#general

Not a writer, but I have helped a few with their content creation. So generally SEO gets your content out there, which is always great.. but I’ve seen that overly focusing on SEO make the content feel not so authentic. The goal is to always retain the reader and maximize the ROI. I think by producing good content you'll stand out from the crowd eventually.

@Kelly I aim to write for actual readers and not crawlers. The latter may lead to short-term wins in the form of higher rankings, but if that doesn't translate to my goals of attracting customers, does it matter really? A lot of SEO-led content is junk and does nothing for real people seeking information and can ultimately make a brand less credible. If the underlying concern is getting noticed, I try to invest time and effort into other forms of content. For example, getting team members on podcasts, submitting quotes for other writers' queries, or giving back to the community pays better dividends in the long-run even if these activities don't have definitive data attached.

I agree with all of this. My gut tells me to focus on quality... but pressure to deliver leads tells me otherwise. But, I am a writer at heart, not a sales person

100% can empathize, and this is the perennial tension faced by content marketers/SEOs. At my current employer, we're in the process of revisiting marketing KPIs for 2025. I'm encouraging my team to broaden their views around what successful organic marketing looks like in light of changes like AI-Organized SERPs, AI search, and other means of driving clicks away from our site. Fortunately, they've been receptive and are excited to experiment with other content formats.

Prioritize and write great content that solves your users needs/problems and is better than what already exists out there. Don't just write the same old thing that your competitors are doing. Add an angle, your spin, some unique data, some more depth, etc

With that said, leveraging keyword research and doing other "SEO things" like structuring your content well with H1, H2s, etc, having strong internal links, building backlinks, ensuring strong performance and site speed, etc. is still crucial.

In my experience, this has been entirely dependent on the client's goals. If their goal is just to get out there fast, I usually optimize pretty heavily using the tools they've advised. And they also track scores for each article pretty diligently.

For other clients who play the "long game" of building authoritative, voice-led content, and realize that rankings follow closely after if not immediately, I do the bare bones of SEO while focusing more and more on SME insights, Reddit deep dives, and first-person content.

But for both kinds, my focus is on giving readers unique content that isn't just a regurgitation of the SERPs.

@Kelly I think everyone's comments nailed it.

Your comment of "My gut tells me to focus on quality... but pressure to deliver leads tells me otherwise." stood out to me because in 2025 and beyond, these two concepts are no longer mutually exclusive.

Especially with Google's latest slew of updates, most notably the HCU. Where they explicitly state things like clear authorship, unique perspectives, engagement rate, diffferentiation, etc are the new core ranking factors. SEO = user experience and engagement these days.

> My second thought
is that every content asset should have a pre defined job/goal prior to being created or distributed. So knowing that Google search is a distribution channel, and your objective is lead/pipeline generation, that would be pre defined before the topic is created, and you would create the content to best perform in google search for the 1. target customer/persona 2. search intent 3. buyers journey stage 4. your company's unique value proposition and market positioning.

Keeping these in mind, and how you write the content will naturally follow.

Hope that's helpful and good luck! This stuff can be confusing/stressful/overwhelming and never ending so I feel your pain and hope you can impress leadership with your work. 🙏

Deliver quality.