Why 90% of SEO ‘Experts’ Are Wrong—and How It’s Costing You Money

Welcome to another edition of All You Can E-E-A-T a biweekly newsletter brought to you by the JBH team who will be sharing their knowledge and expertise on all things Digital PR and SEO.??

In this week's All You Can E-E-A-T Andrew Holland our Director of SEO.

Too much content created in the name of SEO is a waste of money.

But don’t take my word for it, here’s an example:

This site added hundreds of pages to their site, gained traffic, and now is wiped out.

You can see that an SEO ordered a lot of content, and the rankings increased…and then declined.

So, what’s happening?

SEOs are addicted to traffic as a metric.

That’s their North Star.?

Their guiding principle.

Their belief structure.

So, what’s the issue? It doesn’t drive meaningful business results.

The Division of Content

Content SEOs tend to fall into two camps.

1- Create once, distribute forever: promotion.

2- Create a lot of content at once: velocity.

I’ve done both over the years.

It’s not that either of these strategies are wrong…it’s just that they aren’t right.

Why? It lacks a key ingredient.

The search ‘intent’ that the content satisfies.

And this matters when it comes to revenue.

I’ll be honest: this is where the skill of SEO and content marketing strategy comes into play.

And here’s my gatekeeper formula to ensure all content has business value.

1- The who the content is for.

2- The search intent that needs to be satisfied.

3- How you’ll promote the content.

4- How this content will drive revenue.

Get those 4 ‘ducks in a row’, and you’ll have a robust content strategy that drives revenue.

Let’s break it down.

1- Who - Your content needs to be for those that can buy from you.

2- Search intent - You must create content for people in the market to buy what you sell. The search intent must be related to the buyer's journey. These are people either looking into buying or looking to buy.

3- Promotion - You can say that SEO/ organic search will be used to promote this content, or you can use social media, email…whatever. But if you’re ordering content as an SEO, then this is already preordained.

4- The Revenue Expectation.

And here’s where things get a little tricky.

Most SEOs struggle to articulate how content they’ve just spent half your budget on will lead to revenue.

And if that’s the case, likely, it won’t.

I’ve heard every reason going for creating content for SEO.?

Indeed this week, I heard an SEO say ‘its’ the cheapest brand exposure you’ll ever buy’.

Others allude to list building.

And don’t forget my personal fave…brand affinity.

In reality, content for SEO doesn’t do any of those things well unless it matches a buyer's search intent.

Here’s an example in the Saas sector:

Over 90% of the site's web pages generate less than 9% of the traffic.

66% generate nothing.?

Of course, with 5000-word blog articles titled “Guide to Team Building”, it’s no wonder why.

And yet, someone signed off on this massive amount of content.

This happens all the time.

Often done with the best intentions, it burns through the SEO budget faster than lightning.

So what should you do?

The 3 F’s 1P Content Formula

I’ve never revealed this before, but it’s the new system that is shaping my content strategy.

And as with all the great things…I stole it.

A while ago, I was looking at my content and asking myself what it was for and what it was doing.

The answer was clear: I was using content to advertise myself.

But not all of it did a good job. So, I embarked on a mission to examine advertising and stumbled upon the ad agency System 1’s 3 F framework for effective advertising/ brand growth.

The 3Fs’ stand for: Fame, Feeling and Fluency

I needed to use content to increase my fame, make people feel better about me, and improve my brand recognition.

In other words, I need to be easy to mind, make people feel good and be easily recognisable.

But here comes the P.

PROBLEM.

So, fame, feeling, and fluency related to the problem I solve.

If people want SEO to grow their brand, they think of me.

If people think of me related to SEO, they feel that I’m good at what I do.

When people see me in their feeds, my name is recognised.

You can also apply this simple system to your marketing and communications.

Once you do this, you can start to look at content for SEO in the same way.

Here’s a great example, 'Winter Driving Tips':

In this case, you’re a road assistance company thinking about your keyword research.

When deciding if this is a keyword you need to go after, the next step is to run it through the 3F’s 1 P system.

Will this increase your fame related to the problem you solve?

Not really. Search volume is way too low to have a significant business impact.

Will this help you to become more easily recognised related to the problem you solve??

Not really. Volume is really low for this search.

And finally, will this keyword improve how people feel about your brand?

Again, not really. You’re giving some winter driving tips, but the volume is low.?

This keyword hasn’t even passed the first hurdle.

But…there is one that does 'Driving in Snow':

It generates reasonable traffic. And it’s more closely linked to the problem a road assistance company solves (breaking down in snow).

We can pass this through the 3F’s 1P test and it scores well.

But what about the gatekeeper formula:

• The who the content is for - This content is for our target audience of vehicle owners who may or may not be in the market for road assistance coverage.
• The search intent that needs to be satisfied - People are concerned about driving in snow and are looking for advice. One of those concerns could be accidents/ breaking down.
• How you’ll promote the content - This can be promoted via organic search and also paid social promotion. You can use it to fuel digital PR, social media posts and more.
• How this content will drive revenue - You can use CTA’s to increase sign-ups for people who do not have adequate road assistance cover.

So, how should you use this?

You can use these formulas to make fast decisions on content ideas for SEO and content marketing.

They aren’t perfect, but they will avoid wasting time and budget.

E-E-A-T Top Tip:

Always be thinking about revenue generation. Think about how this will help grow your business. If you can’t easily explain, then it probably won’t. Apply this mindset to SEO and content, and you’ll thrive.

Key Takeaways:?

• SEO-driven content often lacks focus on business results – SEOs can become overly focused on traffic as a metric, but content that doesn’t align with buyer intent and generate revenue is ineffective.
• Successful content strategies align with buyer intent – For content to drive meaningful results, it must be tailored to the buyer’s journey, fulfill search intent, and be created for the right audience.
• The 3F’s 1P formula ensures impactful content – Fame, Feeling, Fluency, and Problem are key factors in content success. Content should enhance brand recognition, evoke positive emotions, and address a relevant business issue.

Thanks for reading - See you next time!

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