How I Stopped Chasing Keywords and Started Making Money
I used to think SEO was a volume game. Publish more. Write longer posts. Chase the big, shiny keywords the expensive tools spit out. For years, I was stuck on the "content treadmill," churning out articles that went nowhere, watching my traffic graph stay as flat as a forgotten soda.
I was following all the rules. The "ultimate guides." The "10x content." The "pillar pages." And all I had to show for it was a bloated website and a budget that was bleeding out.
Then I realized something: we were all doing it wrong.
The Problem with "Big SEO"
Most SEO advice reads like it was written for a Fortune 500 company with a marketing department the size of a small army. "Build 100 backlinks." "Target 50,000-volume keywords." "Publish an epic 5,000-word post weekly." It's no wonder our blogs end up as sprawling, unfocused messes.
The real issue isn't that Google hates your site—it's that it can't figure out what you're actually an expert in. And when your strategy is to be everything to everyone, you end up being nothing to anyone. You're just adding to the 90% of content that gets zero traffic. A graveyard of good intentions.
It’s a losing game. So I decided to stop playing.
What Actually Works: Three Things I Did That Weren't Stupid
Instead of doing more, I did less. A lot less. It felt wrong, but it worked.
1. I Deleted Half My Website
Yes, seriously. My biggest SEO problem wasn't my competitors; it was the army of "zombie" posts I had published over the years. The half-baked ideas, the outdated news, the articles I wrote just to check a box on a content calendar.
These pages were doing more than just collecting digital dust—they were actively hurting me.
Think of it this way: Google only has so much time to look at your site. If it’s wasting most of its time crawling junk pages, it never gets to the good stuff. By deleting the zombies, I forced Google to pay attention to my best content.
One guy I know took a struggling site from 150 to 4,000 monthly visits in five months. His first move? He deleted 35 posts. He didn't write a single new word until he cleaned house.
The key: Your site becomes leaner, more focused, and Google finally understands what you're an expert in.
2. I Started Listening for Whispers
I stopped shouting for attention with broad keywords like "project management software." It’s a battle you can’t win. Instead, I started listening for the whispers—the super-specific phrases that signal someone is ready to pull out their wallet.
What's a whisper keyword?
Shouting: "best CRM"
Whispering: "best CRM for a small real estate team under $100/month"
See the difference? The first person is browsing. The second person is buying.
You don't need expensive tools to find these. Your best sources are free and hiding in plain sight:
Google Search Console: Go to your Performance report and look at the queries where you're already ranking on page 2 or 3. Google is literally telling you what it thinks you're relevant for. These are gold.
Reddit & Forums: Search for your topic on Reddit. Look at the actual questions people are asking. The titles of their posts are your next blog topics.
"People Also Ask": That little box in Google search results is a direct line into the brain of your customer. Each question is a potential article.
The key: You stop fighting an army and start having a one-on-one conversation with the person who needs your help the most.
3. I Made a Few Friends (Not "Built Backlinks")
Forget "skyscraper outreach" and all those other templated, spammy tactics. It's just noise.
I learned that a handful of real links are worth more than hundreds of mediocre ones. The person who turned their site into a $3k/month engine? They had just 27 backlinks. Not 270. Twenty-seven.
The goal isn't quantity; it's relevance. I call it the "Niche Handshake."
Here's how it works:
Find other people in your niche who aren't direct competitors—small blogs, podcasters, community leaders.
Find a piece of your own content that's almost ranking on page 1 (positions 11-20 are perfect).
Send them a real, human email. Compliment their work (and mean it). Offer them something of value. Then, and only then, you can gently mention your post as a potentially useful resource for their audience.
The key: A link from someone who actually cares about your topic is a massive vote of confidence. A link from a generic content farm is just... a link.
This Isn't a One-Time Fix
This isn't a growth hack you do once. It's a new way of operating. Think of it like tending a garden, not launching a military campaign. You have to prune, plant, and water consistently. Every quarter, I'd repeat the process: prune the zombies, pinpoint new whispers, and make a few new friends.
That consistent, boring work is what builds momentum.
Getting Started (Without the Overwhelm)
Find three zombies. Open Google Analytics and find three blog posts that got almost no traffic in the last year. Decide their fate: delete them or merge them into a better post.
Find one whisper. Open Google Search Console. Find one long, specific keyword where you're ranking on page two. That's your next target for content improvement.
Identify two potential friends. Find two small blogs or podcasts in your space. Don't email them yet. Just follow them and learn what they care about.
Be patient. This is a long game. It takes months, not days.
That's it. No "ultimate guides." No "complex backlink campaigns." Just focused, intentional work.
The Bottom Line
Good SEO works when it doesn't feel like SEO. It feels like being genuinely helpful. When you ruthlessly focus on your specific area of expertise, create content that answers real, specific questions, and build genuine relationships, Google doesn't just reward you—your customers do.
The best SEO strategy isn't about outspending or out-publishing your competitors. It's about being the most trusted, focused answer for a smaller, more valuable audience.
And that's not a tactic you can find in a playbook—it's just being useful.