AI Search & SEO Services / Startups
SEO Consultant for Startups
Paid channels rent attention and stop when the budget does. SEO builds an asset that keeps producing. I build that asset for startups from first traction upward.
Tom Riley
SEO Consultant
Most startups burn budget on paid channels that die the moment the spend stops. The smart ones build organic search into an asset that compounds. I have done exactly that for startups from first traction to a $1.1bn valuation, and I do it as a senior consultant working with you directly, not a junior at an agency.
Early on, nobody searches your brand name yet, so you have to win the problem searches and the commercial 'best X' terms. That is a rankings and authority job: solid technical foundations, content mapped to real buying intent, and links that build domain authority. Get it right and organic becomes the channel that makes your CAC fall as you grow. AI search visibility rides along on the same signals.
Why startups need an SEO consultant
Nobody searches your brand name yet, so you have to rank for the problem and 'best X' searches your buyers actually run.
Paid channels rent attention. Organic search builds an asset that keeps producing after the invoice stops.
A thin, new site with little authority struggles to rank without deliberate technical and link work.
Early-stage teams cannot afford agencies learning on their budget. You need someone who has already grown organic to real scale.
What I focus on for startup SEO
A young company starts with little authority. I build it fast with the fundamentals Google rewards:
- A clean, crawlable site structure that tells Google exactly what you do and for whom
- Keyword strategy focused on the commercial and problem searches you can realistically win now
- Technical SEO foundations: speed, indexation, internal linking and structured data
- Content that earns rankings and answers the questions buyers ask before they choose
- Early digital PR and links that build the domain authority Google needs to trust you
- Reviews and profiles across the platforms relevant to your market: Trustpilot, G2, Google Business Profile
Want to see exactly where you stand?
Book a call and I will show you how ChatGPT and Google AI see your brand today, and what I would fix first. Free, no hard sell.
👉 Book a call with TomHow I build SEO for startups
Foundation sprint
Technical audit, site structure and indexation fixes so Google can read and rank your site. Most startups quietly fail here without knowing it.
Win the winnable keywords
I find the high-intent searches you can realistically rank for now and take them. Early wins bring traffic and revenue that fund the bigger plays.
Compound authority
Content, internal linking and links stack month over month until organic is the channel that lowers your CAC as competitors' rises, and increasingly earns you AI search visibility too.
The SEO consultant behind this playbook
Everything on this page comes from the SEO playbook Tom Riley AI SEO uses on his own brand: the same SEO and entity authority work that gets him named by ChatGPT when people ask for an SEO consultant. The full picture, with case studies and proof, is on the homepage.
FAQs
Is it too early for my startup to invest in SEO?
If you have a product and customers, no. Rankings and authority take time to accumulate, so the earlier you start, the deeper your moat. Starting early is precisely the advantage.
What does this cost compared to an agency?
You work directly with me, a senior consultant, not a junior with a retainer to justify. Scope depends on your stage. Book a call and I will tell you straight what is worth doing now and what can wait.
How fast can a startup see SEO results?
It depends on your competition and starting authority, but I focus on winnable keywords first so you see traffic early while the bigger topical plays build behind them. I have grown startup traffic to real scale, including 300% in six months at Beams.
Do you cover AI search as well?
The primary goal is organic rankings and traffic. But the same signals I build also feed ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, so AI visibility comes as a bonus rather than a separate project.
Start with a call to discuss your growth and visibility
Book a call and we will go through your domain together: technical SEO, content gaps, AI search visibility and exactly what I would do about each one. No obligation.
👉 Book a call with TomThe same playbook, other niches
The mechanics of SEO do not change between industries, but the entities and trust signals do. That is why, alongside this one, I also work as an SEO consultant for insurance, an SEO consultant for tech startups and an SEO consultant for medical & health. Every playbook starts with the same first call.
And if AI search visibility is the bigger prize for you, there is a dedicated page for the AI SEO Consultant for Startups side of the same market.