Entity & Knowledge Graph
Cheapest while you are small.
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Vertical programme
SEO and AI visibility for Startups
A startup has no accumulated authority and usually no category to rank in yet, which changes what the first year of visibility work should even attempt.
At a glance
- Brand demand
- Effectively zero
- Target
- Adjacent problems
- Cheapest now
- Entity records
- Reporting
- Founder-length
- Honest about
- What compounds vs converts
What changes in this vertical
If you are creating a category, the search volume is not there yet. Visibility has to be earned on the adjacent problem your buyers already name.
Nobody is searching for you
Everything comes from problem-level queries or from being named in someone else’s answer.
Models have less inertia than rankings
A startup with strong third-party coverage can be recommended alongside incumbents.
Entity work is cheapest now
The surface area is small. It only gets more expensive.
How early-stage companies actually get found
Problem-level demand exists; category-level demand usually does not yet.
The problem has words already
Your category may not.
Peers and communities matter more
Early buyers ask people, then assistants.
Coverage punches above weight
One good placement moves a small brand measurably.
Where programmes usually go wrong
Almost every early programme fails for one of four reasons, and none of them are budget.
Optimising for a category nobody searches
Content built around invented category language attracts nobody, because nobody uses the words yet.
Adjacent-problem targeting: Ranking on the problem your buyers already name, then introducing your category language once you have their attention.
Expecting compounding channels to work fast
Search returns arrive over quarters. Treating them as this quarter’s demand source produces a cancelled programme in month four.
Honest sequencing: Paid and outbound for near-term pipeline; search and citation work run in parallel as the compounding layer.
Publishing volume before positioning
Dozens of posts written before anyone settled what the company does, which then all need rewriting.
Positioning first, then content: A single consistent description deployed everywhere, then content built on top.
Neglecting entity records at founding
Inconsistent names and descriptions set from day one are harder to correct later.
Clean records early: Entity work done while the surface area is small, which is the cheapest it will ever be.
How an engagement runs here
The same five phases we run for every client, with the vertical detail set out at each one. The full model is on our methodology page.
Audit
Day 01 to 10Where you appear today across search and answer engines, usually close to nowhere, plus an audit of how you are currently described.
6 platforms500+ queriesBaseline reportDiagnose
Day 11 to 21Whether the real constraint is positioning, an unresolvable entity, or simply that the category you are naming has no search demand yet.
Content gapsEntity deficitCorpus gapsArchitect
Day 22 to 30A roadmap honest about sequencing: what compounds over quarters versus what produces pipeline this one, with paid and outbound named where appropriate.
90-day roadmapPillar planEntity planExecute
Day 31 to 180A single agreed description deployed everywhere, entity records cleaned while the surface area is small, then problem-level content.
Embedded teamWeekly shipMonthly reviewMonitor
OngoingShort monthly reporting built for a founder, including a plain call on whether this is working yet.
Weekly scansDrift alertsQBR recalibration
What you receive each month
Short, honest, and built for a founder rather than a marketing team.
01
Visibility movement
Where you rank and where you are named, against the starting point.
02
Description accuracy
How models and directories describe the company.
03
Coverage earned
Any independent mention, with what produced it.
04
Content performance
Which pages are doing anything, and which should be cut.
05
Honest trajectory call
Whether this is working yet, stated plainly.
06
Next-cycle plan
The two or three things worth doing next.
Services that apply here
Branding & Positioning
One description, everywhere.
Frequently asked questions
Is SEO worth it before product-market fit?
The entity and positioning work is, because it is cheap now and expensive later. Content investment at scale usually is not: the positioning will change and the content will need rewriting.
How long before search produces pipeline?
Two to three quarters for a new domain in most categories, longer in competitive ones. Anyone promising faster is describing terms nobody searches for.
We are creating a new category. What do we target?
The problem your buyers already have words for. Category creation happens after you have their attention, not as the route to getting it.
Can a startup be recommended by AI assistants?
Yes, and disproportionately so if the entity is clean and there is genuine third-party coverage. Models have less brand inertia than search rankings do.