Startup SEO
An SEO Agency for Startups That Scopes to Your Stage
Most startup SEO plans assume a big budget and a long runway. We're an SEO agency for startups, mainly funded AI startups from seed to Series B, and we scope the work to what your stage can use now. HeyOz launched with a single homepage, and now has 91 AI citations and page-one positions.
Led by the former Senior SEO Manager at Invideo AI. Trusted by Viggle AI, HeyOz, Wisemonk and Monk.
Measured against a fixed baseline on every engagement.
- Viggle AI
- HeyOz
- Wisemonk
- Monk
- Zivoke
- TryScent
What search can and can't do for you at this stage
Search compounds, but slowly, and it punishes pages written for a pitch you later drop. So the honest answer depends on where you are. Before product-market fit, do the foundations and little else. After it, build the pages buyers use to choose.
What an SEO agency for startups should do first
Stage decides the order. A seed team with one homepage and a Series B team with a content backlog need different work, and the plan we send says plainly what waits. These six cover the ground from first launch to a repeatable channel.
Covered on every engine your buyers use
- ChatGPT
- Perplexity
- Claude
- Gemini
- Google AI Overviews
- Google AI Mode
- Copilot
- Bing
ChatGPT search and Copilot draw on Bing's index, so Bing rankings feed AI answers. We work on search and AI engines as one program.
How it works
The same four steps on every engagement, with a clear view of what to expect at 30, 60 and 90 days.
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01
Understand
Map your product, buyers, competitors and the prompts and searches that decide your category.
Days 1 to 30. A fixed baseline across every engine and the prompts that matter.
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02
Prioritize
Pick the few moves that will get you recommended fastest and turn them into a focused roadmap.
Days 1 to 30. A focused roadmap agreed, with the first fixes already shipping.
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03
Execute
Do the technical, content, authority and AI visibility work ourselves.
Days 30 to 60. Content, technical and authority work shipping every week.
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04
Improve
Track citations, rankings and conversions against the baseline and keep refining.
Days 60 to 90. A first read against the baseline, then the next quarter planned.
Results we can show you
Every engagement is measured against a fixed baseline set before the work started, so the before and after can be checked rather than taken on trust.
Who this is for, and who it is not for
A good fit
Funded startups, mainly AI products, from seed to Series B, with a live product and active users
- Seed teams choosing a first growth channel
- Startups with US buyers and a team elsewhere
- Founders who want a plan before any retainer
- Launched products with signups but no search presence
Not a fit yet
- Teams still validating the idea, with no product
- Startups wanting guaranteed rankings by a date
- Founders expecting search to replace sales within a quarter
Startup search options by stage and budget
| SearchAxe | Doing it yourself | Large agency retainer | Junior marketing hire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fits a seed budget | Scoped to your stage and quoted after a free consultation | Yes, paid in founder hours | Rarely, minimums run high | A salary before any results |
| Knows what to skip | The plan names what waits | Hard without experience | Scope tends to grow | Learning on your site |
| Covers AI answers | Included from the start | Only if you learn it | Often extra | Unlikely |
| When work begins | Once the plan and quote are approved | Whenever you find spare hours | After onboarding | After hiring and ramp-up |
| What you keep | Pages, a baseline and a roadmap | Whatever you shipped | Depends on the contract | Knowledge that leaves with them |
What you get each month
- Baseline report Where you stand on every engine and in search before any work starts.
- Monthly AI citation and ranking report Citations by engine, rankings and referring domains, read against the baseline.
- Signups and demos attributed The pipeline that search and AI answers drove that month.
- Slack access A shared channel with the people doing the work.
- Rolling roadmap What shipped, what is next and why, updated every month.
- Competitor movement Which competitors gained or lost ground in AI answers and search, and why.
How we get started
From first call to work in progress in three steps.
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01
Book a free consultation
A call about your product, your market and where you stand in AI answers and search today.
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02
Get a plan and a quote
We send a plan for what we would do first, with a clear quote for the work.
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03
Work starts right away
Once the plan and quote are approved, the work starts immediately.
What clients say
Who's behind SearchAxe
Amit Malvi spent four and a half years at Invideo AI, rising from SEO Executive to Senior SEO Manager. He built and led a 20-person link building team and owned the company's GEO and AEO programs. Today he works hands-on with a small number of AI startups.
Questions buyers ask us
Is it too early for SEO before product-market fit?
Too early for a big program, not for the foundations. Get indexation right, set up Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, write a clear homepage and add a few pages for the problem you solve. Hold off on blog calendars and link campaigns until positioning stops moving, since pages built for a pitch you later drop become cleanup work.
How long does SEO take for a startup?
On a new domain, expect months before rankings carry meaningful signups. HeyOz launched with one homepage and reached page-one positions ten months later, which is a realistic pace for a focused program. Technical fixes and directory listings move faster. AI citations sometimes arrive before rankings do, when the right third-party sources start mentioning you.
We're on a small budget. What's the minimum worth doing?
A narrow scope done properly beats a broad one done thinly. For most seed teams that means technical foundations, three to five buyer-intent pages and listings on the review sites and roundups in your category. We'll quote that, and we'll tell you if your budget fits better with your own team working from our plan.
Do you need to be in the US to rank there?
No. We work remotely with every client. Where your team sits matters less than where your buyers search, so we research queries, prompts and competitors in that market, track rankings and AI answers there, and write pages in the spelling and phrasing those buyers use. Domain, hreflang and language settings get checked for the target market too.
Do you work with accelerator-backed startups?
Yes, if there's a live product and enough funding to sustain a few months of work. Demo days and launch weeks bring a burst of links and press that fades fast. We help turn that one-off attention into pages and mentions that keep ranking and keep getting cited long after the launch traffic is gone.
What should a seed startup expect in the first 90 days?
A baseline in the first month, then technical foundations, a handful of buyer-intent pages and listings on the review sites in your category, all shipped. By day 90 you get a first read against the baseline that shows direction, not a verdict. Rankings on a new domain keep building for months after that, so judge the channel over quarters, not weeks.
What does startup SEO cost with you?
There's no package price, because a seed startup with one homepage and a Series B company with thousands of pages need very different work. After the free consultation you get a written plan listing what we'd do first and what can wait, with a quote for that scope only. Nothing starts until you approve both.
Do you take on startups that aren't AI companies?
Our focus is funded AI startups, because that's where Amit's in-house years at Invideo AI apply most directly. Software startups whose buyers research by asking AI engines can be a fit too. If yours isn't, we'll say so on the first call rather than learn your market on your budget.
Keep exploring
SEO for Series A and B Startups
For funded teams moving from founder-led growth to a repeatable channel.
Read more ServiceSEO Agency for AI Startups
Why AI products struggle in search, and the work that fixes it.
Read more ServiceSaaS SEO Audit
A scoped first step when you want a diagnosis before a program.
Read more ComparisonSEO Agency vs In-House SEO
When a hire beats an agency, and when it doesn't.
Read moreLet's get your product recommended.
Funded AI startup, seed to Series B? Tell us where you stand and we'll reply within one business day.
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