One of the biggest attractions of search engine optimization is the opportunity to build a business without paying for ads. Paid advertising offers instant traffic and plenty of testing opportunities, but the risk of blowing your budget on a losing campaign understandably puts many marketers off. 

SEO can have its own hidden costs, though, with quality content and software coming at a premium. While your time should also be considered a cost, if you are willing to spend some of it on an SEO campaign, it is possible to get results on a limited budget. Let's take a look at some of the best SEO techniques that won't break the bank.

Step One: On-Page SEO

On-page SEO offers many opportunities for quick improvements. When working with a low budget, focusing on the factors within your direct control is the easiest way to optimize for search engines. You can easily optimize your website with a low budget. If you put real effort into implementing these suggestions, you will notice a boost in your overall traffic and rankings.

• Site Optimization. Site optimization covers many areas, but there are some specific elements you must get right. Your title and description tags should be built to target specific keywords and also to increase click-through rate. Above the fold content must be relevant and helpful, avoiding obtrusive advertising or large headers that distract searchers. The site hierarchy should make sense, grouping articles into relevant categories. Any other issues can usually be found inside the Google Search Console.
• Mobile And Site Speed. Run your site through PageSpeed Insights and Mobile-Friendly Test, looking for issues that are damaging the speed and compatibility score. Slow servers can be a problem, but you don't necessarily need to invest in an expensive server solution immediately. Cloudflare offers a free version of its content-delivery network, while various cache plug-ins can optimize your site for fast loading.
• Keyword Research. When operating with a small budget, targeting high-volume search terms might be best suited as a long-term goal. You can get far quicker results by focusing on long-tail keywords, reducing the competition levels and increasing the relevance. There are various premium SEO tools that make keyword research and analysis far simpler, with SEMrush, Moz and Ahrefs among the best. However, you can also take the free approach by building a large keyword list using the Google Keyword Planner and installing the SEOquake plugin in your browser.
• Content Development. When targeting a specific keyword, the main goal should be to provide the searcher with the exact content they wanted. If a large enough group of people think your content doesn't offer a precise answer, your search results will suffer. Aim to create content that meets the searchers’ needs, while also being superior to the other pages on the first result page. Look at the top-ranking pages for your target keyword, analyze the common themes in the type of content ranking, and think of ways you can offer something better.

Step Two: Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO is usually the area where you spend the bulk of your budget. There are, however, various ways to optimize at a reasonable cost.

• Backlinks. There is often a temptation to gain as many backlinks as possible. Low-quality backlinks will provide little SEO benefit, though, and could even harm your rankings. Instead, focus your time on authority backlinks that will give the biggest boost. Backlink research can again be simplified with SEO tools, but the free services like SEOquake provide plenty of information. The best type of backlinks will be relevant to your niche, have a high domain authority, and preferably a high page authority too.
• Outreach. A number of strategic relationships can make all the difference to your SEO efforts. Bloggers, business owners and influencers all have the potential to offer backlinks, traffic and a higher status among a niche audience. While relationship building can take time, the results will last long into the future. Look to be as helpful as possible, writing thoughtful blog comments, communicating over social media and offering quality guest posts for their site.
• Local SEO. Google Maps marketing falls under the local SEO umbrella which (for some reason) not many people are aware of. When you are a local business owner with a low budget, Google Maps gives a serious boost to your immediate traffic, and it's also free!
• Social Media. Social media can be time-intensive, but it is possible to build backlinks, traffic and relationships for a low cost. Ideally, you will maintain profiles across the popular platforms, using a tool like Hootsuite as your dashboard. You could, however, focus on the social sites that will resonate most with your audience, creating content that suits the platform. For example, Pinterest is designed primarily for images, so a niche with a strong visual element could build the most interest on a site like this. As content starts to get shared regularly, you should benefit from the increase in backlinks and promotion.
• Infographics. A well-researched infographic, in combination with email outreach, can produce high-powered links. Creating infographics used to be fairly expensive, but there are now many services offering an affordable solution. Canva, Piktochart, and Fiverr can all be used to create stylish graphics that get shared widely.

In most cases, the lower your SEO budget, the more time you will need to invest. While this can be acceptable initially, you will probably want to reinvest some income as your work comes to fruition. Consider investing in high-quality SEO tools and paying for content. A larger budget doesn't guarantee better results, but it does present opportunities to scale your business. It is worth considering that among the various marketing strategies available to online businesses, SEO is still one of the most affordable, targeted and effective. A top ranking for a valuable keyword can transform the fortunes of a business, so start implementing these SEO techniques today.

Original article on Forbes.com.