A brutal truth: Most people are putting their energy in the wrong places. They worry about algorithm updates, AI taking over SEO jobs, and taking advice from people who don't actually make money with SEO. Meanwhile, the strategies that truly deliver results are often so simple they seem boring – but they work.
The core of the problem is that many people only know "how to drive," but not "where to go."
Imagine being the best driver in the world, knowing when to shift gears, when to brake, and how to take corners – but without a map, what good are those skills? SEO is the same. Most online content teaches you "tactics": how to optimize pages, how to write articles, how to build backlinks. These are important, but if your strategic direction is wrong, even the most refined tactics are wasted.
What truly determines success or failure is your ability to answer these three questions:
Strategy is the map that determines where you're going. It's the most crucial 20% of the entire SEO process, yet it delivers 80% of the results. I summarize it into three core capabilities:
Product Marketing Acumen
This is the most easily overlooked skill. You need a deep understanding of the market landscape, user pain points, and what makes your product unique. Many SEO agencies fail because they don't understand their clients' businesses, resulting in generic content that's out of touch.
For example, if you're serving a company that offers a keyword research tool, you need to understand: The market is dominated by giants like Ahrefs and SEMrush. Why would users choose your tool? Is it price accessibility? Unique features? Or suitability for specific scenarios? Only by clarifying this can you create content that truly resonates with users.
Copywriting Skills
Once you understand the product positioning, you need to articulate it clearly and persuasively. Good copywriting isn't just about flowery language; it's about standing in the user's shoes, explaining how your product solves their problems in language they understand.
This is why I only take on clients whose products I've personally used. Because I am their target user, I know the pain points and what the product addresses. This genuine sense of experience is something no amount of market research can replicate.
Growth Marketing Acumen
The first two capabilities determine "what to say," while this one determines "where to say it." You need to know what keywords users are searching for, at what stage they're searching, and their search intent. This is the realm of traditional SEO skills – keyword research, demand analysis, and traffic acquisition.
With a strategic direction, tactics are the specific execution steps. This includes how to conduct keyword research, how to write content, how to optimize page structure, and how to publish and promote. These are the necessary means to bring the strategy to life.
But remember: Tactics without strategy are like traveling without a destination.
After years of practice, I've developed a simple yet effective framework called APK (Audience-Products-Topics-Keywords):
A (Audience) - Who are they?
Clearly define your target users. Not vague categories like "business owners" or "marketers," but specific personas. For instance: Melanie, a founder of a startup, needs to acquire customers via email but has a limited budget.
P (Products) - What does the product do?
What product or service do you offer to solve this audience's problem? For example, an email marketing automation tool, or a customer database.
T (Topics) - What are the topics?
Based on the audience and product, deduce the topics they care about. For example, "cold email templates," "how to increase email open rates."
K (Keywords) - Where are the keywords?
Extract specific search keywords from the topics and categorize them by funnel stage:
Many people start SEO with keywords, but I recommend the reverse: Start with the audience, deduce layer by layer, and finally arrive at the keywords. This gives your content soul and ensures it genuinely solves problems.
For teams that need to produce high-quality SEO content in bulk, SEOInfra can quickly transform topics and keywords within the APK framework into publishable blog posts, based on high-quality sources like YouTube videos and podcasts. This fundamentally guarantees content quality and conversion effectiveness.
Once you understand the strategic framework, know what types of content to create. I've found these four formats have the highest conversion rates:
A user searches for "how to automate emails in Gmail," and you write a tutorial demonstrating how to accomplish this task using your tool.
Take MailMentor's article, for example: users want to know how to automate emails, and the article shows them how to do it with their product. This type of content solves user problems while naturally showcasing the product's value.
Users searching for "best AI CRM" have already identified the type of product they need and are in the comparison stage. You can list 5-6 tools in the industry, provide objective reviews, and then position your product as the number one choice – provided you genuinely believe it is the best and can explain why.
Many marketers find this approach insincere, but the reality is: average users aren't marketers; they value well-reasoned analysis. Data from my own blog and client websites proves that these types of content convert very well.
Keywords like "Notion alternatives" indicate users who are dissatisfied with their current tools and are looking for other options. You can list several alternatives and then introduce your product as a solution to the pain points of those mainstream tools.
"Notion vs Obsidian" – users are comparing two well-known products, indicating a very clear purchase intent. At this point, you can objectively analyze the pros and cons of both, and then conclude: "If you need a more collaborative tool, consider trying our product."
Although your brand isn't in the keyword for this type of content, if the article is well-written and ranks well, you have an opportunity to capture customers who were originally going to choose a competitor.
These four content formats have been validated through extensive client case studies. Their commonality is that they are driven by conversion goals, not just traffic for traffic's sake.
My own blog, "Marketer Milk," made an early mistake: chasing high-volume keywords like "best marketing books" and "how to get into marketing." These terms did bring in traffic and helped build the brand, but had limited impact on business growth – users weren't buying immediately, and the conversion path was too long.
This approach is suitable for personal brand building and long-term investment. However, if you're serving clients, they want measurable ROI. Therefore, you must work backward from the end goal:
This is why I can charge $10,000 per month – because I can demonstrate that the revenue I help clients generate through SEO far exceeds that amount. If you can generate $100,000 in growth, charging $10,000 in service fees is entirely reasonable.
SaaS products, independent e-commerce stores, and service-based businesses can all use this. The core requirement is having a clear product or service and well-defined target users. Pure content sites can also refer to it, but the monetization path will be longer.
The APK framework appears to have four steps, but it's essentially answering: Who needs it, what product, what do they care about, and what do they search for? Try starting with a small niche, perhaps one client group you know best, and you'll gradually master it.
The key isn't whether you're the industry leader, but whether you can clearly explain why your product is the best for a specific scenario or group of people. Sincerity is more important than ranking; users can sense it.
SEO is inherently a medium-to-long-term strategy. You can typically see ranking improvements in 3-6 months, with steady traffic growth starting in 6-12 months. However, if you target high-converting content from the start, even with lower traffic, the revenue impact will be much faster than a pure traffic-focused strategy.
No. Bottom-of-funnel content converts well but has limited traffic. The ideal approach is a combination strategy: use middle- and top-of-funnel content to build brand awareness and trust, and use bottom-of-funnel content to capture conversions. The ratio could be 7:3 or 6:4, depending on your business stage.
In over six years of doing SEO, my biggest realization is this: Technology changes, algorithms change, but human nature remains constant. As long as you consistently think from the user's perspective – what do they need, at what stage, how can you help them make decisions – your SEO will never go off course.
Strategy determines how far you can go, and tactics determine how fast you can get there. Neither can be neglected, but if you can only choose one, figure out the strategy first.
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