Where to Find Businesses That Need SEO Services

What Makes a Business "Need" SEO?

Not every business needs SEO services. Local plumbers can thrive on Google My Business and referrals. Enterprise companies have in-house teams with bigger budgets than your agency.

The businesses that truly need your help share three characteristics:

1. They have budget (recently funded, profitable, or backed by investors)
2. They're in a competitive space (can't win on paid ads alone, need organic for CAC efficiency)
3. They lack SEO expertise (no in-house SEO team, low domain authority, obvious technical gaps)

When all three align, you have an ideal client: motivated, able to pay, and genuinely in need of outside expertise.

The businesses that need SEO most are usually:

• Venture-backed startups (Series A to Series C) scaling their go-to-market
• B2B SaaS companies competing in crowded markets (CRM, project management, analytics)
• E-commerce brands expanding beyond paid social and looking for sustainable traffic
• Professional services firms (legal, consulting, finance) moving upmarket
• Tech companies launching new products and need visibility fast

These aren't businesses you find by accident. You need to hunt where they gather.

Source 1: Crunchbase - Recently Funded Companies

Why Crunchbase works: Funding announcements are the strongest buying signal in B2B sales. A company that just raised $3M in seed funding or $20M in Series B has money to spend and pressure to grow quickly.

What to Target:

• Funding stage: Seed through Series B (sweet spot for agencies)
• Funding timeline: Last 30-90 days (strike while budget is fresh)
• Industry: B2B SaaS, FinTech, HealthTech, E-commerce platforms
• Location: North America and Europe (if you're English-speaking)

How to Use It:

1. Set up Crunchbase Pro ($49-$99/month depending on tier)
2. Filter to recent funding: Set "announced date" to last 60 days
3. Exclude too-early and too-late: Skip pre-seed (too small) and Series D+ (likely have in-house teams)
4. Export your list: Crunchbase gives you company name, URL, funding amount, and date

What You'll Find:

50-100 newly funded companies per month in your target sectors. These businesses are actively hiring, building out marketing teams, and looking for growth channels.

The Follow-Up:

Once you have the list, visit each website and run a quick audit:

• Check domain rating (Ahrefs/SEMrush)
• Look for obvious gaps: no blog, thin content, slow site speed
• Identify specific keywords they should rank for but don't

Then reach out with context: "Congrats on the Series A. Noticed you're not ranking for [keyword]—your competitor [X] owns that space. Worth a conversation?"

Pro Tip: Cross-reference Crunchbase data with LinkedIn to see if they recently hired a CMO or marketing lead. That's a double signal—funding + marketing investment = they're serious about growth.

Source 2: Indeed & LinkedIn Jobs - Companies Hiring Marketing

Why job boards work: A company posting for an "SEO Manager" or "Content Marketing Lead" is explicitly telling you they care about organic growth—and they have payroll budget.

What to Target:

• Job titles: SEO Manager, SEO Specialist, Content Strategist, Head of Growth, CMO, VP Marketing
• Company size: 20-200 employees (large enough for budget, small enough to need agencies)
• Remote vs. local: Remote postings often indicate tech/SaaS companies (your ideal clients)

How to Use It:

1. Set up job alerts on Indeed and LinkedIn: Keywords like "SEO Manager," "Content Lead," "Growth Marketing"
2. Check daily: Job postings are time-sensitive—apply your "outreach" before they hire
3. Research the company: Visit their website, check Crunchbase for funding, assess their current SEO

What You'll Find:

30-50 companies per month actively hiring for marketing roles. Hiring = budget + intent to scale.

The Follow-Up:

Your pitch changes based on the role they're hiring for:

If they're hiring an SEO Manager:
"Saw you're looking for an SEO Manager—smart move. While you're ramping them up, would you be open to a quick call about how an agency partner could help you hit Q1 goals?"

If they're hiring their first marketing role:
"Congrats on scaling into your first marketing hire. Many of our clients find it helpful to lean on an agency for SEO while their in-house team focuses on product marketing and demand gen. Would a strategy call make sense?"

Pro Tip: Companies hiring multiple marketing roles in a short span are in hyper-growth mode. Prioritize those—they're the most likely to say yes.

Source 3: Product Hunt - New Product Launches

Why Product Hunt works: Companies launching on Product Hunt are in "growth sprint" mode. They're focused on visibility, user acquisition, and press. SEO is often an afterthought—which makes it a perfect fit for your pitch.

What to Target:

• Featured products: Top 5-10 products each day
• Categories: B2B, SaaS, Developer Tools, Marketing Tools
• Upvotes: 200+ upvotes indicates real traction

How to Use It:

1. Visit Product Hunt daily or use their weekly digest
2. Filter by category: Focus on B2B and SaaS (skip consumer apps and games)
3. Check the company's website: Are they ranking for anything? Do they have a content strategy?
4. Monitor their post-launch activity: Many companies do a Product Hunt launch, get a traffic spike, then see it drop off—that's your opening

What You'll Find:

5-10 strong prospects per week. These are companies with products gaining traction but often weak SEO foundations.

The Follow-Up:

Wait 7-14 days after their launch (they're slammed during launch week), then reach out:

"Congrats on the Product Hunt launch—saw you hit #3 for the day. That initial traffic spike is great, but I noticed you're not ranking for [keyword related to your product category]. Most companies in your space get 40-60% of signups from organic. Would it make sense to chat about an SEO roadmap?"

Pro Tip: Look for companies that raised funding before their Product Hunt launch. That's a double signal: capital + marketing activation.

Source 4: Google Maps - Local Business Expansion

Why Google Maps works: When a local business opens a second or third location, they're scaling. Multi-location businesses need SEO to rank in multiple markets and to drive organic traffic beyond local pack results.

What to Target:

• Franchise expansions: Coffee shops, fitness studios, healthcare clinics
• Professional services: Law firms, dental practices, accounting firms opening new offices
• Retail expansion: Stores moving into new cities or regions

How to Use It:

1. Search Google Maps for your target business types (e.g., "dental clinics," "law firms")
2. Filter to recently opened or check business profiles for "Opened [date]"
3. Look for patterns: A brand with 3+ locations in the last 12 months is aggressively expanding

What You'll Find:

This method works best if you specialize in local SEO or multi-location SEO. You'll find 20-40 businesses per month in growth mode.

The Follow-Up:

Your pitch focuses on multi-location SEO challenges:

"Saw you recently opened a second location in Austin—congrats. Managing SEO across multiple locations is tricky (duplicate content, local pack rankings, location pages). We've helped [similar business] rank in top 3 local results in 8 cities. Would a quick audit of your current setup be useful?"

Pro Tip: This source is best for agencies with local SEO expertise. If you're focused on SaaS and B2B, skip this and focus on sources 1-3.

Source 5: BuiltWith - Technology Stack Signals

Why BuiltWith works: BuiltWith shows you the technology stack behind any website. You can find companies using specific tools that indicate SEO neglect—or readiness to invest in SEO.

What to Target:

Red flags (companies that need SEO help):

• No Google Analytics or Google Search Console integration
• No schema markup
• No sitemap
• Old CMS platforms (WordPress sites running ancient themes)

Green flags (companies ready to invest in marketing):

• Recent adoption of marketing tools: HubSpot, Marketo, Intercom
• Using advanced analytics: Mixpanel, Amplitude, Heap
• E-commerce platforms: Shopify Plus (indicates scale)

How to Use It:

1. Use BuiltWith filters: Search for companies using (or NOT using) specific technologies
2. Target by industry and company size: B2B SaaS companies with 20-200 employees
3. Cross-reference with other signals: Combine with Crunchbase or LinkedIn hiring data

What You'll Find:

This is an advanced filtering method. You'll uncover 50-100 companies per month that have specific technology gaps or recent marketing tool adoption.

The Follow-Up:

Your pitch can reference their stack directly (but don't be creepy about it):

"I noticed [Company] recently added HubSpot—smart move for demand gen. One thing we see with a lot of HubSpot customers is they nail paid and email, but organic search is still untapped. You're not ranking for [keyword], but that's a quick win. Worth a 15-min call?"

Pro Tip: Use BuiltWith to find companies that just adopted marketing automation platforms. That's a signal they're investing in growth infrastructure—SEO is a logical next step.

Source 6: Conference & Industry Event Attendees

Why events work: Companies that sponsor, exhibit, or speak at industry conferences are investing in brand visibility. They have budget, and they're usually in growth mode.

What to Target:

• SaaS conferences: SaaStr, B2B Marketing Expo, Inbound
• Industry-specific events: FinTech conferences, HealthTech summits, E-commerce expos
• Sponsors and exhibitors: These companies are spending $10k-$100k to be there—they have money

How to Use It:

1. Find event sponsor/exhibitor lists: Usually published on conference websites
2. Target specific tiers: Gold and Silver sponsors (big enough budget to be serious, not so big they have in-house SEO teams)
3. Research each company: Check their SEO status—many invest heavily in events but neglect organic search

What You'll Find:

10-30 high-quality prospects per major event. These are companies actively trying to scale their visibility.

The Follow-Up:

Reference the event in your outreach:

"Saw you sponsored SaaStr this year—great brand exposure. One area I noticed: you're not ranking for [keyword] despite being a leader in [category]. Most of your competitors are getting 50%+ of their traffic from organic. Would a quick SEO strategy call make sense?"

Pro Tip: Attend the event if budget allows, or at minimum engage with sponsors on LinkedIn during the conference. Warm up the relationship before pitching SEO services.

Source 7: Ahrefs & SEMrush - Low DR Sites in Competitive Spaces

Why SEO tools work: If you can identify companies with low domain rating (DR) operating in highly competitive industries, you've found businesses that objectively need SEO help.

What to Target:

• Domain Rating: 0-25 (indicates SEO neglect)
• Organic traffic: <500 visits/month
• Industry: Software, SaaS, consulting, e-commerce
• Competitor benchmark: Find their competitors ranking with DR 40-60+

How to Use It:

1. Use Ahrefs Site Explorer or SEMrush Domain Overview
2. Filter by industry keywords: E.g., search for "project management software" and filter by DR
3. Identify opportunity gaps: Low DR + competitive niche = clear value prop for your agency

What You'll Find:

100+ companies per month with measurable SEO gaps. This method gives you perfect technical data but no buying signals.

The Follow-Up:

Lead with the competitive gap:

"I was researching the [industry] space and noticed [Company] has a strong product but only a DR of 18. Your competitor [X] is ranking #1 for [keyword] with a DR of 55—they're scooping up 80% of the organic traffic in your category. Would you be open to a call about how to close that gap?"

Pro Tip: Layer this with Crunchbase data. A low-DR site that just raised $5M is a perfect prospect—they have the budget to fix their SEO.

Source 8: Reddit & Online Communities

Why communities work: Founders and marketers often post in communities when they're struggling with growth. They're literally raising their hand and saying "I need help."

What to Target:

• Subreddits: r/startups, r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur, r/digital_marketing
• Online forums: Indie Hackers, GrowthHackers, Hacker News
• Keywords: "How do I get more traffic?" "SEO agency recommendations?" "Need help with Google rankings"

How to Use It:

1. Set up alerts using tools like F5Bot or Google Alerts
2. Monitor daily for keywords like: "SEO help," "organic traffic," "Google rankings," "need SEO agency"
3. Engage genuinely: Answer their question with real value (not a pitch)
4. Follow up privately: If they engage with your comment, DM them to continue the conversation

What You'll Find:

5-15 warm leads per month from people actively seeking help. These are inbound-adjacent leads.

The Follow-Up:

Don't pitch in public threads—it looks spammy. Instead:

1. Provide valuable advice in the thread (e.g., "Start by fixing your technical SEO—run a Screaming Frog audit and fix crawl errors")
2. If they respond positively, send a DM: "Saw your post in r/startups. Happy to do a quick 15-min audit of your site and share specific recommendations—no strings attached."
3. Deliver value first, pitch second

Pro Tip: This source is highest-touch but converts well because leads are warm. It's worth 30-60 minutes per week if you're good at community engagement.

The Multi-Signal Approach: Why One Source Isn't Enough

Here's the problem with using just one source:

• Crunchbase alone: You find funded companies, but no idea if they need SEO
• Job boards alone: You find hiring signals, but no idea if they have budget
• SEO tools alone: You find SEO gaps, but no idea if they can afford to fix them

The companies most likely to become clients have 2-3 signals:

• ✅ Recently funded (Crunchbase) + Low DR (Ahrefs) = Budget + Need
• ✅ Hiring marketing roles (LinkedIn Jobs) + Product launch (Product Hunt) = Growth mode
• ✅ Conference sponsor (Event attendee) + SEO gaps (SEMrush) = Visibility focus + Opportunity

When you combine signals, your conversion rate skyrockets. Instead of cold emailing 100 funded companies and hoping 2-3 need SEO, you email 30 companies with multiple signals and close 5-8.

The Challenge:

Manually combining these signals is incredibly time-consuming. To vet one company across three sources:

1. Check Crunchbase for funding (2 min)
2. Check LinkedIn for hiring (3 min)
3. Audit their website for SEO gaps (10 min)
4. Find decision-maker contact info (5 min)

Total: 20 minutes per lead.

To generate 100 multi-signal leads per month = 33 hours of research. That's nearly a full-time job.

This is exactly why we built seostream.io. We automate the multi-signal research so you get pre-qualified leads with all the context you need—no manual work required.

How to Qualify Businesses Before Outreach

Not every business that "needs" SEO is worth pursuing. Before you invest time in personalized outreach, ask:

1. Do they have budget?

Good signs:

• Recently raised funding (check Crunchbase)
• Hiring for marketing roles (check LinkedIn Jobs)
• Sponsoring events or advertising (check conference sites, Facebook Ad Library)
• Revenue range $1M-$50M (check LinkedIn company page or Crunchbase)

Bad signs:

• Pre-seed or bootstrapped with no revenue indicators
• No marketing team (only engineers and sales)
• Website looks neglected (suggests they're not investing in growth)

2. Are they in a competitive space?

Good signs:

• 5-10+ direct competitors
• Competitors ranking with DR 40-60+ (provable ROI for SEO)
• High-value keywords with 1k+ monthly searches

Bad signs:

• Niche is too specific (100 searches/mo won't justify SEO investment)
• They're the only player in the space (SEO won't help if there's no search demand)

3. Is there a clear opportunity?

Good signs:

• Low DR (<30) in a competitive industry
• No blog or thin content
• Competitors ranking for high-intent keywords they're missing
• Technical issues (slow site, no mobile optimization)

Bad signs:

• Already ranking well (top 10 for their main keywords)
• They just hired an in-house SEO team (check LinkedIn)
• Their DR is strong (50+) but they still have gaps (harder to prove quick wins)

4. Can you reach the decision-maker?

Good signs:

• You have a verified email for CMO, VP Marketing, or CEO (sub-50 person companies)
• You have a mutual connection or referral
• They're active on LinkedIn (more likely to respond to outreach)

Bad signs:

• You can only find generic emails (info@, hello@)
• Company is 500+ employees (you'll get stuck in procurement hell)
• Decision-maker has been in role for <60 days (still ramping up, not ready to buy)

If a prospect checks 3 of 4 boxes, they're qualified. If they only check 1-2, keep them on a "nurture" list but don't spend significant time on personalized outreach yet.

FAQ

The Bottom Line

Businesses that need SEO are everywhere—but the right businesses are harder to find.

You can manually research Crunchbase for funding, LinkedIn for hiring signals, and Ahrefs for SEO gaps. It works, but it's slow. To fill a pipeline with 100 qualified prospects, you're looking at 20-30 hours of research per month.

The agencies winning in 2026 aren't working harder—they're working smarter. They layer multiple signals to target businesses with budget, intent, and clear SEO needs. Then they spend their time on what matters: personalized outreach and closing deals.

If you want to skip the manual research and get straight to outreach, try seostream.io. We deliver 1,000+ companies every month that match all three criteria: recently funded or hiring, verified SEO gaps, and decision-maker contacts.