TL;DR: once the app was ready, i did not wait for people to magically find it. i made the site easy to understand, easy to index, easy to link to, and easy to search. that worked for Velin AI, and it has worked for other products too.

what i did

i do not think of SEO as one trick.

i think of it as a set of small things that make it easier for search engines, communities, and people to understand what the product is and why it matters.

here is what i actually did.

1. site metadata

i started with the basics:

  • title tags
  • descriptions
  • clean page metadata
  • proper page names

this sounds small, but it matters.

if the metadata is weak, the page looks weak in search too.

i want the site to say clearly what the product is, who it is for, and why someone should care.

2. html semantics

this one people ignore too much.

the page should be built in a way that makes sense:

  • proper headings
  • real sections
  • useful footer links
  • clear navigation
  • readable structure

the footer is especially important.

i used the footer to surface the pages that mattered most, especially the pages with real search intent. that helps users, and it helps search engines understand what is important on the site.

3. sitemap.xml and robots.txt

i always make sure the site has:

  • a sitemap
  • a robots file
  • clean indexable pages

if search engines cannot crawl the site properly, nothing else matters much.

this is not glamorous work, but it is basic infrastructure.

4. google search console and bing webmaster tools

i submitted the site to:

  • Google Search Console
  • Bing Webmaster Tools

for indexing, this is a must.

i do not want to hope the bot finds my site eventually. i want to tell the search engines the site exists and let them know which pages matter.

5. backlinks

i tried to get backlinks early.

not all backlinks are equal, and no, you cannot get every good one. but even the early ones mattered.

i used:

  • launched sites
  • startup directories
  • product directories
  • community listings

and yes, that even brought me my first customers sometimes.

that part is important.

backlinks are not just SEO vanity. sometimes they are direct discovery.

6. target specific keywords

i did not try to rank for everything.

i focused on specific keywords that matched what people were already searching for.

that is better than trying to be too broad too early.

when the keyword matches real intent, the traffic is more useful.

7. reddit still matters a lot

honestly, reddit has been one of the most useful things for search intent.

people search there very directly. they ask the exact questions they care about. they reveal the language they actually use.

that is gold.

i learned to:

  • read the intent,
  • build reputation first,
  • then organically mention the product where it made sense.

it is not easy, but it is worth it.

i have a reddit guide i can share separately, because that channel deserves its own playbook.

8. video helps a lot

video does a lot more than people expect.

i made demos, put them on:

  • YouTube
  • TikTok
  • and also embedded them on my site

that helps because people want to see the product, not just read about it.

for AI products especially, a short demo can do more than a long explanation.

9. create pages for search intent

this one worked well for me.

i created pages for specific searches, like:

  • “Velin AI vs [competitor]”
  • comparison pages
  • feature pages
  • use-case pages

then i pushed the best ones, the ones with the highest search intent, into the footer and internal links.

that helped the site feel more complete, and it gave search engines more clear targets.

it also helped with AI tools and discovery systems that try to understand what your product is compared with other products.

10. share daily

i also shared daily.

for Velin, i posted regularly in:

  • X communities
  • Peerlist
  • and places where builders already hang out

that consistency mattered.

i got the first paying customers that way too.

not because every post went viral, but because the product kept showing up.

what i learned

SEO is not just about ranking.

it is about making the product easy to discover from multiple directions:

  • search
  • social
  • video
  • communities
  • directories
  • backlinks
  • comparison pages

the more clear the product is, the easier it is to rank it, recommend it, and sell it.

final thought

once the app is ready, do not just ship and hope.

make the website indexable, make the pages useful, make the intent obvious, and keep showing up.

that is what i did.

it worked.

worth doing the same.