“You need to blog all the time to rank well!” is an oft-heard SEO battle cry – but not every business has the time, skills, or inclination to churn out blog posts. And the good news is: you don’t have to.

As a small business owner or solo entrepreneur, your time is precious. You’re already juggling clients, admin, accounts, and actually doing the work that pays the bills. The last thing you need is another SEO guru telling you that the only way to rank is by writing three blog posts a week.

Let’s be clear – you absolutely can rank well without becoming a reluctant blogger. Here’s how to get Google to notice you without living on the content hamster wheel.

(I’m sorry, ironically considering the subject, it’s long, I promise I’ll get back to writing shorter posts soon)

Jump to the interesting bits:

The blogging advice you can ignore if you don’t want a blog

Before we look at what actually works, let’s take a quick look at three pieces of advice you’ll see touted endlessly on social media – the ones that either keep you trapped in the “I must write a blog” cycle, or make you feel guilty (because you’re not blogging) every time you see them. This bullshit wastes a whole bunch of time, and is probably responsible for more crappy content on the internet than anything else.

Publish weekly or die!

The idea that you must blog on a rigid schedule is completely unfounded. Well thought out, planned, and useful (some would say… helpful…) content that genuinely helps your audience will do better at converting customers than weekly fluff every time. Google values quality and helpfulness over arbitrary publishing schedules.

Any content is better than no content

Creating shallow 500-word posts just to tick a box could not only hurt your rankings, but also your reputation. Google’s algorithms are sophisticated enough to recognise when content lacks substance. And most potential customers know rubbish when they see it. Each awful piece of mediocrity weakens your site’s, and your, overall authority.

Blogs bring in more traffic than service pages

The harsh truth is that so many small business blogs attract virtually no visitors. They fail because they’re too generic, don’t address specific customer questions, and simply repeat what’s already been said everywhere else a hundred times. And when you get disheartened and let the blogging slide, an unused and unloved blog section looks worse than having no blog at all.

So what SHOULD you do?

Focus on your money pages first

Instead of spreading yourself thin across dozens of blog posts, it makes more sense to invest your limited time into pages that directly generate revenue. Here’s how to approach this:

Service pages with substance

Your service or product pages deserve your primary attention. Make them comprehensive by including:

Complete service details: Explain exactly what customers receive, including process, deliverables, and timelines.

Customer question answers: Address objections and queries before they come up, building trust immediately.

Concrete examples: Show your work in action through case studies, before/after scenarios, or sample outcomes.

Transparent pricing: I know, it takes balls to put your pricing on your website, but I promise you, providing clear pricing information qualifies leads before they get in touch, and saves so much time.

Unique selling propositions (bleurgh): Why are yo better than your competitors? Make it clear. Then make it clearer.

Social validation: Include testimonials, reviews, and client logos to provide immediate credibility.

Make existing content better

Before creating new content, make the most of what you already have:

Update and improve: Refresh existing pages with current information and expanded details- we’ve all got an outdated page somewhere with slightly wrong details on it.

Additional sections: Add new content blocks addressing frequently asked questions or related topics.

Industry developments: Incorporate recent changes or trends relevant to your services.

Enhanced formatting: Improve readability with better headings, bullet points, and white space.

Visual elements: Add diagrams, photos, or videos that complement your written content.

FAQ sections are a goldmine

Search engines have always loved FAQs, but with the rise of AI overviews in search results, well-structured FAQ sections have become invaluable:

Target specific queries: Address the exact questions people have asked you during their buying journey.

Search friendly format: Present information in a clear question-answer format that search engines can easily pull out,, and customers can clearly read.

Topic clusters: Group related questions together to demonstrate comprehensive subject coverage.

Expertise signals: Use FAQs to showcase your knowledge without creating separate blog posts.

Evolutionary content: Add new questions as they come up from customer interactions.

Technical SEO is even more important if you’re not blogging

Technical SEO improvements can massively boost rankings without you having to sit down at 7am on a Monday to think about something for your blog. Here’s where to focus:

Speed optimisations

Not all performance improvements are treated equally. Prioritise these for maximum impact:

Image compression: Properly sized and formatted images can cut page load times dramatically

Effective caching: Implement browser caching to reduce loading times for returning visitors

Server response: Work with your hosting provider to minimise loading time

Script management: Eliminate unnecessary third-party scripts that slow down page rendering (I’m talking to you, WordPress plugins, and external trackers)

Code efficiency: Remove redundant CSS and JavaScript for leaner, faster-loading pages – get someone who knows what they’re doing, if it’s not you

Mobile-first approach

With the majority of searches occurring on mobile devices (am I the only person who hates searching on mobile? My Gen X fingers just love a proper keyboard), your site must function flawlessly on small screens:

Comfortable reading: Make sure text is readable without zooming or squinting

Tap-friendly design: Make buttons and links easy to click with a fingertip

Streamlined forms: Simplify data entry for mobile users with appropriate input types – no-one is giving you their life story in a form on their phone!

Responsive layouts: Make sure there is no horizontal scrolling and that content fits any screen size

Performance focus: Optimise for slower mobile connections with critical content loading first

Strategic internal linking

How your existing pages connect to each other can make a mahoosive difference to rankings:

Pathways that make sense: Create intuitive navigation between related content – no-one has time to guess where to find things

Service connections: Link between complementary services or products when it makes sense

Descriptive anchors: Use meaningful link text rather than generic “click here” phrases

Accessibility hierarchy: Ensure important pages are quickly reachable from any point on the site

Structural signposting: Put breadcrumb navigation in place to show clear site organisation

Metadata optimisation

Well-crafted metadata improves click-through rates and provides oh-so-crucial ranking signals:

Compelling titles: Write title tags that accurately describe content while encouraging clicks

Mini-advertisement descriptions: Write meta descriptions that function as little microcopy sales pitches

Rich result markup: Put in place, or get someone who knows how to, appropriate schema (structured data) to hopefully win enhanced search listings.

Image descriptions: Add descriptive alt text to all images for accessibility and SEO benefits

Alternative content types for the blog-averse

If you want to create some content but traditional blogging just isn’t your bag, think about these alternatives:

Case studies with impact

Case studies demonstrate your expertise through real results:

Problem focus: Begin with a specific challenge you helped solve

Process insights: Briefly explain your approach without revealing trade secrets

Concrete outcomes: Include measurable results with specific figures where possible

Client testimonials: Incorporate direct quotes from satisfied customers

Visual storytelling: Use before/after imagery or data visualisations for immediate impact

Resource pages that will live forever(ish)

A comprehensive resource page can drive traffic for years, if it’s done well:

Industry guides: Create definitive references for common processes or concepts

Terminology explanations: Compile and explain industry jargon for newcomers

Tool recommendations: Compare options or suggest solutions for common problems

Downloadable assets: Offer checklists or templates that provide immediate value

Curated resources: Collect and organise links to helpful external content

Video content strategy

Videos can deliver information efficiently when properly optimised – and there’s a whole load of people who like to watch rather than read:

Transcription inclusion: Always provide text transcripts for search engines to index

Proper metadata: Use descriptive titles, tags, and descriptions

Dedicated landing pages: Create specific pages for important videos with supporting text

Multi-format delivery: Present key information in both video and text form for different learning preferences

Don’t think that not blogging is a no-effort solution

Creating valuable content does require effort, regardless of format. However, there’s an enormous difference between:

Creating a handful of high-quality, comprehensive pages that work for you year after year, gaining you backlinks and visitors as well as great rankings, and
forcing yourself to produce endless blog posts that few people discover or read, make you spiral into a never ending pit of despair, and leave your blog saying it was last updated in 2020, when you wrote about COVID

Invest your limited time strategically in content that serves customers and showcases your expertise, not in meeting made-up publishing quotas.

Quality really does trump quantity in modern SEO. A small collection of genuinely helpful resources will outperform dozens of superficial blog posts. Focus on solving real customer problems with your content, do the bits you can well, get an expert in if you can’t do them well, and rankings will follow.

You can’t always do it alone

While DIY SEO is definitely possible, many small business owners ultimately find that hiring an SEO content specialist delivers better results with less stress. A professional who understands what actually works can:

Identify the most valuable content opportunities for your specific business
Create targeted pages that genuinely appeal to both search engines and customers
Save you countless hours of research, writing, and optimisation
Deliver content strategically aligned with your business goals
Provide measurable results rather than vanity metrics

With decades of experience managing Google’s increasingly needy whims, I’ve helped hundreds of small businesses achieve sustainable rankings without the content hamster wheel. I focus on creating strategic, high-performance pages that continue working for you month after month, year after year.

Want to rank well without becoming a reluctant blogger? Let’s chat about what that would look like for your business.

Because trust me, the answer isn’t always “You need more blog posts”.