A Search Plan Sized to Your Runway
The searches you can win in three months, six months and a year, ranked by how close each one is to a sale.
For startups
SEO for Startups Ready to Win Customers From Search
We do SEO for startups that have a product people pay for and want a steadier source of customers than ads. We find the narrow searches you can win in the first few months, write the pages for them and count the sign-ups and demos each page brings. Packages start at £1,500 a month plus VAT, month to month.
Sign-ups tracked from week 2
From £1,500 a month
Cancel any month
In numbers
Startups and Search in Numbers
Many businesses start each year; fewer than half are still trading five years later.
317,000
UK business births in 2024
Up from 316,000 in 2023, a birth rate of 11.1%, according to the ONS.
38.4%
still trading after five years
The five-year survival rate for UK businesses born in 2019 (ONS).
1,000
UK searches a month for SEO for startups
Semrush, September 2026.
90.59%
of UK searches go to Google
StatCounter, October 2026. Bing takes most of the rest.
Sources: ONS, Business demography, UK: 2024, released 20 November 2025; Semrush UK keyword data, September 2026; StatCounter, United Kingdom, October 2026.
Our view
Early SEO Is About Narrow Searches, Not Big Ones
A young site will not rank for the broad searches its category is known by, and chasing them burns a year of runway. What it can win, and quickly, are the narrow ones: the specific problem your product solves, the comparison with the tool a buyer already uses, the job title plus the task.
Those searches are small, but the people making them are close to buying. So we start there, write a page for each, track the sign-ups and demos they bring, and widen the plan only when the numbers say the site has earned it. You see in the weekly report which pages pay for themselves.
What we do
Our SEO Services for Startups
Six pieces of work, in the order most startups need them.
Problem and Use-Case Pages
A page for each problem your product solves, written in the words your customers used on their first call.
Comparison Pages
Fair, specific pages that set your product beside the tools your buyers already know.
Technical Foundations
A site Google can read from the first day: speed, structure and indexing set up before the pages pile up.
Sign-Up and Demo Tracking
Each sign-up and demo request tied to the page that brought it, so spend follows results.
Founder-Led Content
Short interviews with you turned into articles only you could write, the kind AI answers and buyers trust.
Your First Three Months of Startup SEO
How it starts
Small, tracked steps, each one checked against the sign-ups it brings.
Week 1: The Search Plan
We review your site, your rivals and your customers’ words, and rank the searches you can win first.
Week 2: Tracking and Foundations
Sign-ups and demo requests are tracked to their pages, and the technical basics are fixed.
Weeks 3-4: The First Pages
Problem and comparison pages for the closest searches go live, written with your team.
Months 2-3: Prove, Then Widen
Pages that bring sign-ups get more support; the plan widens only where the numbers allow.
Ads or SEO
SEO for Startups Versus Paying for Every Click
Most startups need both. Here is how they differ.
SEOPaid ads only
SpeedMonths before the first pages pay backVisitors from the first day
Cost of each visitorFalls as pages rankStays the same or rises
When you stop payingThe pages keep workingThe visitors stop
What it buildsAn asset a buyer can find againData on which messages convert
Best used forProblems buyers search for every monthTesting demand and launches
Is it for you
When Startup SEO Is Worth It
An honest test before you spend on it.
Paying Customers
Searching Buyers
Six Months of Runway
Not Yet: The Idea Stage
Your product works and people pay for it. SEO grows demand; it cannot find product-market fit for you.
Your customers search for the problem you solve. If they never do, outreach will serve you better.
Search takes months to pay back. With less runway than that, spend on channels that pay this quarter.
Before a working product, talk to customers first. Come back when you know what they search for.
Prices
SEO for Startups: Prices
Published prices, month to month, no minimum term.
One-Off SEO Audit
For founders who want the plan and will do the work in-house: an audit and a ranked list of searches and fixes.
£600one-off + VAT
Book an SEO reviewNew to SEO
For startups getting few sign-ups from Google yet.
£1,500per month + VAT
- Plan, tracking, technical fixes and the first pages, done for you.
Scaling SEO
For startups already winning some searches.
£2,200per month + VAT
- More comparison and use-case pages, plus links to take the bigger searches.
All prices are plus VAT. Teams who would rather do the work themselves can start with a one-off SEO audit at £600.
Questions
SEO for Startups: Your Questions Answered
SEO Company ReadingB2B SEO in ReadingBook an SEO review
When should a startup start SEO?
Once the product works and people pay for it, and you have at least six months of runway. Before that, customer conversations teach you more than search can. After it, the pages you write early keep bringing visitors long after the work is done.
How much does SEO cost for a startup?
Ours costs £1,500 a month to start and £2,200 a month to scale, both plus VAT, with no minimum term. Founders who want to do the work themselves can start with a one-off audit at £600. The prices are on our home page.
How long does startup SEO take to work?
The first narrow searches can bring visitors within two to three months of the pages going live. Broad category searches take much longer and depend on links your site has not earned yet, so we leave those until the narrow pages are paying back.
Should we spend on SEO or paid ads first?
Usually both, for different jobs. Ads tell you within weeks which messages and buyers convert; SEO turns the searches that keep coming every month into visitors you do not pay for each time. We use what your ads have learned to choose the first pages.
Can a new website rank on Google?
Yes, for the right searches. A new site will not beat established rivals on broad terms, but it can rank for specific problems, comparisons and use cases that larger sites cover poorly. That is where we start.
What do you need from the founders?
One call in week one about your customers and product, short interviews now and then for founder-led articles, and someone who can approve pages quickly. Everything else, from the plan to the tracking, is done by us.
Do you work with pre-revenue startups?
Only when the product is live and people are using it, even if they are not paying yet. If you are still at the idea stage, we will tell you plainly to spend the money on customer research first.
How do you show SEO is working?
Every week we report sign-ups and demo requests from search beside rankings and visits, page by page. In the early months, rankings for the narrow searches move first; sign-ups follow, and the report shows which pages bring them.
Will SEO help us appear in AI answers?
It helps. AI answers draw on pages that state clear facts about a product, its price and who it is for. We write pages like that, and we check whether ChatGPT and Google’s AI mention you for the searches in your plan.
Do you work with startups outside Reading?
Yes. We work with startups in Reading and across the UK, and with teams selling abroad, by video call and email. Our home page explains how we work as an SEO company in Reading.
Key facts
SEO for Startups: Key Facts
- New to SEO: £1,500 a month + VAT
- Scaling SEO: £2,200 a month + VAT
- One-off SEO audit: £600 + VAT
- Month to month, cancel any month
- Sign-ups and demos tracked from week 2
- Narrow, winnable searches first
- Weekly report, page by page
- For startups with a live product
Also useful
More Ways We Help Growing Teams
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SaaS SEO Agency
For software companies: comparison, integration and use-case pages, judged on trials and demos.
B2B SEO Agency
For firms with a sales team and a long buying cycle, with enquiries tracked into the CRM.
SEO Company in Reading
Our packages, how we report and what we commit to in the first month.
Book a Startup SEO Review
Send us your product, your best customers and the search you wish you ranked for. We will reply with the searches you could win first and what they would take.