How to do SEO with a low budget
Every company, regardless of size, needs to consider SEO. This is because SEO is still the only authentic organic marketing channel in the world. Because of that, getting internet awareness without spending money is getting harder. However, organic products are not always free. In light of this, here are five suggestions for making the most of how to do SEO with a low budget.
Although SEO clicks are by definition “non-paid,” obtaining those clicks almost always entails a cost. Whether it is an investment of your time, money, agency or consultant fees, tools, training, or a mix of these. SEO, or at least effective SEO, is rarely inexpensive in comparison to what you gain.
Prioritisation is essential for firms with limited resources because of this. Your return on investment can be significantly impacted by knowing where to make savings and where to put effort.
Make the most out of your limited SEO budget with these 5 suggestions
1. Improve your keyword selection
You need to be practical when choosing the keywords you’re going to target. Before you begin implementing a keyword strategy. Take some time to become familiar with the SERP (search engine results page) landscape in which you wish to compete.
Likely, no matter what keywords you’re trying to rank for the competition will be fierce. Especially for wide, high-volume keywords. Targeting long-tail alternatives can therefore be a much better choice.
Long-tail keywords are extremely precise and often have three words or more. Both the average monthly search volume and the level of competition are frequently low. These keywords frequently have greater quality, which can increase conversion rates.
For instance, it would undoubtedly be more challenging for a small lawn mower shop in Swansea to obtain traction for the term “lawn mower shop” (short-tail) than it would be for a “lawn mower shop in Swansea” (long-tail).
The quantity of Google results below demonstrates how significantly the level of competition varies between these two example phrases.
By focusing on the former, the shop will be in direct competition with all other online bike shops. The store is joining a race it has a chance of winning by focusing on more specialised, long-tail options. We’ll cover a few of the tools that are available for finding long-tail keyword ideas in more depth later.
Pointers for improving your long-tail keyword approach
Diversify
Avoid pinning all of your hopes on a single keyword; doing so will result in a website that sounds like it was generated by a machine. Instead, take into account all possible keyword combinations and naturally weave them into the text of your website.
Start with what's easy to find
Look for long-tail keywords for which your site already receives a lot of impressions but few clicks. This may indicate that a minor increase in exposure could result in a respectable click return with little work. The Performance reports in Google Search Console provide all of this data.
The strongest long-tail keywords can be found in the form of questions and answers
The “People also ask” results on Google are a goldmine for finding such concepts. Start by typing in a pertinent query into Google, click on the results that say “People also ask,” and then click away. An excellent strategy on how to do SEO with a low budget is to use these Q&A-style keywords in your blog entries.
2. Utilise Google My Business to target local
Simply put, local SEO is the practice of improving your company’s online visibility for local searches. According to data, nearly half (46%) of all Google users are looking for local information. This gives a significant opportunity for companies looking to draw more qualified website visitors.
Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool designed to assist business owners in managing their internet presence. It lies at the core of local SEO. The process of claiming a GMB listing and filling out the essential information (address, business hours, contact information, etc.) just takes a few minutes, but the rewards can be substantial.
A strong GMB listing can literally put your company on the map. Google’s Local Search results and Google Knowledge Graph make use of verified GMB data.
3. Make use of free SEO tools
There are several solutions available on the market for SEO tools. However, using some of the well-known “all-in-one” SEO solutions, like Moz, SEMrush, or Ahrefs, would require you to pay a monthly subscription or an upfront cost. This is not always an option when you’re on a limited budget.
The good news is that you may greatly enhance your SEO operations without spending money by using a variety of free alternatives. Here are a few tools that can be useful if you’re trying to come up with new content ideas, examine on-page components, or keep track of your inbound links.
Google (multiple)
Every marketer should be aware of Google’s enormous collection of free web tools, not least of which is Google Search Console. GSC offers priceless data on a variety of topics, including the performance of keywords, page impressions and clicks, indexing and crawls statistics, sitemap status, mobile usability, incoming links, and much more.
Beyond that, Google Analytics is a crucial tool for evaluating the effectiveness of websites. Google Trends is a helpful tool for determining how popular search terms have been over time and in various locations. Last but not least, the previously mentioned Google My Business is a requirement for companies wishing to have a local SEO presence.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
It is simple to inspect and analyse important onsite SEO components with this website crawler. Use it to look up broken links, analyse page titles and metadata, make sitemaps, and more. Small sites can use the free edition, which has a crawl limit of 500 URLs. But those with larger properties may wish to think about the commercial version. This costs £149 a year. So this is a tiny fee to pay for such an effective instrument when you’re looking at how to do SEO with a low budget.
Answer the public
Our SEO company in Swansea loves this tool as it leverages auto-suggest search results from Google and Bing and presents the data in a series of visual charts, unlike many keyword research tools that often rely on Google’s Keyword Planner data (a service developed primarily for constructing PPC campaigns). An excellent resource for finding fresh long-tail keyword opportunities and article inspiration.
Everywhere keywords
This Chrome and Firefox browser add-on displays search traffic, predicted CPC (cost-per-click), and competition data for numerous websites all within your browser window.
This list is by no means exhaustive. For a more thorough list of excellent marketing tools, refer to Smart Insights’ important digital marketing tools guide.
IIS SEO Toolkit
IIS is a crawler programme that, like Screaming Frog, provides you with comprehensive technical data about your website, along with an explanation of the problems and suggestions for resolving them. a fantastic resource for tech-savvy individuals who want to learn more about the inner workings of their website.
4. Work on your current resources
A widely overused business expression that refers to making the most of what you already have is “sweating the assets.” It’s a procedure that is more frequently referred to as “repurposing” in the context of SEO and content marketing.
Repurposing existing content makes excellent sense when figuring out how to do SEO with a low budget. It eliminates any guesswork. After all, you already know which of your content performs well and requires less effort. This is because the majority of the labour-intensive tasks have already been completed.
Here are some suggestions for maximising the potential of your current content
- Change the format by turning certain well-liked blog entries into guides, or the other way around. It is possible to condense lengthy content into slides or an infographic. Create a transcript for your new videos, then post it as a blog entry. Create an FAQ page using the live chat questions you’ve collected. There are countless alternatives.
- Keep popular content current. There is no regulation prohibiting the updating of previous material to make it pertinent to new viewers. A wonderful method to give an established piece new life is to republish it with updated information or analysis.
- The premise behind writing less and advertising more is that you don’t need to constantly produce new material to achieve results. Keep spreading the word about your best-known pieces, and—more importantly—always be considering fresh, unconventional approaches to reaching the right audiences.
5. Look at backlinks
How highly a webpage will rank in SERPs is determined by Google’s search algorithm, which takes into account over 200 ranking parameters. Backlinks are one of the most important aspects (links from other websites to yours).
Links have a high SEO value since they signify trust between websites. Simply put, the recommendation will have more sway the more respectable the website is. You have a better chance of ranking highly in SERPs if you have more links of high quality.
But getting links, especially from reputable, high-quality websites is easier said than done. Especially if you’re planning how to do SEO with a low budget that won’t allow for a full-fledged link-building effort.
Here are a few inexpensive techniques to strengthen your link profile
- Write some guest articles – Guest blogging for industry websites and publications can be a terrific method to expose your brand to new audiences. Frequently, you’ll also get a link in return for your work. Here, relevance and quality are essential; never submit content to low-quality websites just for the sake of an easy link.
- Directories – Business directories like Yelp, Yahoo, and HotFrog, as well as regional or niche-specific directories for your industry, can help your SEO a little while also placing your company on the map. Always choose relevance and quality above quantity.
- Promote your content – One of the best ways to get links is to pitch your finest articles to relevant publishers and influencers. Make a fuss if you have a fantastic resource that people should be aware of!
Conclusion
Prioritisation is key when deciding how to do SEO with a low budget. As was said at the beginning of this post. You’ll receive a greater return on your investment if you know where to focus your efforts and how to choose your battles.
