When you’re starting from zero, SEO can feel like an uphill battle — especially when you’re competing with established brands and limited resources.

We recently launched a small business site in the digital services space and decided to use it as a proving ground: What could we accomplish with zero ad spend, limited domain authority, and a lean content strategy?

The result?
5,880 impressions in 90 days, 43 clicks, and rankings for several high-intent keywords.

Here’s exactly how we did it — step by step.

The Starting Point

We built a clean, fast WordPress site, added our services, and published a handful of pages. Then we submitted the sitemap to Google Search Console (GSC), got the “Success” message, and waited.

But weeks later… no impressions. No clicks. No visibility.

At first glance, everything looked fine in GSC — but something wasn’t adding up.

Step 1: Diagnose the Technical Blocker

We ran a manual check on one of our blog URLs using the URL Inspection Tool in GSC. That’s when we discovered the issue:

Google wasn’t indexing the blog posts at all.

Despite the sitemap saying it was accepted, Google couldn’t fetch the URLs.

What we did:

  • Manually submitted each blog URL for indexing

  • Adjusted the sitemap settings to ensure Googlebot could access everything

  • Reviewed our robots.txt and removed unnecessary crawl blocks

  • Installed performance plugins to optimize page speed (and passed Core Web Vitals)

Step 2: Build a Focused Content Plan

Once indexing was working, we created five strategic blog posts, each targeting a low-competition, long-tail keyword relevant to the site’s services.

We avoided fluff and focused on real search intent, with topics like:

  • Simple SEO fixes for small businesses

  • How to choose the right WordPress theme

  • A beginner’s guide to long-tail keywords

Each post included:

  • Optimized meta titles and descriptions

  • Clear H1s and H2s

  • Internal links to service pages and other blogs

Step 3: Repurpose and Promote Content

Rather than just letting the blogs sit there, we:

  • Republished each one as a LinkedIn article

  • Shared the key tips in short-form threads on X (Twitter)

  • Engaged in conversations with founders and freelancers around the same topics

The goal was not just to get backlinks — but to build brand signals, visibility, and indexed content faster.

Step 4: Internal Linking and Metadata Optimization

Every time we posted a new blog, we:

  • Linked it to the previous one

  • Pointed anchor text to relevant services

  • Reviewed Yoast SEO scores and made sure each post passed on-page best practices

This helped build structure Google could crawl — and kept visitors engaged.

The Results (in 90 Days):

  • Impressions: 0 → 5,880

  • Clicks: 43

  • Top Ranking Keyword: “wordpress seo audit” — page 1

  • CTR: 0.7%

  • Average Position: #59 (with key terms climbing steadily)

All organic. No ads. No AI content. No backlinks.

Final Thoughts: Start Simple, But Start

This wasn’t a massive content effort. It wasn’t a high-budget campaign.
It was just:

  • Fixing what was broken

  • Writing what people are searching for

  • Making sure Google could see it

You don’t need a 50-post content calendar or a huge team to start gaining SEO traction — you just need the right setup and execution.

Need Help Growing Your Site the Same Way?

This is exactly what we do for small businesses around the world — smart SEO, scalable content, and technical foundations that don’t fall apart six months later.

Let’s simplify your digital growth.