I'm an ex full-time web dev that's now freelancing. I wanted to enhance my website-building service with SEO, so I had one dream. Offer SEO growth as my service, while I plug in autopilot tool like Outrank, enjoy in my sofa while clients pay for me ranking them.
I tried tools like Outrank and Jasper to test it on my website with SEO blogging, and it really worked. $100/month was a stretch at scale, so the next step was building this tool on my own. Built it, replaced Outrank with it on my website, and continued growing. Right away, I spun up 10 new sites expecting to rank them all, and as you can guess,
They didn't.
Here's what I learned, and the framework that actually works for me now.
The Real Problem: Crawl Budget
New domains have almost zero crawl budget. You can publish dozens of pages and Google won't even look at them. So you need to use your budget smart if you want to rank fast.
Your site needs Domain authority before Google takes you seriously.
Without it, no AI tool will save you. You're just publishing into the void.
Step 1: Build Your Backlink Foundation
Before writing a single blog post, get yourself on the map. Here's my go-to list. Most are free or cheap, and they provide real exposure:
Product directories:
- G2, Capterra, GetApp
- Product Hunt
- AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, SaaSworthy
- StackShare, AppSumo, Startup Stash
- Clutch, Trustpilot
- AI-specific directories
Publishing platforms:
- Medium
- Dev.to (hey, you're here!)
- Beehiiv
- Notion
This isn't just about SEO juice. These platforms put you in front of real users searching for solutions.
Step 2: Optimize Foundation Pages First
Most founders jump straight into blogging, but since your crawl budget is limited you should first stuff your main pages with proper keywords and FAQ sections.
- Homepage
- Feature pages
- Use case pages
Stuff these with your target keywords before touching the blog.
Step 3: Build Competitor Pages (The Smart Way)
I made a template and generated 10 competitor comparison pages. Google refused to index them because they looked too similar and were published all at once.
What worked instead:
Build one comprehensive competitor page with your top 10 competitors listed in dropdowns or sections. You capture all the "[Your Product] vs [Competitor]" search traffic, but Google only needs to index a single page.
One page. Ten keywords. Problem solved.
Step 4: Build Free Tools (best by far)
This one's underrated for developers. Take your product description, paste it into ChatGPT, and ask:
"What free tools would my ideal customer actually use?"
Then:
- Use a keyword difficulty checker (Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, etc.)
- Find keywords with high volume and low difficulty (<10)
- Build small tools targeting those keywords
- Host them on your domain
Bonus: Once you have a working tool, you can do programmatic SEO. Add niche-specific prefixes and generate variations. One tool becomes 10+ pages, each targeting a different audience segment.
Step 5: Now You Can Automate
Once you have:
- Backlinks from reputable sources
- Domain authority building
- Optimized foundation pages
- Free tools providing value
Now the AI content tools actually work. Google trusts your domain enough to crawl new content. Your blog posts get indexed. Traffic grows.
I can honestly recommend Ubenie since I've built it to automate SEO content creation on my websites, but if you're fine with paying $100/month subscription Outrank is great tool also.
The point is: the tools aren't the problem. The foundation is.
tl;dr
- New domains have no crawl budget—Google ignores you
- Get backlinks first (directories, platforms, reviews)
- Optimize core pages before blogging
- Build ONE smart competitor page, not ten templated ones
- Create free tools targeting easy keywords
Then automate content generation
Skip the foundation, and you're just feeding words into a black hole.
What's your experience with SEO automation? Did you hit the same wall, or find a different path? Drop a comment. I'm curious what's worked for others.