Even early-stage founders need to think about SEO

I've often wondered whether SEO is really that helpful for indie hackers — particularly early on. After all, it's time-consuming and it usually doesn't pay dividends for over a year. Why not focus on more immediate growth?

I spoke with SEO experts and SEO-savvy founders to get their takes on it.

They all said SEO is critical, of course, but they also told me exactly when and how indie hackers should do it. 👇

Is SEO actually worthwhile for indie hackers?

Corey Haines of Swipe Files:

The short answer? Indie hackers should absolutely invest in SEO. And here's why: Google search traffic is the only source of free, recurring traffic. Make the investment once, and reap the benefits forever.

Now for the long answer... For most indie hackers, the biggest hesitation they have about SEO is the time it takes to start ranking high enough to see traffic come through. Blanket statements like "SEO takes a long time to pay off" is a dangerous generalization that fails to take into account how competitive a keyword is to rank for, the estimated monthly search volume, and what content Google is rewarding in the top positions.

Is SEO worthwhile for an indie hacker if they're targeting keywords with a KD of 80+ being searched 10,000+/mo where the top positions are lengthy articles based on proprietary data? We can pretty definitely say, no. But most of the time, there are plenty of keywords attracting the right type of visitor, at a reasonable KD range, with decent search volume, and where the type of content that seems to be rewarded includes a simple landing page, blog post, or free tool.

Kevin Indig of Growth Memo:

SEO is VERY worthwhile if your business model aggregates products or other entities. Think NomadList, which aggregates locations. Aggregators benefit strongly from SEO because they produce a lot of pages with (hopefully) valuable content.

If, however, you start a SaaS business with a few landing pages, SEO probably shouldn't be up your priority list.

Tim Bennetto of Pallyy:

SEO drives about 95% of Pallyy's traffic and conversions these days, so it's been the most effective marketing I've done.

I started to double down on SEO two years ago. These things take time to rank and drive traffic, so it's best to do them as early as you can.

Steve Toth of SEO Notebook:

Since we now have tools like ChatGPT and a plethora of SEO-focused AI tools, it makes more sense than ever for early-stage indie hackers to begin their SEO journey.

But there are a few things AI can’t yet do for you:

• Architect and end-to-end strategy
• Build links for you
• Help you pay for resources

I worked with Signaturely.com (who is bootstrapped) from their inception. We grew their fresh site from 0 to 400,000 visitors and ranked #1 for “signature maker” in the first year. So it’s very possible for bootstrapped companies to rank.

Glen Allsopp of Detailed:

It absolutely depends on the niche you're in, the terms you're targeting, and the "authority" of your website, but it is possible for bootstrapped businesses to rank.

We shared the story of Hassan El Mghari who is averaging 260,000 pageviews each month, "mostly from Google", to his two-page Restore Photos website.

His result is not common - at least not with such a small website - but it is very much possible.

Ross Simmonds of Foundation:

Setting the foundation early on for your website to rank on Google for high-value keywords can be a very lucrative approach in the long term.

I would say for an indie hacker, once you have product-market fit and you have developed a product that people actually want, investing in SEO can be a great strategic decision if you are capable of investing in this growth strategy.

Also, if you are early to a market that is going to show a lot of growth in the future, SEO makes sense. This is certainly the reality today with a lot of the indie hacker solutions being created on the back of AI.

When should indie hackers begin SEO?

Kevin Indig of Growth Memo:

Wait until validation. SEO only works when you have a product people want. Otherwise, you just get empty calories.

Ross Simmonds of Foundation:

My recommendation would be for a founder to invest in SEO after validation, acquiring their first few customers, and doing a bit of research to understand whether or not there is search demand for the offering that they've created.

For example, if you are creating a CRM for a specific niche, then do some keyword research using a tool like Ahrefs, Moz, or Semrush to understand what the volume is of people looking for CRMs in that niche. If the volume is significant and you can create content that aligns with the things that these people are looking for, then start to invest in SEO.

Steve Toth of SEO Notebook:

It’s never too early or too late to lay the groundwork. Pre-launch is a viable option if you have some money in the bank, but make no mistake: It’s a bet.

Glen Allsopp of Detailed:

You don't need everything figured out right away, but try not to do things that might hurt you later down the line.

Then, once you're picking up links to your site, building out content, and you notice the first 100 or 1,000 visitors from search, you can start taking SEO more seriously from there.

Corey Haines of Swipe Files:

Start on Day 0. "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is right now."

Creating content purposed to drive traffic from Google is planting trees. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with founders who waited years to start creating SEO-focused content only to realize that they should have been doing it from the start, and wonder how much more they would have grown their MRRs by now had they done so.

Traffic is also validation. I'm currently incubating a new SaaS idea by first creating public templates as content so that when the product is ready, I already have an engaged audience to sell to.

What is worth doing — and when?

Ross Simmonds of Foundation:

Early on in an indie hacker's SEO journey, the only thing that matters is ensuring that their website can rank for their brand terms so if someone is looking for their name, they are able to show up in Google.

This means not getting too fancy with your website experience and making it technically incapable of being scraped and indexed by Google. Ensure that it can be indexed.

Once that is complete, you have demonstrated product-market fit, and you have validated that this is something that people want, my recommendation would be to create specific landing pages that speak about the solution that you offer.

The goal here is to optimize for keywords that are likely being searched for when your audience is trying to make a buying decision around your product. Then create these landing pages and write blog posts that link to these landing pages throughout your site to increase your ability to show up in the SERP.

If you can use AI tools to accelerate your content production workflow this can also be a great win, especially for a bootstrapped founder.

The next step beyond this would likely be happening after you begin to generate anywhere from $25-50k MRR. Then, you can start to build backlinks to these different pages and invest in a backlinking partner to support that type of growth.

Kevin Indig of Growth Memo:

Generally, technical SEO becomes more important the larger a site gets, while content and onpage optimization is always important.

Quick SEO wins

💡 Programmatic SEO

Corey Haines of Swipe Files:

Programmatic SEO is something every indie hacker should look into since it leverages engineering skills. Programmatic content is assembled in a database instead of a Google doc. You can create hundreds of pages in just a matter of days. Templates, comparisons, curations, and converters are four tried-and-true formulas.

💡 Long-tail keywords

Corey Haines of Swipe Files:

Not all keywords are created equal. Hitting the first page for "CRM" is going to be extremely difficult, but hitting the first page for "Laundromat CRM" is very achievable. The key is targeting "long tail" keywords — multi-word keywords about something very specific related to your product.

Individually, ranking #1 for a keyword driving 50 visitors a month seems like a waste of time. But rank #1 for 50 long tail keywords and now you have 2,500 qualified visitors in your funnel every month.

💡 Build (or acquire) free tools

Glen Allsopp of Detailed:

If you have programming skills, which I know a lot of you have, see if you can find a need for web-based tools relevant to your niche or primary offering. Things like calculators or fillable templates or specific-niche invoice generators.

Often, these kinds of tools, as long as they helpfully fulfill a need, can be incredible link magnets.

Tim Bennetto of Pallyy:

I acquire free tools. Basically, when I buy a tool, I'll build the exact same tool onto Pallyy's website, then 301 redirect the original product there. Doing this gives me almost the same SEO benefits. I get their keyword rankings and also their backlinks, if they have any. Some of the tools I've acquired have had amazing backlinks that the owners probably had no idea about.

💡 Piggyback on sites that are already ranking

Ross Simmonds of Foundation:

Don't sleep on the existing content that shows up in the SERP when people are looking for your solutions.

Sites like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius can be an indie hacker's best friend if you play your cards right because these websites are already ranking quite well in Google and you can piggyback on them to capture a portion of the market yourself.

💡 Look at where low-authority sites are ranking

Glen Allsopp of Detailed:

There's little point trying to fight against sites that are huge authorities in your space when you're just getting started. At least not for broad, high-volume terms.

Target terms that newer, less authoritative sites are already shown to have a better chance of ranking in. Then you can go after more competitive terms later on.

💡 Look for content angles that competitors missed

Glen Allsopp of Detailed:

It's wise to do at least some basic keyword research to get an idea of what people might be searching for that's relevant to your product, and then go through the search results to see who your competitors are. There may be some content angles where there isn't much competition that you can rank for quickly.

💡 Choose the right product name

Glen Allsopp of Detailed:

Even just naming your site is something to keep in mind. I like to try and pick names that aren't going to hold me back and sound spammy (which might put people off from linking to my site, for example). So I tend to avoid quirky extensions (sorry, indie hackers), hyphens and so on.

💡 No quick wins in SEO (unless you already have traffic)

Kevin Indig of Growth Memo:

If you already have traffic, optimizing titles and adding schema markup for rich snippets can be quick wins. If you don't have organic traffic yet, I fear I have to disappoint you.

Ross Simmonds of Foundation:

Quick wins in SEO don't really exist for indie hackers.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people selling this idea that AI-driven content can get you on the first page of Google within a matter of seconds. But unfortunately, while this is true that in the short term it might work, I don't believe it's gonna be sustainable as Google's algorithm is placing more and more emphasis on things like brand authority, trust, and social mentions across other social media channels.

As such, I would encourage brands to play the long game if they're gonna play SEO. Or if they are really looking for quick wins to actually shift their allocation to some other channel like email outreach.

SEO tips

💡 EEAT

Ross Simmonds of Foundation:

Embrace the philosophy of EEAT, which is to create content and pages that support the idea that you are an expert, that you have experience, that you are an authority, and that you are trustworthy.

Show your credentials often on various channels, on your platforms, etc, and don't be afraid to brag about yourself and optimize your content.

💡 Write quality content

Corey Haines of Swipe Files:

Domain ranking and backlink building are still factors for ranking high, but quality content is still king (and always will be).

💡 Leverage AI

Steve Toth of SEO Notebook:

Run all your completed content through various prompts on ChatGPT to get the most out of each piece. Here are some examples.

💡 Educate yourself

Steve Toth of SEO Notebook:

Educating yourself and your team on SEO is a great investment, but can also be an intimidating feat. One way to shortcut this is to get active within the SEO community, introduce yourself to people you follow and network with them (help them). Going to conferences or joining groups like SEO Signals Lab or Traffic Think Tank are great ways to shortcut this. Good luck!

💡 Don't be shady

Corey Haines of Swipe Files:

Don't do anything shady!

---

Subscribe for more how-tos, roundtables, and interviews with people in the thick of it.