When it comes to early-stage startups, $1M ARR is the magic number we’re all chasing — the badge of honor and early confirmation that you’re building something users truly want.
For Supademo, we were lucky enough to achieve this feat in 2024, when we grew 10x through relentless execution, tactical experimentation, and ruthlessly cutting what didn’t.
And while there wasn’t a silver bullet to achieving $1M ARR, product-led SEO — specifically programmatic SEO and free tools — were huge contributors to our milestone.
Today, we’re open-sourcing our product-led SEO playbook — including specific tactics, effort levels, and expected timeframes — so you can draw inspiration for your own growth journey.
Let’s dive in 👇🏻
<aside> ❓
First off — what is product-led SEO?
Product-led SEO is an organic growth strategy where your product or features are directly integrated into your content. The aim is to accelerate time-to-value, improve user experience, and improve conversion rates.
This approach is especially ideal for product-led companies that have broad audiences or platforms that benefit from “showing, not telling”.
Examples of companies that are exceptional at product-led SEO include Canva, Zapier, Wise, and Veed.
</aside>
Since Supademo is a product that benefits from the “show, don’t tell” philosophy, programmatic SEO was one of the first scalable channels we invested in.
Why? Investing in SEO from day 1 is like a 401(k). The earlier you start, the more it compounds over time — whether it’s domain reputation, backlinks, or general presence. And while there’s a lot of doom and gloom narrative about the death of SEO, we think SEO is going to continue to grow in importance in the age of LLMs and AI search.
Below are two SEO tactics that worked particularly well for us:
<aside>
If you’re serving a large TAM or lucrative market, chances are you have plenty of competitors. In fact, I’d be worried about the viability of your business if you don’t.