SEO for early-stage startups | Irina Maltseva, Growth Advisor @ Aura, Sphere, Artisan & more | Masters of Search #17

Most founders think SEO takes too long for early-stage startups. Irina Maltseva proves them wrong by helping YC alumni build organic growth from 0. In our latest Masters of Search episode, she shares 5 tactics you can start implementing TODAY.

Irina specializes in the hardest problem in SEO: building traction with zero domain authority, fresh websites, and new products. She’s helped companies like Artisan, Hunter, Riverside, Sphere, and many more build their organic growth motion from scratch.

Full interview with Irina Maltseva, Growth Advisor @ Aura, Sphere, Artisan & more

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5 tactical takeaways from our conversation

1) Talk to customers before you open keyword tools

Irina starts every project by listening to Gong calls and reading support tickets. Not keyword research. Why? Because customers are asking questions that keyword tools don’t capture yet. You need to understand their language first, then match it to search data.

2) Bet on topics that will grow, not just existing search volume

When Artisan came to Irina, “AI SDR” had only 100-300 monthly searches. She saw the market conversations, the founder insights, and trends pointing to growth. Now it drives thousands of monthly visits. If you’re early-stage, you cannot just react to search volume. Anticipate where demand is heading.

3) Start with your own website for AI search visibility

Getting cited in ChatGPT or Perplexity is often easier than ranking on Google for new companies. Irina’s finding: ~50% of AI citations pull from your own website, ~50% from external sources. Create alternative comparison pages, product explainers, and “what LLMs should know” content on your domain first, before reaching out to dozens of publishers without getting responses.

4) Use your founder visibility strategically

Before you have budget for link building, leverage what you control: your presence. Join podcasts, speak at webinars, write guest posts. But here’s the key: always ask for a mention, a backlink and a product description. Try to get all 3, but at least 1. Irina helped one client build significant domain authority for free just by being strategic about founder visibility.

5) Stay consistent and don’t give up after 2 months

Domain authority takes time. No one can speed it up. But if you’re working with the right approach (customer-first, anticipating demand, building authority strategically), you will see results. Not immediately, but quickly enough, to place bigger bets over time.

Are you an early-stage founder and thinking about starting with SEO? Drop your questions in the YouTube comments, and I’ll make sure we pick Irinas brain to get you an answer.

Let me know how you like the new episode!