SEO for Indie Hackers: The 20-Minute Setup That Actually Works

Skip everything that does not move the needle

SEO has a terrible signal-to-noise ratio. Guides tell you to research 200 keywords, build a content cluster, and audit your backlink profile. That works for a 10-person marketing team. For a solo founder shipping v1, it is noise.

The things that actually matter for a new product site: proper metadata on every page, one piece of structured data, a sitemap, fast loading, and one or two articles targeting specific queries. Everything else can wait until you have traction.

1. Title and description on every page (5 minutes)

Every public page needs a unique title under 60 characters and a description under 160 characters. The title is the single strongest on-page ranking signal. Put the keyword near the front.

// app/(marketing)/page.tsx
export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: "SEOLint: AI-Powered SEO Audits for Developers",
  description:
    "Scan any URL for SEO issues. Get fix prompts you can paste into Claude or Cursor. Works as an MCP server, CLI, and API.",
  alternates: { canonical: "/" },
}

Do this for every page: homepage, pricing, blog posts, comparison pages. It takes 2 minutes per page and it is the single highest-ROI SEO task.

2. One H1 per page with your keyword (2 minutes)

Each page gets exactly one <h1>tag. It should contain the primary keyword you want that page to rank for. Not “Welcome” or “Home”. The actual term people search for.

Sub-sections use <h2> and <h3> in logical order. Never skip from H1 to H3. Google uses heading hierarchy to understand page structure, and AI models use it to decide which sections to cite.

3. JSON-LD structured data (5 minutes)

Structured data tells Google exactly what your page is. For a SaaS landing page, use SoftwareApplication. For a pricing FAQ, use FAQPage. This earns rich snippets in search results: star ratings, price displays, FAQ dropdowns.

// components/seo/JsonLd.tsx
export function JsonLd({ data }: { data: Record<string, unknown> }) {
  return (
    <script
      type="application/ld+json"
      dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: JSON.stringify(data) }}
    />
  )
}

// On your landing page
const schema = {
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "SoftwareApplication",
  name: "YourProduct",
  applicationCategory: "DeveloperApplication",
  operatingSystem: "Web",
  offers: {
    "@type": "Offer",
    price: "19.00",
    priceCurrency: "EUR",
  },
}

Validate at search.google.com/test/rich-results. Fix errors before launching.

4. Sitemap and robots.txt (3 minutes)

A sitemap tells Google which pages exist and how important they are. Robots.txt tells crawlers where not to go. In Next.js, both are code files that deploy automatically.

// app/sitemap.ts
export default function sitemap(): MetadataRoute.Sitemap {
  return [
    { url: "https://yoursite.com", priority: 1.0 },
    { url: "https://yoursite.com/pricing", priority: 0.8 },
    { url: "https://yoursite.com/blog/your-article", priority: 0.7 },
  ]
}

// app/robots.ts
export default function robots(): MetadataRoute.Robots {
  return {
    rules: { userAgent: "*", allow: "/", disallow: ["/dashboard/", "/api/"] },
    sitemap: "https://yoursite.com/sitemap.xml",
  }
}

After deploying, submit your sitemap in Google Search Console. This is the single fastest way to get Google to index your pages.

5. Performance: load fast on mobile (5 minutes)

Core Web Vitals are a ranking signal. The good news: if you use Next.js with server components and do not load a heavy client-side framework, you are already 80% of the way there.

The quick wins that matter most:

• Use next/font instead of Google Fonts links. It self-hosts the font and eliminates a render-blocking request.
• Add priority to your hero image. This tells Next.js to preload it, which directly improves LCP.
• Keep above-the-fold content in server components. Client components with heavy JS bundles push LCP later.
• Load analytics scripts with defer or async. Better yet, use Plausible, which is tiny and non-blocking by default.

Bonus: comparison pages rank fastest

If you want pages that rank within weeks instead of months, build comparison pages. URLs like /vs/ahrefs or /vs/semrushtarget high-intent keywords with specific search volume. People searching “X vs Y” or “X alternative” are comparing options and ready to switch.

Be honest about strengths and weaknesses. “We do X better, they do Y better” converts better than “We are better at everything”. Include a comparison table, FAQ section with FAQPage JSON-LD, and a clear CTA.

What to skip (for now)

The 20-minute checklist