No budget, no agency, no problem.
Most of what an agency would charge you for in the first three months is work you can do in an afternoon. The expensive part is what comes after, and you may not need it.
The honest starting point: for a small business in a local or narrow category, the gap between doing nothing and doing the basics is enormous, and the gap between doing the basics and hiring somebody is much smaller than the pricing suggests.
The afternoon that matters most
- One page per thing you sell, each saying plainly what it is and who it is for. Not a services page listing nine things.
- Your business name, address and phone identical everywhere they appear. Identical, not similar.
- A profile on every directory and map service your customers use, filled in completely, with photographs.
- Answers, on your own site, to the five questions customers actually ask you before buying. In their words, not yours.
That last one is doing double duty now. The unit an answer engine quotes is a question and its answer, so a page already in that shape is retrievable in a way a brochure page is not.
What is safe to ignore
Keyword density, meta keyword tags, link exchanges, monthly blog posts written to a schedule rather than a question, and any tool subscription bought before you have run out of free things to fix. Also domain authority as a target: it is somebody’s estimate of a thing, not the thing.
The part that is genuinely hard
Being written about by other people. That is what moves both ordinary search and assistant answers, it cannot be done from your own site, and it is the thing worth paying for if you pay for anything.
It is also more reachable than it sounds. In a category we measured, the single most-cited source across the whole run was one roundup article, cited 126 times. One page, maintained by one person, deciding a large share of what an assistant said about that category.
What to check before spending anything
Whether you already come up. Ask the questions a customer would type, signed out, from your customers’ location, across more than one assistant and the ordinary results. If your name is there consistently, the cheapest correct answer is to spend the money elsewhere.
The short answers
Can I do SEO myself without an agency?
For a small or local business, most of the first three months of an agency engagement is work you can do in an afternoon: one clear page per thing you sell, consistent name and address everywhere, complete directory profiles, and written answers to the five questions customers ask before buying.
What is the cheapest thing that actually works?
Answering your customers’ real questions on your own site, in their words. It helps ordinary search and it is also the shape an answer engine can quote, because the unit it lifts is a question and its answer.
What can I safely ignore?
Keyword density, meta keyword tags, link exchanges, blogging to a schedule rather than to a question, and any subscription bought before you have run out of free things to fix. Domain authority is somebody’s estimate, not a target.
When is it worth paying somebody?
For the part you cannot do from your own site: being written about by other people. That moves both ordinary search and assistant answers and it is genuinely hard.
How do I know if I need any of this?
Check whether you already come up. Ask the questions a customer would type, signed out, from your customers’ location, across more than one assistant and the ordinary results. Consistent presence means spend the money somewhere else.
Do I need a blog?
You need answers, which may or may not look like a blog. A page answering one real question outperforms four posts written because it was Tuesday.
How long before this shows results?
Directory and profile work can move local results in weeks. Anything depending on other people writing about you moves in months, and neither is on your schedule.
Find out in under ten minutes
One free check, no account and no card. You get the answers the assistants gave, not a score.
Every figure quoted here comes from a real question put to a real assistant, saved with the date and the assistant that answered it. This piece was written to answer the search "cheap seo small business".