Chapter 04: Publishing pages (The most measurable way to generate SEO results)

Why aren’t we calling it “content strategy”?

For developing pages, the first thing to realize is we call them pages, not blogs. I am calling it out because our team at Spear Growth focuses on pages that generate results, like demos or sign-ups, not just traffic.

Every 8 pages you create, should get you 2 conversions/month, CONSERVATIVELY.

(Yes, that is 24 conversions a year)

Here are some sample results we’ve seen:

Key concepts to remember when creating your plan

Let’s talk about some important ideas to keep in mind when you’re developing your pages. This isn’t just about blogs—it’s about crafting engaging content that resonates with your audience.

1. BoFu <> ToFu distribution
   As mentioned above, when developing pages, we always start by focusing on BoFu keywords. These are keywords targeting  people who are ready to buy, like: “{{software}} alternatives.” 

The reason we prioritize these is simple: they drive qualified signups or MQLs.
Once we’ve nailed down the BoFu keywords, we move to MoFu and ToFu keywords, like templates or broader industry terms.

But remember, ALWAYS start with creating pages for the bottom of the funnel..

Note: People say marketing is about moving customers down a funnel. But that’s not how it really works. If that were true, no marketing agency would ever find new customers. The truth is, demand already exists. Our job is to find and capture that demand. SEO is a great way to do this.

2. Keyword first
   Your content strategy should always be keyword-first, not page type first.
   I.e. don’t start here: “I want to create 2 blogs a week, what should I create?”

Start here: “This is the keyword, what kind of page do I need to rank for this?”

Identify the keywords that you want to rank for and can rank for. 

(More on how to do this a little lower in this chapter.)

Without the right keyword strategy, even the most optimised page won’t deliver the MQLs that you are after.

3. Time spent per keyword
   Important: don’t rush keyword research. 

You could finish your entire quarterly keyword research in ~2 hours. But spending 2-3 hours to find a single good keyword is time well spent. (24 times longer). Creating a page takes much longer, it might take anywhere from 8 to 20 hours of work across your content, web dev and design teams.

If you want to save time, save the time spent on creating pages that don’t get any results. Take your time and find the right ones so that significantly more pages created are useful.

4. Should I create a page for this keyword?
   Ask yourself, “Should I create this page?” 

Identify the keywords that you want to rank for and can rank for.

Want to rank for: 

A. If you rank for it, you believe your ICP will visit your website. 

B. You believe there is some search volume. (We never use the numbers search volume tools give us. More on this under the search volume section later.)

Can rank for:

A. You believe you can realistically rank for this. 

(We never use the keyword difficulty tools that give us. More on this under the keyword difficulty section.)

If the keyword passes both tests, then it’s time to create that page.

5. Search volume
   Most SEO tools give you search volume data.
   
   Now, here’s the catch: this data is rarely accurate. No tool really has this data, they try to estimate it. The estimation method of nearly all tools fails especially when it comes to the volume of high-intent keywords that we want to rank for.

“Now, what’s a better approach, Ishaan?” 

Go directly to the source: Google. 

Google knows which keywords have search volume.

And you can infer which keyword  has a search volume (or not) by using Google ’s auto-suggest. 

Start typing your keyword in Google.

If it appears in the suggestions – it has a search volume. If not, then it’s probably not worth pursuing.

I don’t care too much about the actual search volume numbers.

Most high-intent, long-tail keywords have a search volume of less than 50/month(as they should)and the no. of searches vary month to month.

So, a simple yes or no won’t make a much bigger difference compared to actual search volume numbers.

6. Keyword difficulty
   Many tools like Ahrefs & Semrush estimate keyword difficulty using only the domain authority of the keywords in the SERP. But the truth is, there are 100s of factors that go into this decision and at least 10 you should always care about. 

Here’s how I recommend doing it:

1. Search for the keyword you want to assess for its “difficulty.”
2. Then, manually check each page in the search results to see if you have a shot at outranking them (your SEO team should know how to do this).
3. If yes, using what type of page, how many backlinks, and how many internal links?
4. Then if you can outrank enough pages in the SERP, you can conclude the keyword has a low keyword difficulty. i.e. you actually have a shot at ranking for the keyword.

Re: Don’t rely on a tool’s score alone—spend time evaluating each keyword individually. It hardly takes a couple of weeks to start seeing rankings, traffic and even MQLs using this method.

7. Team / Implementation / Timelines
   Once you decide to create the page, you need to figure out what kind of page to create. Then, you’ll have to coordinate with the right teams for implementation.
   
   If it’s a blog, coordinate with your content and design teams.
   If it’s a landing page, you’ll probably have to coordinate with product marketers, copywriters, and designers. Sometimes, even web developers for more complex setups.
   
   It takes coordination, but it’s worth it.

Here’s the payoff: For every 8 well-crafted pages we develop, our clients, on average, see a measurable impact of 24 MQLs per year. This isn’t just theory—it’s backed by data. The results speak for themselves.