Case studyOnline mediaSan FranciscoEngaged 2022 to 2023
How the San Francisco Times grew its audience without a marketing team
An independent Bay Area newsroom wanted to do journalism, not SEO. Over six months we took the marketing work off the editors' desks. Its monthly audience went from approximately 2,000 to over 52,000.
The business
The San Francisco Times is an independent digital newsroom covering Bay Area news, city hall, small business and culture, run by a small team of writers and editors and one managing editor. The journalism was never the issue. Getting it read was.
The challenge
The site published three to five solid articles a week and drew a monthly audience of approximately 2,000, almost all from direct visits and social referrals. Google was not sending traffic. The managing editor was spending more than 12 hours a week on marketing work that was not moving the needle and was taking time away from editing.
What we delivered
Technical SEO reset.
A move from a slow theme to a fast custom build, broken internal links fixed, duplicate content cleaned up, and NewsArticle schema on every story.
Keyword-first editorial planning.
Twice a month, a report of local searches the newsroom's beats could credibly cover. Editors kept editorial control; we flagged the opportunities.
Evergreen content.
Two long-form guides a month, including how-to pieces, neighborhood guides and explainers, aimed at local searches.
Newsletter.
A double opt-in newsletter with a clean capture system and weekly editorial curation, without pop-ups.
Everything we shipped
- A fast custom theme in place of the slow one
- NewsArticle schema on every story, with BreadcrumbList and Organization schema sitewide
- Broken internal links fixed and duplicate content cleaned up
- Keyword research across Bay Area commercial searches
- Two evergreen long-form guides a month
- Newsletter build with a welcome automation and a weekly digest
- A monthly Google Search Console review with the editorial team
Results
Over six months, the monthly audience went from approximately 2,000 to over 52,000. Email subscribers grew from 800 to 9,500, and the managing editor got back 12 or more hours a week for editing and reporting.
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
| Figure | Timeframe | How it was measured |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly audience | Six months | Attested by Eric Lee from the engagement record on 8 September 2026. Approximate, not audited. |
| Email subscribers | At the end of the engagement | Attested by Eric Lee from the engagement record on 8 September 2026. Approximate, not audited. |
| Editor hours recovered | Ongoing | Attested by Eric Lee from the engagement record on 8 September 2026. Approximate, not audited. |
Owner attestation: figures attested by Eric Lee on 8 September 2026 from the engagement record.
The takeaway
Small publishers don't need a bigger content team.
They need someone to take the marketing work off the editors' desks, so the editors can do what they are good at. Over six months the monthly audience went from about 2,000 to over 52,000, and the managing editor got 12 or more hours a week back.
Let us look at yours.
If marketing work is eating the time your team needs for the real job, start with a Business Growth Review.
It costs nothing and commits you to nothing. If SEOD is not the right fit, Eric will tell you straight.