How I got my startup in Google’s first page in a month without SEO expertise

Brute forcing your startup into Google’s first page with 2 simple steps instead of SEO knowledge.

As the title probably gave away, I am not an SEO expert, but I still managed to get my startup in the first page of Google for several keywords that were important for us. Here is how I did it:

Step 1: Choose descriptive keywords

First thing you need is to think about the keywords someone would be looking for when looking for your product or service. The secret here is to think about long-tail keywords (phrases with 3–5 words). The reason for using long-tail is that it will be easier to get to the first page and also will drive quality traffic. For example:

If you have an Android app developer shop, you could try to rank well for “Android app” keyword, but this would probably be very hard (too competitive) and even if you would manage to rank well, you would get a lot of traffic from people who are not looking for an Android app developer, but for an specific Android app or whatever. It is too generic. “Android app developer in Brazil” would be an example of a good specific long-tail keyword.

Bonus: out of ideas for what long-tail keywords to use? Worry not, use Google keywords tool as an inspiration.

Step 2: Publish one article every day

Pick your 5–10 long-tail keywords chosen in step 1 and publish one article per day for one of the keywords. Each article should be focused on one keyword and each keyword must have at least 5 articles related to them. This is the real “secret”, hard work and regularity.

Here are a few hints about writing those articles:

• Try to include the keyword naturally on the title and at least on the first paragraph. Google values titles and first paragraphs the most.
• Include the keyword in the rest of the text too, but not too much, because if you do you will sound like a TV shopping channel salesperson.
• Do not copy and paste the article from other sites. Google punishes repeated content.
• Once you start talking about the same topic, you can include links to your other articles. Google likes links to relevant content.
• Share your article on social networks and relevant sites (which would add value, not be seen as spam)

Done

That’s it, in a month or so (depending on the competition) you should start appearing in the first page of Google for the chosen keywords. It worked for me with my previous startup.

SEO knowledge is good and there are (I imagine) less brute foce ways to be ranked in Google’s first page. However this approach works. And let me repeat it: I am not an SEO expert, so I am sure there are lots of things that could be improved in my approach.

PS: if you can’t write one article per day connected to your keywords, you might not have something interesting enough to sell or you might need to learn more about the market and the consumer.

PS2: if it is a pain to write one article every day, take one weekday as your writing day and write it all at once.