How the San Francisco Times 25×'d its traffic, without hiring a marketing team.
A scrappy digital newsroom wanted to do journalism, not SEO. In six months, SEOD took the full marketing stack off their desk. Monthly readership jumped from ~2,000 to over 52,000, and the managing editor got 12+ hours a week back for actual reporting.
The client.
The San Francisco Times is an independent digital newsroom covering local Bay Area news, city hall, small business, cultural coverage. A tight team of writers, editors, and one managing editor trying to do it all. Quality journalism was never the issue. Getting it read was.
What was broken.
The site was publishing 3 to 5 solid articles a week and pulling ~2,000 monthly readers, almost all from direct / social referrals. Google wasn't sending traffic. The managing editor was spending 12+ hours a week on "marketing" (SEO plugin wrestling, social posting, email blasts) that wasn't moving the needle and was actively pulling her away from editing. Classic editorial trap.
What we changed.
1. Technical SEO reset.
Migrated from a bloated, slow theme to a fast custom build. Fixed 80+ broken internal links. Cleaned up duplicate content flagged by Google Search Console. Added proper NewsArticle and headline schema to every story. Result: Google started indexing stories within minutes of publication instead of days.
2. Keyword-first editorial planning.
We didn't tell editors what to write, we showed them what Bay Area readers were actually searching for. Twice a month: a report of trending local queries their beats could credibly cover. Editors kept editorial control; SEOD flagged the opportunities.
3. Evergreen content program.
News traffic is spiky. Evergreen traffic compounds. SEOD produced 2 long-form guides a month (how-to pieces, neighborhood guides, explainers) that ranked for commercial-intent local searches. By month four, evergreen was driving 60% of organic traffic.
4. Newsletter + email.
Built a double-opt-in newsletter list from 800 to 9,500 in six months using a clean capture system and weekly editorial curation, not popups, not dark patterns. Open rate holds ~40%, which is 2× the media industry average.
The tactical list.
- Custom fast-loading theme (Core Web Vitals all green)
- NewsArticle + BreadcrumbList + Organization schema sitewide
- Keyword research targeting 200+ Bay Area commercial queries
- 24 evergreen long-form pieces produced in 6 months
- Newsletter build + welcome automation + weekly digest
- Monthly Google Search Console review with editorial team
Working with SEOD on our creative planning and growth strategy allowed our small team to focus on journalism rather than marketing. Their attention to detail and unique outlook on SEO strategy increased our traffic to over 50k a month.
, Managing Editor, San Francisco Times
The takeaway.
Small publishers don't need a bigger content team. They need an operator who takes the marketing work off the editors' desks so the editors can do what they're actually good at. That's what we did. Six months, 25× traffic, zero editor time spent on SEO.
Let's talk about your business.
Ten-minute call. Free. If SEOD isn't the right fit for you, Eric will tell you straight.
87% of clients renew at month 6. Most see traction inside 90 days.