“Stop Writing Articles!”: Jono Alderson’s Wake-Up Call for SEO in 2025

The digital marketing world is buzzing about AI, generative search, and the future of SEO. But while many are scrambling to adapt, technical SEO consultant Jono Alderson delivered a starker, more fundamental message in a recent interview with David Bain for the Majestic “SEO in 2025” series: It might be time to stop writing articles.

Hold on, before you close this tab or fire your content team, let’s unpack that. Alderson isn’t saying all content is dead. He’s sounding the alarm on a specific type of content production that has dominated SEO strategies for years – and arguing it’s rapidly becoming obsolete.

The Problem: Drowning in Digital Dittos

Remember the standard SEO advice? Do keyword research, see what competitors are ranking for, write a slightly longer, slightly “better” article targeting those same keywords, rinse, repeat. Alderson argues this approach is creating a vast ocean of mediocrity.

He points to a common example: dentists. “Every single dentist site I looked at,” he notes, likely has a blog filled with generic, outsourced articles like “Top 8 Tips for Teeth Whitening.” Multiply that across every city, every country – millions of pages saying essentially the same thing, adding little new value to the internet’s knowledge base.

“Somebody has just done some keyword research,” Alderson explains. “They’ve spotted a gap, they think they can write one that’s slightly better than their competitors… and yet, in aggregate, we’ve created 10 million pages that none of which serve a purpose… all of which are fundamentally the same. None of which are very good.”

From a search engine’s perspective, especially one like Google now capable of synthesizing answers directly for many common queries (think recipes, basic facts, maybe even those teeth whitening tips), wading through this “recursive nonsense” is inefficient. Why crawl and index millions of near-identical, low-value pages when it can generate the answer itself?

The Pivot: From Content Churn to Audience Connection

So, if churning out keyword-driven articles is the old way, what’s the path forward for 2025 and beyond? Alderson suggests a fundamental shift in mindset and strategy, moving away from simple “production” towards true “publishing” and audience building.

Here’s the essence of the shift:

1. Move Up the Funnel: Forget battling for the “last click” on bottom-funnel, purchase-intent keywords where you’re increasingly competing against Google’s own features, Amazon, and rock-bottom pricing. Focus your energy earlier in the customer journey.

2. Understand the Real Questions: Dive deep into audience research. What are the genuine frustrations, challenges, and questions your potential customers have months before they’re ready to buy? What do they wish they knew when they started their journey? Answer those.

3. Become a True Publisher: Don’t just produce; publish. This means original research, unique insights, expert perspectives (hello, E-E-A-T!), breaking news relevant to your niche, and demonstrating real experience. Hire talent, invest in expertise. Have an opinion, don’t just echo the consensus.

4. Build Your Audience: Use SEO not just for rankings, but as your access point to capture interest early. Win hearts and minds. Then, crucially, capture those leads (think email lists, communities) and nurture them through other channels. SEO gets you the introduction; other marketing builds the relationship.

5. Embrace Conventional Marketing Metrics: As direct “last click” attribution becomes fuzzier, lean into metrics like brand recall, brand preference, and audience growth. How does your content influence perception and future behaviour?

Where Does AI Fit (and Where Doesn’t It)?

Alderson cautions against simply swapping human writers for AI to continue the content churn. Using tools like ChatGPT to mass-produce articles trained on the existing web of often-mediocre content is just adding to the “word soup.”

However, AI can be a powerful assistant or muse. Use it for:

• Exploration: Analyzing data sets, identifying patterns, and suggesting potential narratives or angles you might miss.
• Summarization: Condensing complex information.
• Repurposing: Adapting existing high-value content for different formats.

But, Alderson stresses, the “heavy thinking,” the original insight, the unique perspective – that still needs to come from human experts.

The Takeaway: Focus Your Firepower

If you’re struggling for time (and who isn’t?), Jono Alderson has some controversial advice on what to potentially stop doing: “Everything else… all the link building, all the digital PR, the reporting, the keyword research, the blog posts, the directory submissions… Whatever it is you’re doing that isn’t trying to authentically help your audience… by connecting them with the helpful content that you produce and influencing their propensity to then prefer you…”

His core point? Focus your limited time and resources on authentically connecting with and solving problems for your audience, building brand preference early in their journey. That’s the heart of sustainable marketing, and increasingly, the heart of effective SEO in 2025.

It’s a challenging shift, demanding more creativity, genuine expertise, and a focus on long-term audience value over short-term keyword wins. But for brands willing to make the leap, the opportunity to stand out from the noise and build real connections has never been greater.

Source Spotlight

The strategic analysis and core insights presented in this DigitrendZ article are significantly informed by the perspectives shared by renowned digital strategist and SEO expert Jono Alderson. These insights were discussed during his compelling interview with David Bain, featured as part of the forward-looking Majestic “SEO in 2025” series. You can explore more expert predictions from the series at SEOin2025.com.