Agency quoted $15k for content strategy. Client asked me instead. Built it in 8 minutes for $2,500. Agency called it "cutting corners." Here's what actually happened: THE REFERRAL Client: "This quote feels high" Me: "What did they quote?" Client: "$15k for 90-day content strategy" Me: "What's included?" Client: "Keyword research, competitor analysis, content calendar" THE AGENCY'S PROPOSAL - Week 1-2: Discovery and audit - Week 3-4: Keyword research deep dive - Week 5-6: Competitor landscape mapping - Week 7-8: Strategic recommendations - Week 9-10: Content calendar build - Week 11-12: Documentation and handoff 12 weeks. $15,000. Client: "Can you do it faster?" Me: "I can do it today" THE BUILD Client shared: - Their website - 6 main competitors - GSC access Opened Contentbase on screenshare. Setup took 8 minutes: - Added domain - Added competitors - Connected GSC - Started automation System delivered: - Complete keyword analysis from GSC + Ahrefs API - Competitor content gap report - 90-day content calendar - First batch of articles already generating Client: "That's everything they quoted 12 weeks for?" Me: "Yes" THE COMPARISON Agency approach: - Timeline: 12 weeks - Cost: $15,000 - Deliverables: Research docs + calendar My approach: - Timeline: 8 minutes - Cost: $2,500 setup + $99/month - Deliverables: Same research + calendar + 30 articles monthly Client: "Why do they need 12 weeks?" Me: "Manual processes. Presentations. Justifying the price." Client: "And you?" Me: "Automation. Results over process." THE AGENCY'S RESPONSE They heard about it. Called it "not strategic enough." Said I was "cutting corners." Told client "you get what you pay for." 3 MONTHS LATER Client's results with my system: - 90 articles published - Rankings for 47 target keywords - Organic traffic up 340% - 12 qualified leads from content Agency's response: Silent THE CLIENT'S TEXT "That agency wanted $15k to tell me what to write. You gave me the strategy AND wrote everything for $2,797 total. This isn't even close."

Google just confirmed what many SEOs suspected: besides the big Core Updates, smaller core updates are happening all the time. 💡 What does this mean for us? You no longer have to wait for the next “March” or “June” update to recover. Improve your content → rankings can move at any moment. So keep optimizing, keep publishing, and watch Search Console closely. Recovery doesn’t only happen during named updates, it happens continuously.