How can you boost your website’s visibility without blowing your budget?
What are the most cost-effective SEO strategies that deliver a strong return on investment?
To answer these questions, we turned to the experts.
In this BoostMyDomain post, we’ve compiled insights from leading SEO professionals and business leaders, asking them to share their top three value-for-money SEO moves.
Their recommendations focus on actionable tactics that any team can implement, even with limited resources, providing a practical guide to achieving SEO success on a shoestring budget.
Read on!
Focus on Content, Not Links
Here are my 3 SEO moves for a shoestring SEO budget:
1. Focus on content, not links. Building links manually is time-consuming, and buying them is expensive. So create your own content, without AI, and do a good job. Use tools like alsoasked.com for topic research (it’s fairly priced).
2. Audit your existing content. If you have a significant amount of blog articles with no traffic, remove them. This will boost your SEO right away. Next, among the articles you just removed, identify any topics that closely match user intent/customer pain points, rewrite and improve them. Publish them as new articles.
3. Back to what I said about links: the best free links are internal links. Back to what I said about auditing your existing content: identify your blog articles with the most authority (traffic), and add links to your key landing pages.
Michelle Symonds
SEO Consultant, Ditto Digital
Maximize Existing Content
As a business owner with a client on a shoestring budget, I focus on three value-for-money SEO strategies to maximize their online presence.
First, I optimize their existing content by refining keywords, improving internal linking, and updating outdated information to enhance rankings without additional costs.
Second, I help them earn free backlinks by leveraging industry partnerships, guest blogging, and listing their business in relevant directories to build authority.
Third, I ensure their Google Business Profile is fully optimized with accurate details, engaging posts, and customer reviews to boost local search visibility.
These cost-effective strategies drive organic traffic and improve search rankings without straining their budget.
Andre Oentoro
CEO Founder, Breadnbeyond
Double Down on What Google Likes
1. Double Down on What Google Already Likes (via Search Console): Google Search Console is more than just a rank tracker—it’s direct feedback from Google itself.
Regularly review the Search Results report to identify keywords you’re already getting impressions and clicks for, even if you never optimized for them. These are golden opportunities! Optimize your titles, meta descriptions, and on-page content to better target these terms and boost both rankings and click-through rates.
2. Leverage Platforms Like Featured for Free, High-Quality Backlinks: Backlinks don’t always require a budget. Platforms like Featured.com (and similar ones like HARO, Help a B2B Writer, etc.) connect you with journalists and publishers seeking expert quotes.
By simply sharing your industry expertise, you can earn valuable backlinks from authoritative sites—boosting both SEO and brand visibility.
3. Add Niche Industry Language to Your Content: Not all keywords with business potential have high search volumes. Incorporating industry-specific terminology and jargon into your website copy, service pages, and blogs can help you capture niche traffic and show up in searches that decision-makers actually use.
This is especially powerful for B2B websites, where one well-placed term can attract the right lead or partnership.
Dhiren Mulani
SEO Specialist, Earningify.com
Prioritize High-Impact SEO Moves
We recently helped someone in a similar situation: a new domain with low Domain Rating (DR) and little authority. When you’re working with limited resources, the key is to prioritize high-impact, low-cost SEO moves.
First, we optimized and refreshed existing content instead of producing new ones. Even with a new domain, making sure every page is well-structured, keyword-optimized, and interlinked helped drive faster indexing and better rankings.
Second, we built backlinks without spending a dime. Guest posting, expert roundups, and using platforms like Featured.com to land media mentions helped secure high-quality links without paid outreach.
Third, we focused on technical SEO basics. Even with a new domain, fixing broken links, improving site speed, and ensuring solid Core Web Vitals made a big difference in search performance.
Bhavik Sarkhedi
Founder & Content Lead, Ohh My Brand
Max Out Your Google Business Profile
If you’re running SEO on a shoestring budget, every move needs to pack a punch. Here are three powerhouse strategies that don’t cost much but deliver serious ROI:
1. Max Out Your Google Business Profile: Google hands you a free billboard with Google Business Profile, and most businesses barely use it. Fill out every single field–yes, even the ones you think don’t matter.
Post updates weekly, add high-quality photos, and respond to reviews (good or bad). The more active and complete your profile, the better your chances of showing up in local searches. Google wants engagement, so give it to them.
2. Lock Down Local Listings (and Keep NAP Consistent): Directories still matter–especially for local SEO. Get listed on every relevant directory you can find (Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps, industry-specific listings, etc.).
But here’s the key: your Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) must match exactly across every platform. Inconsistent details confuse search engines and hurt rankings. If you don’t have the time to manually submit, use free tools like Moz Local’s checker or BrightLocal’s audit tool to see where you stand.
3. Leverage Free Backlinks with Strategic Guest Posting: Backlinks boost authority, but if you’re not sitting on a big budget, you need to get creative.
Submit articles to platforms like Featured.com, which lets you earn high-quality backlinks for free. Look for other industry blogs or news sites that accept guest contributions and provide a link back to your site. Well-placed, relevant backlinks can do wonders for your domain authority–without costing you a dime.
SEO doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does require consistency. If you execute these three moves well, you’ll build a strong foundation without burning through your budget.
Target Long-Tail Keywords
For a team working on a shoestring budget, here are three value-for-money SEO moves that can make a significant impact:
Focus on Long-Tail Keywords: Targeting long-tail keywords is an affordable and effective way to rank for less competitive, highly relevant search terms. These keywords often have lower search volume but higher conversion rates since they are more specific to user intent. By creating well-optimized content around these terms, you can attract quality traffic without the need for expensive tools or strategies.
Leverage Google Business Profile: Optimizing your Google Business Profile is a cost-free way to improve local SEO visibility. By keeping the profile updated with accurate information, collecting reviews, and posting relevant updates, you can boost local search rankings and make it easier for potential customers to find you. It’s an excellent tactic for businesses targeting a local audience.
Content Repurposing: Instead of constantly creating new content, repurpose existing material into various formats. For example, turn a blog post into a social media graphic, an infographic, or a short video. This approach not only saves time but also increases the chances of your content reaching different audiences without additional costs.
These strategies are practical and can generate meaningful results, even on a limited budget.
Chris Raulf
Founder & President, Boulder SEO Marketing
Optimize On-Page SEO
When working with a tight budget, these three SEO strategies can deliver great results without breaking the bank:
- optimizing the on-page SEO of the website,
- optimizing the content or improving the content marketing strategy,
- and earning backlinks from reputable websites.
Bernadette Galang
SEO Strategist, Trek Marketing
Title and Meta Description Optimization
3 of the strongest value-for-money SEO focuses should be:
1. Title and meta description optimization: Page title optimization is one of the highest value, lowest effort tasks that can be performed in SEO. Optimizing meta descriptions can help increase the CTR of your search result and in turn lead to stronger overall ranking performance.
2. Using featured.com for link building: This is one of the best ways to get relevant, natural, high-quality links pointing back to your website.
3. Content creation: Google always has a strong focus on promoting valuable content. This isn’t about creating content in bulk, it’s about creating valuable content on the core pages you want to see greater ranking performance on.
David Pagotto
Founder & Managing Director, SIXGUN
Keyword Research and Content Strategy
If you’re working on SEO with a shoestring budget, focus on high-impact, low-cost strategies that drive results.
First, optimize on-page SEO by ensuring your title tags, meta descriptions, and headers include relevant keywords. Use free tools like Google Search Console to identify underperforming pages and make quick improvements.
Second, leverage content marketing by creating SEO-friendly blog posts that answer customer questions. Focus on long-tail keywords with lower competition to rank faster and attract organic traffic without paid ads.
Lastly, earn backlinks through outreach by connecting with industry blogs, partners, or local directories for free backlink opportunities. Guest posting and networking can boost domain authority without spending a dime.
With consistency and creativity, even a tight budget can yield strong SEO results over time.
Focus on Content Gaps
First, write high-quality, unique, and strategic SEO metadata for each page. Include keywords in your SEO title, meta description, and alt text (if applicable).
Second, spend time making sure your website is mobile-friendly. Use PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement. Since the majority of searches are done on mobile and Google does mobile-first indexing, mobile optimization is super important for your SEO.
Third, start writing valuable blogs that align with your audience’s pain points and interests. Each blog you publish is an opportunity to rank for new keywords.
Good luck!
Eden Sloboth
Founder, Maven Made Copy
On behalf of the BoostMyDomain community of readers, we thank these leaders and experts for taking the time to share valuable insights that stem from years of experience and in-depth expertise in their respective niches.
BoostMyDomain invites you to share your insights and contribute to our authoritative publication. Reach a wider audience, build your credibility, and establish yourself as a thought leader in an industry that caters to every business with an online presence!
