These slides were presented at the SEMrush webinar "How to Grow Organic Traffic with Less Content". Video replay and transcript are available at https://www.semrush.com/webinars/how-to-grow-organic-traffic-with-less-content/

1. How to Grow Organic
Traffic With Less
Content
Victor Pan

2. Hi I’m a lazy SEO*
He/him/先生/dad #A11y #BLM #LGBTQIA
1. WordStream (Startup) - (60k→ 120k)
2. Fortune 500 Clients - (34k → 266k)
Catalyst Digital (Agency)
3. HubSpot, NYSE: HUBS (Inhouse-SEO) to present day
*Disclaimer: Views are my own, HubSpot is an SEMRush customer, and I use ALL tools

3. Meet the Speakers
Nik Ranger
SEO Specialist
Studiohawk
Peter Mead
WordPress SEO Consultant
Peter Mead iT

5. Work Smarter, Not
Harder
Leverage is an over-leveraged vernacular

6. “知己知彼，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，
一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆”
"Know thyself and thy enemy, never fall in battle; Don’t know thy enemy but know
thyself, win some lose some; Don’t know your enemy, don’t know yourself, every
battle shall be lost.” - Sun Tzu

7. Q: What’s the best way to do
keyword research?
A: It depends. Your goals
determine what keywords you
care about.

8. Total Addressable Market (TAM)
Your
CompetitorsNon-Competing
businesses
You
Total Industry Size
SEO TAM
Your Website
Traffic
SEO TAM = Organic Traffic from You + Competitors + Non-Competing businesses - Overlaps
SEO TAM

9. SEO Total Addressable Market
(Fast Method)
SEO TAM = You + Competitors + Non-Competing businesses - Overlaps
https://www.semrush.com/analytics/keywordmagic/start

10. SEO TAM (Content Competitor Method)
SEO TAM = You + Competitors + Non-Competing businesses - Overlaps
https://www.semrush.com/analytics/organic/competitors/

11. SEO TAM (Product Competitor Method)
SEO TAM = You + Competitors + Non-Competing businesses - Overlaps
https://www.semrush.com/analytics/keywordgap/

12. SEO TAM (Exhaustive Method)
How to Automate Your Keyword Research - Paul Shapiro

13. Standardize SEO TAM to $$$
SEO TAM = Search Volume (Organic Traffic from You + Competitors + Non-Competing
businesses - Overlaps) * Avg Cpc of Keyword in TAM.
Export from: https://www.semrush.com/analytics/organic/positions

14. Q: What Keywords/Topics
should I prioritize content
creation/optimization?
A: It depends. The tasks with
the highest impact, confidence,
and ease combined.

15. Modified Ice Framework:
SEO Prioritization Framework
Impact
1-10 Points
What is the $ value of
the keyword/topic?
Confidence
1-10 Points
Hypothetical or real data?
Have we ranked on this
topic before?
Can we get enough
backlinks to rank?
Ease
1-10 Points
How much time will this
take to create?
Will we spend time/$ to
promote this?
How much will this cost?
Total
3-30
Sort tasks by high to
low.
+ + =

16. Using SEMRush’s Proprietary Metrics with ICE
Definitions for Keyword Difficulty, Competition, Trends, and SERP Features by Keyword:
https://www.semrush.com/kb/257-keyword-overview#analyzing:~:text=level).-,Keyword%20Difficulty

17. Not Confident? Run Experiments*
● Iterate one test url till you get the desired result
● Document the Effort and Impact from your tests
● Scale, measure, then automate
● E.g. HubSpot sticks to templates and modules
meant to capture certa
● Not sure where to start? Experiment with Rich
Results
● *Test multiple pages to get a % for confidence, or
ask an SEO to ballpark. Don’t fall for analysis
paralysis.

18. How Do You Prioritize Tech SEO Fixes?
1. Make a list (SEO audit)
2. Experiment & document process and results (ICE)
3. Fix tech fixes systematically at scale (Impact & Ease)

19. Q: Why is organic traffic falling?
A: Algorithm updates aren’t the
cause of underperforming
content. They’re a symptom of it.
Braden Becker, Sr. Marketing Manager SEO Strategy
HubSpot

20. Group Your Pages By Theme & Conversion Mechanisms
Focus on pages that turn traffic to $$$. ICE is relative

21. Zero value-add pages?
Prune: 301 redirect to next-best page or pillar page

22. HubSpot’s Pruning, Orphan & Repurposing Case Study
From invisible to Google to scaled growth. Library.hubspot.com → hubspot.com/resources
Javascript Javascript Javascript
1.
2.
3.
4.

23. Historical Optimization (High ICE)
Old pages have history, new pages do not.
Free Falling Traffic Tool in Google Sheets

24. Historical Optimization
Limited resources? Add Featured Snippets (FS) and People Also Asked (PAA) friendly content

25. Real Business $$$ > CPC Estimates
Your
Digital
Value
Customer Lifetime Value is the best Impact metric you can use to prioritize tasks.

26. Create Partnerships Outside Your Web Property
Your
Competitors
Non-Competing
Businesses
You
● Repurpose content you have as a guest
posts to their audiences (links & referrals)
● List your business or services on review
platforms and marketplaces (referrals)
● Work with internal co-marketing, PR,
product integration teams who publish
web pages (influences linking)
● Pay to play (paid placement!)
● Get listed in “round-up” articles or email
newsletters (leads to backlinks)
● Provide quotes and statistics to news
sites covering your industry (links)
SEO TAM

27. So We Ranked On
Other’s Pages
We Couldn’t Rank
This Page Anymore
Searcher behavior evolved
SERPS reflected that branded
product pages were not helpful
HubSpot’s “Best CRM
Software” Page
Wordpress/3rd-Party
Review Sites/News Sites
Searchers would come back
with branded searches
because we were often top 3

28. Hi I’m an SEO Strategist
To grow organic traffic with less content you need to:
1. Work smarter, not harder (Use tools or programs)
2. Know where you and your competitors stand (SEO TAM)
3. Prioritize and Experiment using a framework (ICE)
4. Iterate on your strengths, deliver positive ROI $$$ (Historic Optimization)
5. Work with internal/external teams that have the means to create non-traditional content
(TAM can be a growing number, not a zero-sum game)

29. SEO is a flywheel
Leverage is short-lived
Learnings are not
Keep Learning

30. Thank you