SEO can be free, if you take care of it yourself. When we talk about SEO, we discuss strategies intended to feature online content more prominently on search engines results. Some of these approaches (like setting up pay-per-click ad campaigns) require an investment in money. However, many other SEO practices can be implemented at no monetary cost if you learn how to do them yourself.

Do keep in mind that any SEO practice you engage with on your own require a time investment at the very least. Depending on your technical know-how, this investment might end up being quite high.

Fortunately, there’s a lot of documentation online that can help you in this endeavor. Moreover, taking care of your own SEO – at least initially – will grant you a few advantages.

For one, you’ll benefit right from the start by improving your content until you are able to hire an agency to take it to the next level. For another, you’ll begin accumulating some knowledge on the subject. This will come in handy later down the road when you have to make strategic choices and oversee the SEO path an agency recommends for your business.

As far as the strategies themselves, here are a few of the free SEO practices we believe should be at the top of your priority list:

Market Research/Analysis

Thoroughly knowing and understanding your target audience is an essential building block of any SEO strategy. It stands to reason that it be one of the first things you should focus on before moving onto more involved tasks. In principle, doing this type of analysis might sound daunting, but as someone with intimate knowledge of your product, you are uniquely equipped to determine the info you need.

Make a profile (and keep it updated) on your content’s target audience: Age, Sex, Geographic Location, Needs related to your product. And let this profile inform and improve your other SEO strategies as you move on.

Keyword Research

Once you know who you are creating content for, you can move on to one of the big ones as far as SEO strategies go: Keyword Research. KR is all about finding out which words people use to find the type of content or product you are offering. You can use free tools like Google’s Keyword Planner to this end, and use your target audience profile to further home in those perfect keywords you can use to lead them to your online content.

Generate Content 

Once you have a solid understanding of the audience you are trying to attract, and know the most popular keywords they use to find the type of content you offer, it is time to start creating quality content utilizing this information. Content comes in many shapes, and it will all depend on the type of business you have.

Someone selling on Amazon might start a blog with reviews for their products, and link back to their listings. A photographer might start an online portfolio, using the Keywords he researched on the image titles or descriptions.

Using these strategies cost you no money, and they are bound to have a positive impact on your online presence.