"Just publish more content" is like throwing SEO spaghetti at the wall.
Sure, something might stick – but at what cost? Many a content editor has gone bald this way.
When I started working with many of my clients, they had one plan and one plan only: publish relevant content like there’s no tomorrow.
Yet, when I looked at their most valuable keyword opportunities, they’d already written content targeting these terms years ago and it was stuck on page 2 of Google.
This ‘Money Content’ was getting trickles of traffic and conversions compared to what it could be getting if it ranked higher.
Money left on the table.
If you’re already months or years into your SEO/content plan, the picture I tried to paint above is likely to be you.
Here's the truth:
Your "publish, publish, publish" content strategy is like having a leaky bucket – sure, you're pouring in more water, but you're missing the real opportunity to plug those really big holes and turn that lead trickle into a lead flood.
In my experience, 99% of revenue results in SEO come from:
- Commercial intent keywords (e.g. “accountant services” or “B2B sales software”)
- Jobs-to-be-done keywords - those that show the searcher needs exactly what you do even if they don't know it yet
Think of the 80/20 rule. These 20% of higher intent keywords are where 80% of your results will come from. So, your SEO team should act accordingly and apply 90-100% of the effort to ranking #1 for these keywords.
Alas, most teams chase traffic numbers and content output metrics…while their high-intent content collects dust in the darkest ‘failed to distribute’ corner.
Want to turn this situation around in 2025?
Run this experiment and build a case for doing this more often:
- Pick a commercial keyword with healthy traffic volume, where you currently rank #9 or above.
- Analyze the SERPs to check ranking #1-3 is feasible (e.g. avoid if you see only EMD with a billion links or +DR 90s in the top 5). Look for a keyword where your competitors aren’t noticeably ahead/better than you.
- Spruce up that content. Give it a proper content refresh.
- Start building or buying backlinks to the blog. Try around 10 in one month.
- Monitor the rankings and subsequent traffic and conversion increases.
- Calculate ROI (if you saw increases): Was it worth it? Would it be worth it to increase the ranking further?
So, instead of dropping $1,000+ on a new article, invest that in quality backlinks to distribute your content and push it further up the rankings.
A healthy SEO strategy should balance both ranking existing content and publishing new—that's where the real ROI lives for mature SEO programs.
—Benny
