Because Google keeps on updating its algorithm very frequently, the search landscape tends to be very dynamic, making it very difficult for businesses to maintain consistency in the search rankings. The problem for startups is even more as they have minimal resources in terms of both workforce and budget and the urgent need to make their business successful before they run out of money.

By leveraging SEO, startups can boost conversions, drive revenues, and beat the competition at their own game. However, for this to happen, you will first need to put in place a robust SEO strategy, either with an in-house effort or by engaging a competent SEO consultant. Whatever route you take, it will only help if you have a good understanding of the various challenges to effective SEO implementation that startups typically face and overcoming them.

SEO May Take Time to Show Results

It can take some time for your SEO strategy to start showing results even if you have hired a very competent and experienced SEO agency. While it is natural for the small business owner to expect quick results, it has to be appreciated that time will be needed to understand the current search environment and the strategies employed by your competitors.

Both on-page and off-page website optimization can also take time; in addition to which, it takes time to build domain authority and the trust factor that Google and other search engines always look for. Good SEO results will come when you make an effort to understand what your target audience is looking for and how you can deliver to them high-quality content that satisfies their search intent.

Read more: How Machine Learning has Become the MVP in the Game of SEO!

The production of quality content is not a one-time affair but a constant endeavor. It is ultimately the quality of your content that will attract the backlinks with the domain authority that will help boost your online visibility and volume of traffic.

Search ranking results may also not be as high as you want if your competitors are engaging in very aggressive SEO tactics. Therefore, before you start wondering whether you made the right choice of an SEO consultant, you should try to understand the ground realities and get wise to the time that your SEO tactics will take to show results.

Budget Allocated to SEO Not Adequate

It may seem strange, but many startups tend to think that SEO does not need a proper budget, and the expenses can be accommodated in the general marketing budget.

However, if you want to implement an SEO strategy that can produce excellent results, you need to allocate an adequate budget at the very outset. The budget amount will depend on the objectives of your SEO strategy and the competitive environment.

The typical expense heads that you will need your budget to cover are the hiring charges of the New York City Marketing and SEO consultant, and producing content that is original, relevant, authentic, and optimized for important keywords. You will also need to bear the cost of reaching out to websites with high domain authority for link building and guest posting opportunities, as well as for using the tools necessary for keyword research, competitor analysis, content management, etc.

Difficulty in Keeping Up-To-Date With New SEO Tactics

The online search environment is constantly changing with Google trying to deliver the maximum satisfaction to its users with results that are most accurate, value-added, original, recent, and relevant by making constant updates to its algorithm. As a result of these changes, the ranking of your website can drop dramatically and throttle the volume of organic traffic coming to your website.

The only way to counter the negative impact is to stay abreast of the algorithm updates and understand how they are likely to affect you and take countermeasures to avoid getting driven down the SERP rankings. You should ensure that you do not continue with outdated SEO practices that may have been effective earlier but now only attract penalties.

Replacing SEO with Social Media

There is a huge buzz surrounding social media nowadays, and there is hardly any business that does not have a social media presence to build brand awareness and drive engagement. While these two objectives are also the goals of SEO, it is important not to make the mistake of abandoning SEO in favor of building a social media profile.

SEO and social media do not compete with each other; instead, they are complementary forces, so you should ensure that your overall SEO strategy includes social media for achieving the maximum effect on rankings. According to https://www.forbes.com, it is important to ensure that SEO and social media strategies work in tandem.

Spotting Fake SEO Agencies

As the SEO industry has boomed, and it became apparent that most startup owners were pretty much clueless about it, a large number of unscrupulous SEO agencies came into existence. These companies will typically promise you the moon and then spend time in cooking up excuses why the expected performance was not delivered.

Even worse is that they engage in black hat practices that may show some immediate results but end up in damaging the reputation and authority of the website for the long-term. Some other fake agencies depend on sheer human greed to fool people. They will promise to deliver a whole bunch of results using a really low figure to entice you.

Generally, they will encourage you to guest post on low-ranking and irrelevant websites and create accounts on popular social media platforms just to show they are busy at work, but you will soon realize that your rankings are not improving at all.

Another sign of an SEO agency trying to take you for a ride is a promise that they will deliver results in just a few days. Know once and for all that SEO is generally a long, drawn-out affair, and it can take many months of hard effort for the results to be visible.

Conclusion

It is quite natural for startups to face SEO challenges, especially during the early stages. The key is to identify the challenges with the help of a competent SEO consultant and work out a robust SEO strategy to overcome them. It is important to appreciate that even with the right application of effort and money, SEO results can take some time to become visible.