HubSpot—the company that pioneered the ”inbound marketing via blogging” approach—had 24.4 million monthly organic visits in March 2023. By January 2025, that number dropped to just 6.1 million.
一年多，跌了80%。
Ironically, they were creating content exactly as they taught others to do: find keywords, write ”What is X” articles, include definitions, pros and cons, classifications, FAQs… the standard SEO article template.
If even the pioneers of this approach have stumbled, should you continue using the same formula?
This article will tell you three things: what a ”template-style SEO article” is, why Google is moving away from it, and how you should write content now.
What is a ”template-style SEO article”?
A template-style SEO article follows a fixed formula:Definition + Pros & Cons + Types/Classifications + FAQ。
Open any search result for ”What is XX,” and you'll find most articles look like this:
- First paragraph: XX is a method/tool/concept for…
- Second paragraph: The benefits of XX include…
- Third paragraph: The drawbacks of XX include…
- Middle section: 5 types of XX / 10 best practices for XX
- Final section: FAQ—What does XX mean? How to use XX?
This formula used to be highly effective. From 2015 to 2022, simply writing in this structure could land your article on Google's first page. The reason was simple: back then, Google primarily looked at keyword coverage. If your article covered subtopics like ”definition,” ”benefits,” and ”types,” Google considered your content comprehensive and ranked it accordingly.
But the rules have changed. Google no longer asks, ”How many keywords does this article cover?” but rather, ”Does this article genuinely help the reader?”
HubSpot's Lesson: The Pioneer Stumbled by Its Own Playbook
HubSpot isn't just any company. They invented the concept of ”content marketing” and wrote countless tutorials teaching others how to create SEO content. The entire industry followed their lead.
And then they stumbled themselves.
根据Taktical的分析，HubSpot的流量从2023年3月的2440万跌到2025年1月的610万，跌幅达到81%。
What went wrong? They wrote too many ”traffic articles” unrelated to their core business.
For example: HubSpot is a marketing software company, but they wrote an article on ”How to Type the Shrug Emoji.” This article brought in over 200,000 visits per month. However, those visitors were unlikely to buy their software—they just wanted to copy an emoji.
Google explicitly stated in its March 2024 update that it would penalize content that deviates from a website's core area of expertise. HubSpot's articles like ”What is the shrug emoji,” ”resignation letter templates,” and ”famous quotes” were all demoted.
The lesson here isn't simply ”don't write such articles,” but a more fundamental issue:Content written solely for traffic will eventually lose even that traffic.。
Why did this formula suddenly stop working?
The decline of template-style SEO articles is due to three overlapping reasons.
First, Google's algorithm changed.
In late 2022, Google added an "E"—Experience—before E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). The implication: having professional knowledge isn't enough; you also need genuine usage or practical experience.
An article on ”How to Prepare for a Marathon” written by someone who has never run a marathon versus one written by someone who has run 10 marathons—Google now prioritizes the latter. This is a fatal blow to template-style articles because their hallmark is that ”anyone can write them.”
Second, user behavior changed.
2024年，Reddit在Google的可见度暴涨了400%。为什么？因为用户开始在搜索词后面加上”Reddit”来过滤掉SEO文章。
What does this mean? Users are tired of content that ”all looks the same.” They'd rather go to forums to see real discussions than read another standard ”What is XX” article.
Third, the middle ground has disappeared.
This is what I consider the most critical change: AI can produce basic informational content faster and cheaper than you can. Meanwhile, if users want in-depth content, they go directly to industry experts or niche communities.
“Content in the ”middle ground"—not deep enough, lacking unique perspectives, yet not concise enough—is being squeezed from both sides. Either strive for extreme expertise, or don't do it at all. There is no middle option anymore.
Is Your Content Falling into These Traps? 3 Diagnostic Criteria
Instead of guessing, use these three questions to evaluate your recent articles:
Test 1: If you remove the brand name, can you still tell who wrote it?
Place your article alongside a competitor's, hide the brand names. If readers can't tell which is which, your content is too templated.
Good content should have a ”fingerprint”—perhaps a unique perspective, real case studies, or a distinct writing style.
Test 2: Are you writing ”How to do X” or ”How we do X”?
“How to do X” is generic, textbook-style advice. ”How we do X” is sharing based on real experience.
Not every article needs to be a case study, but you must ask yourself: Is there any part of this content that only I could write?
Test 3: Does this article solve a specific problem, or does it cover a topic?
“A Guide to Social Media Marketing” covers a topic. ”The Best Time to Post on LinkedIn (Based on Our 3 Months of Testing Data)” solves a specific problem.
How to Write Truly Valuable Content? A 5-Step Action Framework
Having discussed the problems, here is the solution. This is a 5-step framework you can start using today.
Step 1: Narrow Down, Don't Expand
Instead of writing ”Beginner's Guide to SEO,” write ”SEO for Independent E-commerce Sellers (Zero-Budget Edition).”
The narrower your audience, the more specific the value you can provide. ”Everyone” is not a target reader—because ”everyone's” problems are too broad, and your answers can only be generic.
Step 2: Shift from ”How to” to ”How we”
Don't just write ”what should be done”; write ”how we actually do it.”
比如，不要写”如何提高邮件打开率”，写”我们把邮件打开率从15%提高到32%的3个改动”。后者有具体的起点、终点和方法，读者能直接参考。
Even if you don't have your own data, you can cite real case studies from others—the key is to have evidence that ”real people have done this.”
Step 3: Incorporate Your Genuine Perspective
A common flaw of template-style articles is ”not offending either side.” List three pros, three cons, and conclude with ”it depends.”
Readers don't need this kind of balanced reporting. They need you to tell them:What would you choose? And why?
Articles with a perspective have value. Even if readers disagree, they at least know you've thought it through seriously, rather than just compiling information.
Step 4: Answer a Specific Question, Don't Cover a Topic
One article should solve one problem. Don't try to answer all related questions in a single piece.
“How to Choose a CRM” is a topic. ”Which CRM for Teams Under 10 People with No Dedicated Sales Staff?” is a specific question. The latter is harder to write, but its value to the target reader is ten times higher.
Step 5: Cut, Don't Pile On
Word count is not a KPI. If an idea can be explained in 50 words, don’t stretch it to 200. Google values quality over quantity.
Review each paragraph: If the article remains complete without it, delete it.
Next Step: Do One Thing Today
Don’t wait until your next article to start making changes.
Open your most recently published article and review it using the three criteria above. Identify the most obvious issue and fix it.
Improving one article is more valuable than reading ten tutorials on ”how to write better content.”