SEO is a great way to get people to see your content but is it possible to do SEO without a website?
In this post, I will answer that question, how it’s done, and if it’s something I’d recommend doing.
Let’s get into it!
What is SEO?
SEO is the act of optimizing your content so that it gets shown in search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) results pages.
Search engines use all types of indicators to decide if and where on a result page your content will be shown.
SEOs create content with these indicators in mind to try and rank as high as possible.
The earlier you get shown on a result page the higher the chance is people will click on your link and go to your content.
Examples of Website-less SEO
You might be wondering how you could even get on the search engine results pages without having a website but if you think about you might’ve already seen examples of it.
SEO through YouTube
You might’ve seen in the last few years YouTube videos pop up in the search results pages of Google. When you click on the result, you’ll be directed to the video on the YouTube platform.
The use of video in search results isn’t going away anytime so it’s a great tool to use when it comes to SEO.
It is important to optimize the YouTube videos so they appear on the right search engine result page. You do this by putting your target keywords in the title, description, and thumbnail.
This method can bring in a lot of targeted traffic that you can use in all sorts of ways.
SEO through Social Media
Content on social media platforms also gets indexed in search engines. An advantage of using social media platforms is that they have a lot of authority in the “eyes” of search engines.
LinkedIn is an example of a social media platform that tends to rank well. LinkedIn has made it possible for members to write articles that get ranked on search engines.
A lot of SEOs take advantage of that and write SEO-optimized articles because they tend to rank high because of the overall authority of the website.
SEO through Blog Websites
Another way people perform SEO is through blogging websites such as Medium and Substack.
The articles written on these platforms get indexed on Google as well and they piggyback on the authority of the overall websites which makes them rank easier.
If done correctly a lot of traffic can be directed to these pages.
The same strategies are applied to optimizing pages on these blog websites as those on your website such as keyword research, good readability, and everything else
Local Business SEO
Not only videos and webpages are found on search engine results pages. If you’ve a business your company can be ranked on search engines as well.
It’ll take some work to get up there such as creating a Google My Business account, getting into business directories, creating content on social media, gathering reviews, etc.
It’s an effective way to get leads but combining it with a website would be great for converting those leads.
Pros and Cons: Weighing SEO without a Website
Taking advantage of SEO without a website has its pros and cons. Let me lay out a few of these pros and cons.
Pros of SEO without a Website
1. No website costs
Building a website costs money and depending on how you do it, it can be relatively cheap or expensive.
You’ll need to pay for hosting to reserve a spot on the internet where you can store your content and a domain name that people can use as an address to reach your content.
These 2 things together are the foundation of every website. By performing SEO without a website no costs will go to the money you’ve to spend to build and maintain your website.
2. Targeted audience reach
Whether you perform SEO with or without a website a huge pro of SEO is that you can essentially choose what type of people you want to see your content.
A lot of social media profiles with a lot of followers aren’t able to monetize their audience because they don’t target a specific niche or create content about a specific subject.
One of the fundamentals of high-level SEO is targeting a specific niche.
As a result, you can target the people that’d value your content, offers, and services the most through the clever use of keywords.
3. You can leverage platforms their authority
How much authority a website, platform, or page has will determine the likelihood of ranking high in search engine results pages.
A brand-new website user will have to build up that authority over a longer period. When you use a website that already has a lot of authority you can skip the time it takes to build it up and rank more quickly.
Cons of SEO without a Website
1. Ranking results don’t trickle down to other content
Performing SEO without a website can bring great results but these often don’t trickle down to other content you create. It mostly benefits the owner of the website you’re posting on.
This isn’t the case when you build a website and get those pages to rank. If your page is valuable it might collect backlinks which will boost the authority of not only that specific page but the entire website.
This means the next page you create might rank a bit easier because of the work you’ve done on the previous page.
2. Dependency on third-party platforms
Using these types of platforms can have fast and great results but they also come with the downside of being dependent on them.
If for any reason they decide to stop providing services or choose to stop making their pages visible for search engines to index you’ll lose all your traffic overnight.
You don’t have to worry about this if you’re the website owner that stores your content and even in the case this happens you can revive your website.
3. Limited control of your optimization and monetization
Most platforms that you don’t own will limit how much you can optimize content.
An example can be editing your title tag and meta description which will decide what text will appear when people look you up on Google.
Aside from your optimization, it’ll also limit your monetization. Most platforms won’t allow you for example to set up a store or insert affiliate links.
You have the freedom to do all that when you own the website but that’s not an option on other websites.
Final Words
SEO without a website is possible and is done by many but it has pros and cons. This is why most people don’t solely rely on these methods to get traffic to their pages.
In most cases, these strategies are used to complement traditional SEO of websites. It can even boost your website-based SEO efforts when done properly.
This is why I recommend starting with the SEO basics by creating a website so you’ve more control and limit the possibility of other people taking away your traffic.
That’s all for today!
If you have any questions or experience with websiteless SEO I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
See you at my next post!
