Let’s just say it.
Most companies don’t have a content strategy.
They have a content reflex. Someone sees a competitor publish something. Someone reads a LinkedIn post. Someone says, “We should write about that.”
So they do.
And six months later the blog looks like a garage full of half-built furniture. Nothing matches. Nothing compounds. Nothing ranks consistently.
And the answer becomes: “We need to publish more.”
No.
You need to publish with intent.
The Problem With “More Content”
Search engines don’t reward effort.
They reward coherence.
If your site has:
- 47 loosely related blog posts
- 9 pages that kind of cover the same topic
- 3 landing pages that all say slightly different versions of the same thing
You don’t have authority. You have noise. Google doesn’t see hustle. It sees your fragile fragmentation.
Step 1: Audit What You’ve Already Built
Before you choose what your site is about, you need to understand what it currently signals.
Pull three things:
- Your top 30 pages by traffic (Search Console → Performance → Pages)
- Your service/product pages
- Your blog categories (if you have them)
Now step back.
Not as a marketer.
As an outsider.
Ask:
- What themes repeat?
- What problems show up more than once?
- What questions do we clearly care about?
You are looking for gravity.
Not volume.
If 10 different posts orbit around “Drupal migration,” that’s not random. That’s what the kids these days are calling “signal”.
If everything is evenly scattered across 15 unrelated topics, that’s also a signal. A signal of noise.
Step 2: Identify Natural Traffic Clusters
Open Search Console again.
Look at queries tied to your top pages.
You’ll start to notice patterns:
- Certain phrases show up repeatedly.
- Certain problems attract consistent impressions.
- Certain themes almost rank but don’t quite get there.
That’s your early authority footprint.
Google is already telling you:
“This is what I think you’re about.”
If you fight that signal, you lose. If you reinforce it, you compound.
Step 3: Map to Business Reality (Not Ego)
Now comes the uncomfortable part. Not every traffic cluster deserves to be a core topic.
Some drive:
- Low-value visitors
- Curiosity traffic
- Students and hobbyists
- Completely wrong ICP
So ask the harder question:
- Which topics align with actual revenue?
- Which topics attract buyers, not browsers?
- Which problems do we want to be known for?
Authority without alignment is vanity.
You’re not building a blog.
You’re building positioning.
Step 4: Choose 3–5 Core Authority Themes
Not 12.
Not 8.
Not “we serve everyone.”
Three to five. That’s it.
Each theme should:
- Tie directly to a core service or revenue stream
- Have enough depth to support multiple subtopics
- Reflect something you want to dominate long-term
Examples (hypothetical):
- Drupal Modernization
- Government Website Compliance
- Search & Discovery Architecture
- ADA Title II Compliance
- Demand Generation
These are not blog categories.
They are strategic territory.
What a Core Topic Is (And Isn’t)
A core topic is:
- A pillar page
- A cluster of related content
- A repeatable internal linking structure
- A long-term authority play
It is not:
- A random keyword
- A trending headline
- A one-off thought leadership piece
- A reaction post
Core topics are your investments. Everything else is optional.
The Hounder Litmus Test
If someone asked:
“What does your company know better than almost anyone?”
You should be able to answer in three sentences. If your answer changes depending on the day, your content probably does too. Authority requires constraint.
Constraint feels uncomfortable.
It is also what builds dominance.
The POV (Because This Is the Part People Avoid)
Stop writing random posts. Random content makes you feel productive. Structured content makes you powerful. Every time you publish something that doesn’t reinforce a core theme, you’re diluting the signal you’ve worked to build.
Search engines reward consistency.
Markets reward clarity.
Choose your territory.
Then defend it.
What Happens Next
Once you have your 3–5 core topics:
- Build a pillar page for each.
- Map supporting content under each.
- Link intentionally.
- Publish within those lanes.
- Update instead of constantly creating.
You stop scattering effort.
You start compounding it.
The Thing to Remember
Authority isn’t built by volume. It’s built by repetition with intent.
Three themes. Repeated consistently. For years.
That’s how you win.