can break with conventions as long as it's functional and consistent and doesn't compromise usability.

7. Klarna

Klarna is a payment and e-commerce solution that allows users to pay for any product on any website in four installments. Compared to other startups on the list, Klarna has the second highest domain rating (at the same level as Canva) on the list and has steadily increased its traffic over time.

Similar to Stripe, Klarna's strength comes from strong branding and an elegant but niche-oriented solution. Most of the sites that receive more than 2,000 visits per month are Klarna-specific pages that explain a function of the application.

Most of these pages rank for 700 to 2k keywords, but most of them are branded keywords.

As for content, Klarna uses its blog to spread educational content and news about its solution. This type of content is more about building trust and helping existing customers succeed with their accounts, not about attracting new visitors to the site.

Klarna's search success is based on its strong brand positioning and its extensive collection of category pages.

Since part of their offering is a platform where users can find a product and compare its prices with different vendors, Klarna can use these sites to provide a fantastic user experience while leveraging the branding of vendors like Apple.

This site brings around 9,000 visits per month, according to Ahrefs estimates, and ranks for brand-related keyword variations that include Apple products, such as "klarna air pods", "iphone klarna", "klarna ipad", etc.

Summary: Organic growth is more important than ever

For far too long, startups have focused on growth rather than profitability, relying on fast-to-scale but expensive channels like paid advertising and aggressive attitudes to achieve their goals. This resulted in high cash burn rates that seemed portable during a bull market.

However, as we've seen in recent months, this model can't survive during a market downturn, which has led to extensive layoffs at tech startups this year.

Just like Hopin, Fabric, a retail technology company focused on "gaining insights to place local inventory in the right place at the right time," has laid off 40% of its workforce, despite being a $1.5 billion startup valued.

In early 2022, Fabric saw a sharp drop in traffic from 60,000 to 3,000 monthly visits today, representing a 94% drop in traffic.

And Daily Harvest, a vegan frozen food delivery service valued at $1.1 billion, announced the layoff of 15% of its employees on August 8. They, too, have seen a decline in visitor numbers since January 2022.

Although every company has a different story and there are many factors that cause startups to switch from 100 to layoffs, there is also an important lesson to learn: Organic growth is more important than ever!

Companies that use marketing channels like SEO to scale their customer acquisition process are in a far better position to save on other expenses instead of having to lay off staff.

Many startups grew aggressively during COVID as everyone who was locked up was looking for solutions that would make their lives easier. However, as demand began to normalize with the opening of cities, start-ups without a strong organic strategy could not sustain the flow of traffic and lost their leverage.

Since we know that organic growth is critical to your startup's success, here are three SEO tips to help your startup weather an economic storm or even take advantage of growth opportunities during a recession:

• Find new search trends and take advantage of them. In recession, customers behave differently depending on their financial situation. That means you need to rethink your entire addressable market (TAM) and understand how to serve it in these times. Depending on how the market behaves, you can offer new solutions (within your service area) that are tailored to the new needs of customers.

For example, an important area to consider is pricing. If your TAM is currently concerned about the price, consider changing your messaging and value proposition to show that you are still the best solution. In search engine optimization, this means a change in content strategy to address budget-related search queries and a change in messages on key pillar and category pages.

• Optimize your top-of-funnel content to create a reliable nursing campaign. Instead of trying to convert visitors instantly, consider creating an email list that you can use to get to know your potential customers and turn them into paying customers.

During a recession, it's harder to attract new customers, and you don't want to lose new visitors forever by trying aggressive conversion tactics. In addition, an email list is still of great value even after the recession.

Top-of-funnel content also helps your business stay visible during the downturn, putting you in an even better position after the recession.

• Create content that targets your competitors. During a recession, customers are more willing to consider new options, which is a good opportunity to attract dissatisfied customers from your competition.

A great way to launch such a campaign is to research what your competitors' customers are complaining about on the Internet and create pages that highlight how your solution will better meet their needs.

Scraper API, for example, created a page to compare Scraper API and ScrapingBee to show how much users would save if they switched to a ScraperAPI account, highlighting not only the price, but also the number of additional features they would enjoy for the same price.

The year 2022 has been a difficult year for start-ups so far. Declining valuations and more cautious VC firms have led to layoffs of employees, and a possible recession is imminent. 

Startups that can efficiently attract new customers through organic marketing channels like SEO have the best prospects for profitability and the ability to navigate a declining market. How has your company fared so far in 2022? Are you planning to invest more or less in SEO?