Everybody is doing technical SEO these days – from minor companies to global corporations – but not everyone can afford to spend a fortune in the process. There are more than 30 million small businesses in the US, which makes a staggering 99.9% of all companies in the country.
This basically means that the majority of your clients will be looking for the most affordable SEO solution. Now, you are probably asking yourself a simple question: How can I get the job done without overspending?
There is no easy solution to the problem, but you can make it a lot simpler if you follow the tips we are about to discuss. Let’s take a look!
6 Ways to Complete Technical SEO on a Shoestring Budget
A business looking for technical SEO experts will probably expect you to improve website ranking in record time. Although highly desirable, the goal is almost impossible to reach if they lack resources. In such circumstances, you can take the following actions:
1. Prepare well and analyze the website
Before you meet a client and begin discussing SEO issues, you need to prepare well and analyze their website. You should complete a thorough inspection of the site to identify the pros and cons as it will give you a better overview of the job that needs to be done.
You don’t have to waste a whole day doing it, but a 15-minute check will probably be enough to get a solid first impression.
Besides that, it will be easier to negotiate the deal and clarify project requirements. This stage of the process is by no means different than any other type of work since you always have to prepare for business meetings and guess what’s coming next.
2. Be honest and explain your viewpoint directly
Now it’s time to meet your client and discuss the project. First of all, you should listen to their story and try to figure out what they expect from you. You will take the central stage after that and explain your point of view clearly and honestly.
This is extremely important because the client needs to understand all the challenges you will be facing along the way. The goal is to eliminate possible misunderstandings and find a joint solution on how to approach technical SEO of a given website.
3. Do exactly what they tell you to do
SEO professionals are often too passionate about their job and they tend to take the extra step in an attempt to make a perfect website. Even though it’s a genuine virtue, it won’t do you well if you are working with a business that lacks financial resources. Keep in mind that technical SEO covers a lot of different elements:
- URL structure
- Website load speed
- Mobile-friendliness
- Navigation and categorization
- XML sitemaps
- SSL and HTTPS
- Robot.txt optimization
- Structured data markup
The list goes on, but you get the point already. The only reasonable approach is to do exactly what the client tells you to do and discard other issues. For example, if they want to optimize URLs and make them search engine-friendlier, you should concentrate on this task exclusively and neglect all the other aspects of technical SEO. This is the only way to complete the project while sticking to the budget.
4. Prioritize SEO tasks
If your client is not really sure about how to approach technical optimization, you should use a different methodology and prioritize SEO tasks. What does it mean?
First of all, it means you ought to concentrate on activities that make the biggest impact on website ranking. If you can help the website climb the ranking ladder, focus on SEO elements that lead to this goal. Secondly, you should think about tasks that don’t require too much time. Such a strategy is particularly useful if you are charging based on a “per hour” basis.
Of course, you can make a few prioritization lists and discuss them with your client to decide which way to go from here.
5. Use free SEO tools
This goes without saying, but we need to remind you to use free SEO tools when working with low- budget businesses. If your client is not ready to invest in technical SEO, why would you do it on their behalf?
Luckily enough, the Internet is packed with free SEO platforms that you can use without limits. Google alone offers you a number of useful tools such as:
Google Search Console assists webmasters in measuring a website’s search traffic, analyzing performance, and fixing SEO issues.
- Google Analytics is also inevitable if you want to do technical SEO free of charge.
- Page Speed Insights will show you page load time and how to improve it.
- Mobile-Friendly Test is dedicated to mobile optimization
6. Set expectations
Finally, you should never start a technical SEO without setting clear expectations. The client needs to know what to expect from your work because it’s the only way to avoid confusion and misconceptions, especially if you work with entrepreneurs who have little to no SEO experience.
For instance, you should clearly state that they cannot expect to reach the first page of search engine ranking with such a modest SEO budget. It will save you a lot of time and nerves, so do your best to explain everything before taking off.
The bottom line
Conducting technical SEO for a business with a tight budget is never a comfortable thing to do, but there are ways to overcome the obstacle and get the job done as expected. In this post, we showed you a few practical ways to do technical SEO on a shoestring budget. Keep it in mind and let us know in the comments if you have other interesting suggestions – our readers would love to see it!
