When Rick, a SaaS startup CEO, hired a digital marketing agency, he expected big results. Rankings would soar, traffic would spike, and leads would roll in. But six months later? Nothing. His organic traffic was flat — or worse, trending down.
TLDR:
Rick was paying monthly fees to an agency but saw no real organic growth. The problem? Too much focus on shallow tactics and not enough on real content and technical SEO. After shifting his strategy, traffic climbed fast. Sometimes, the right focus is better than a bigger budget.
How It Started
Rick’s startup was growing fast. Investors loved the idea, and customers came in through referrals. But he wanted more predictable growth. So, like many CEOs, he turned to an agency for help.
The agency promised:
- Backlinks from high-authority sites
- Blog posts every month
- On-page SEO optimization
- And a “proven” growth strategy
It sounded great. Rick signed a 6-month retainer. He started paying thousands each month. And then he waited for the magic to happen.
The Problem: Metrics That Didn’t Matter
Sure, emails came in regularly. Monthly reports were full of charts and traffic patterns. There were graphs in green with arrows pointing up. But something was off:
- The traffic wasn’t targeted
- Lead quality hadn’t improved
- Keyword rankings changed — but not for high-intent terms
Most of the posts were fluff. Topics like “5 Ways to Stay Productive Working From Home.” Useful? Maybe. Relevant to the product? Not at all.
Worse, the site had technical issues.
- Broken links
- Slow page load speed
- Poor internal linking
Even basic things like title tags and meta descriptions weren’t optimized.
Rick realized he was paying too much for too little. So, he dug deeper.
The Reality Check
Rick talked to other founders. Many of them had the same story. Agencies often do the minimum. They want you to feel progress, even when real results are missing.
He came across one post that broke it down:
- Content needs strategy, not quantity
- Technical SEO is the foundation, not extra credit
- Backlinks only work when the content is link-worthy
That’s when Rick decided to take control.
Shifting the Strategy: The Two Things That Moved the Needle
He canceled the agency contract and started fresh. Two things became his north star:
- Content Strategy Focused on Buyer Intent
- Technical SEO Fixes and Maintenance
1. Content That Didn’t Just Fill Space — It Answered Real Questions
Rick hired a content strategist and one writer. Together, they built a content plan based on:
- What potential buyers search
- Problems the product solved
- Competitor weaknesses
Each post became a mini landing page. Headlines matched search intent. Posts answered questions better than any on the first page of Google.
They also created a glossary for key industry terms, added internal links on every page, and refreshed old content with newer data.
2. Technical SEO — The Hidden Engine
Next, Rick brought in a freelance SEO technical expert to audit the site. The findings were brutal.
Here’s what they found:
- Multiple H1 tags on a single page
- Broken redirects
- Duplicate content issues in blog categories
- XML sitemap errors
Within two weeks, everything was fixed. The website speed jumped from a Google PageSpeed score of 67 to 92. Mobile usability errors dropped to zero. Crawl errors disappeared from Google Search Console.
The Results: Growth That Actually Meant Something
In the first 30 days after making the switch, Rick saw:
- 28% increase in organic traffic
- Doubling of blog conversion rate
- 10 new leads from organic search alone
And the wins kept stacking. After three months, high-intent landing pages began ranking for terms like “automated user feedback software” and “real-time bug tracking.”
No more empty blog posts. No more backlinks just for the sake of it. Every piece of work — whether content or code — had a purpose.
The Lesson: You Can’t Outsource Strategy
What Rick learned was simple: you can delegate tasks, but not vision. Content should come from understanding your audience deeply. Technical SEO isn’t sexy, but it drives real results when done right. The combo? It’s unbeatable.
Agencies can work — but only if they align with your business needs. Not just SEO best practices, but your actual goals and users.
The moment Rick shifted from gut-feel blogging and vanity metrics to intentional SEO, the results came fast. And they stuck around.
Before You Hire An Agency… Ask This:
- Do they have a strategy built around business goals?
- Do they show results beyond rankings — like conversions or leads?
- Can they connect content topics directly to the customer journey?
- Will they audit technical SEO, or do they only talk about backlinks?
If they say, “We write three posts per month” — that’s a red flag. Quantity ≠ strategy.
Final Thoughts: The New Game Plan
Rick’s company now invests in:
- High-quality, in-depth content (1–2 posts per month)
- Quarterly technical SEO audits
- Continuous learning through search data
His monthly marketing budget? Still less than what he paid the agency.
The difference? Everything now moves the needle.
So if your rankings are stuck or your agency spins reports instead of real gains — take a page from Rick’s playbook. Return to basics:
- Know your audience
- Create content that matters
- Fix what’s broken under the hood
The internet rewards clarity, not clutter. Let your SEO strategy be the same.