Highlights:
- Aggressively fix technical SEO issues first – Fix things like broken links, duplicated content, site speed, mobile optimization, etc. This dramatically impacts performance.
- Focus on keyword research – Conduct rigorous keyword research to uncover low competition, long-tail keywords aligned with your offerings. Match content closely to search intent.
- Build up your credibility with great content – Establish subject matter expertise by building content clusters around biotech topics and pillars. Comprehensive coverage builds authority.
- Spread the word and earn backlinks – Secure authoritative backlinks through contributor partnerships, co-created assets, brand mentions, scientific journals, and other avenues.
Improve Your Startup’s SEO With These Eight Steps
The marketing department at a fledgling biotech startup has the monumental task of building awareness and attracting potential partners, investors, and clients to your unproven but innovative solutions.
With limited resources available, you need to make every marketing dollar count and gain visibility quickly in highly competitive biotech markets. An effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy is essential.
With concerted effort, you can rapidly improve your biotech startup’s SEO and search rankings—even starting as an unknown entity. By focusing on a few key areas, you can gain organic visibility and establish thought leadership faster than you may think possible.
Here are the most pivotal steps to take:
1. Aggressively Fix Technical Issues
The first priority is fixing any technical SEO issues on your site. These “under the hood” problems drag down SEO performance and lead to PageRank demotion.
Leverage Google Search Console to catch critical errors like broken links leading to 404 pages, improper redirects, duplicated content, and crawlability roadblocks—such as pages blocked by robots.txt. Remedy any indexing, page experience, and usability issues flagged in Search Console immediately. Eliminate broken links by redirecting them to relevant pages. Validate structured data—a common source of indexing issues.
Run your pages through Google PageSpeed Insights to identify site speed issues. Remove bloated images, enable caching, minimize redirects, streamline databases, and cut unnecessary code. Your aim should be scores above 90 on mobile and desktop for optimal user experience.
Ensure your site is mobile-friendly with a responsive design, easy navigation, readable text, clickable elements, and minimal side-scrolling. An unoptimized site severely limits your potential reach and visibility on mobile devices.
This can be daunting, but your website must perform optimally.
2. Conduct Rigorous Keyword Research
Thorough keyword research uncovers the precise terminology your potential partners, investors, and clients are using to search for biotech solutions. Matching your content closely to these high-demand terms is key to search visibility.
Start by brainstorming likely keywords and phrases core to your biotech niche, products, services, and planned content angles. Then leverage free keyword research tools like Semrush and Ubersuggest to drill down and expand your list. Look beyond obvious keywords to uncover hidden long-tail opportunities: keywords with low competition, highly targeted to a small segment of search traffic.
These tools can also be used to ascertain user intent behind each keyword—whether informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational. Shape your content to directly satisfy searcher needs and expectations.
Keep keywords relevant to your unique value propositions and offerings. Those aligned with commercial and transactional intent also have significantly higher conversion potential—critical for biotech startups seeking investors and revenue.
3. Establish Yourself as a Subject Matter Expert
With your thoroughly researched keywords in hand, build out content centered around your major biotech topics and subtopics. For example, a content hub focused on “CRISPR gene editing” could contain pillars exploring the history of CRISPR, how it works, its applications, ethical concerns, future potential, leading companies, and more.
Within each pillar, incorporate related keywords naturally and provide value through comprehensive analysis. Include perspectives from different industry experts to reinforce your command of the subject. Link assets to each other, creating content clusters that help search engines and visitors easily navigate your knowledge base.
This integrated content approach centered on topics establishes your startup as a highly credible authority, demonstrating expansive command of core biotech subject matter.
4. Secure Quality Backlinks to Your Site
Now that you’ve optimized your site and content, secure authoritative backlinks. Links from respected websites signal external validation of your expertise, boosting PageRank.
Start by identifying and contacting relevant biotech media outlets, scientific journals, major research blogs, and niche sites to pitch contributor partnerships. Securing just one backlink from an influential domain can make a major impact.
Look for opportunities to get your biotech insights, data, and perspectives included in research reports, whitepapers, ebooks, and publications. Featured contributor credits typically include a valuable backlink. Partner with other biotech brands and leading scientists to co-create authoritative assets like studies, experiments, and presentations that get published and promoted across both sites.
Finally, engage with relevant biotech forums and blogs by commenting and linking back to your content when it genuinely adds to the discussion. Monitor mentions of your brand and request links when appropriate.
5. Promote Your Startup’s Origin Story
While your scientific expertise is critical, don’t overlook the power of storytelling. Promote the origin story of your biotech startup through all available channels. Share the journey, the passion, the purpose, and the people behind it.
This is your secret weapon to build an emotional connection and stand out from the crowded biotech landscape. Feature your founders and their vision. Open up about the challenges and celebrations of getting a biotech startup off the ground.
This builds brand affinity with your persona and gets attention in the press. Work this compelling narrative into your outreach efforts to score earned media placements. These articles contain invaluable contextual backlinks and promote social amplification.
6. Adapt Swiftly to Google Algorithm Shifts
Google constantly applies algorithm updates that reshape the search engine results page (SERP) landscape. Stay on top of these changes by monitoring Google webmaster blogs, forums, and biotech SEO news sites.
If you notice sudden ranking fluctuations, positive or negative, quickly determine if an algorithm shift is the culprit. Be ready to adapt your approach rapidly to satisfy Google’s evolving priorities around expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness, content quality, and user experience.
7. Track Your Biotech Keyword Rankings
Track your keyword rankings across pages and posts using tools like Google Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs, or SERPBot. Identify keywords that are gaining or losing PageRank. Use this data to inform your ongoing optimization efforts.
8. Dive Into Analytics for Actionable Insights
Regularly analyzing your Google Analytics activity provides the context to connect your SEO efforts to tangible results. Monitor landing pages, traffic from keywords, geographic sources, referring sites, and conversion events.
Compare traffic and keyword performance month-over-month and year-over-year to spot positive or negative trends. Course correct quickly when needed.
Conclusion
Executing on these pivotal focus areas can rapidly multiply your biotech startup’s SEO visibility and strengthen its reputation as an industry thought leader. The long-term rewards make the effort well worth it. Maintaining momentum takes continued dedication, but staying ahead gets easier over time.
At Samba Scientific, we can help your startup flourish with a comprehensive marketing strategy. Let’s chat!
Written by:
Josh Anderson is the Director of Operations at Samba Scientific. He is an expert in sales enablement, CRM optimization, digital marketing, and marketing strategy. Prior to joining Samba, Josh led numerous digital marketing teams, helped build inside sales teams, and scaled several businesses.
