Step 1: Start with Your Business

Before thinking about keywords or backlinks, get clear on your business foundations:

• What makes you different? (Is it your pricing, integrations, compliance expertise, or level of service?)
• Who is your ideal client? (SMEs, enterprises, or specific industries?)
• What’s your growth model? (Do you want to dominate locally, or expand globally?)

Without these answers, no SEO strategy will feel aligned with your goals.

Step 2: Understand How Clients Search

SEO is not just a marketing channel, it’s also a form of market research. It helps you understand how your buyers actually describe their problems.

Here are three ways to explore it:

• Google searches → For example: “what payroll company is the best for an SME” or “payroll compliance US.”
  
  
  
  
• AI platforms (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity) → These tools are shaping buying decisions, but they only mention a few providers. Your goal should be to get your brand mentioned alongside industry leaders.
  
  
• Reddit & communities → This is where real pain points and decision factors appear: compliance, automation, integrations, ease of use.

Step 3: Build Around the 3 Growth Pillars

Once you know your positioning and how people search, it’s time to design your SEO strategy. For payroll companies, I recommend focusing on three pillars:

1. Technical: Build a Solid Foundation

Even the best content won’t work if your website isn’t technically sound. Google and AI assistants need to “understand” your site, and users need a fast, easy experience.

What to look at first:

• Site structure → Your services should be clearly mapped (e.g., “Payroll for SMEs,” “International Payroll,” “Tax Compliance”), with clean navigation and internal links.
  
  
• Indexation status → Make sure all valuable pages are indexed and irrelevant ones (like duplicate content or thin pages) are excluded.
  
  
• Page speed & mobile optimization → Payroll buyers often research on the go; a slow or clunky site hurts conversions.
  
  
• Schema markup → Adding structured data (e.g., FAQ schema, Product schema for services) helps Google and AI pull your answers more easily into search results.

👉 Think of this pillar as making sure the doors to your business are open and easy to walk through.

2. Content: Be Where the Questions Are

When decision-makers look for payroll solutions, they rarely search “payroll provider” alone. They look for specifics: comparisons, how-to guides, and industry answers.

Types of content that work well in payroll:

• Guides & “How To” → “How to set up payroll for your SME in [country]” or “How to stay compliant with payroll taxes in 2025.”
  
  
• Comparisons → “Deel vs. Gusto: Which payroll solution fits SMEs best?” or “Top 10 payroll providers for remote teams.”
  
  
• Listicles → “5 payroll mistakes SMEs should avoid” or “7 tools to integrate with your payroll system.”
  
  
• Case studies → Show how real clients solved payroll challenges with your solution.

👉 Content is not about writing for algorithms, it’s about answering real questions so you become the go-to resource.

3. Branding & Digital PR: Get Mentioned in the Right Places

This is where visibility turns into trust. Search engines and AI assistants pay attention to where your brand is mentioned.

Tactics that work in payroll:

• Being listed in industry roundups → Example: “Top Payroll Companies for SMEs in 2025” or “Best HR Tech Tools of the Year.” If you’re not in these lists, you’re invisible to buyers.
  
  
• Publishing unique research → Payroll has endless data angles: “The cost of payroll mistakes for SMEs,” “Remote work and payroll compliance trends,” or “SME payroll benchmarks across countries.” Original data earns citations, backlinks, and AI mentions.
  
  
• Thought leadership content → Publish opinion pieces on HR/finance sites or LinkedIn, such as “Why SMEs Overpay for Payroll and How to Fix It.”
  
  
• Partnerships & press coverage → Collaborate with HR software, accounting firms, or fintech publications to get featured.

👉 The goal is to build validation. Visibility gets people to your site; validation convinces them to buy.