The Challenge
This HRTech SaaS company was stuck in the lifetime deal cycle — generating one-time revenue spikes from deal platforms but zero recurring income. They had no organic traffic strategy, and their marketing was entirely dependent on paid promotions and LTD platforms. Every month started from zero.
The core problem wasn't the product — it was discovery. Their target audience (HR managers, recruiters, small business owners) was actively searching for solutions on Google and AI platforms, but the company was invisible in those channels. Meanwhile, competitors with weaker products but better content were capturing that demand.
The Flywheel: How We Built the Growth Engine
Rather than a one-time SEO campaign, we deployed PikaSEO's flywheel — a compounding loop that gets smarter and more effective with every cycle. Here's how each turn of the flywheel played out over 20 months:
The PikaSEO Flywheel — Applied
Cycle 1 — Research (Month 1-2)
Discover what the target audience is actually searching for
We started by mining the competitive landscape — not with generic keyword tools, but by reverse-engineering what was actually ranking in the HR SaaS space. We mapped every competitor's top pages, identified keyword gaps, and classified every query by buyer intent. The insight: HR managers weren't searching for "HR software" — they were searching for specific problems like "best employee onboarding tool" and "BambooHR alternatives."
Cycle 2 — Publish (Month 2-5)
Write high-value content that earns references and rankings
We didn't write generic blog posts. Every page was built for a specific purpose: listicles ("Top 10 HR tools for small businesses") to capture awareness traffic, alternatives pages ("Best BambooHR alternatives") to capture users ready to switch, review posts to own the comparison conversation, and free tools (HR calculators, templates) to attract natural backlinks. The key was writing genuinely useful content — not SEO filler. When a listicle provides real analysis and honest opinions, other blogs and newsletters reference it. Those references build domain rating. That higher DR makes every future page rank faster.
Cycle 3 — Measure (Month 5-8)
See what resonated — first-party data reveals the truth
Once pages started ranking, Google Search Console became our most valuable tool. We could see exactly which queries were driving impressions and clicks, which pages had the highest CTR, and where users were dropping off. The data revealed surprises: some long-tail keywords we hadn't targeted were driving significant traffic. Some pages we expected to perform well were underperforming. This first-party data — unique to this specific product and audience — is impossible to get from any third-party tool.
Cycle 4 — Double down (Month 8-20)
Scale what works, cut what doesn't, repeat
The data showed that alternatives pages and comparison content had the highest conversion rate — users landing on these pages were 4x more likely to sign up than those landing on generic listicles. So we doubled down: more alternatives pages, more detailed comparisons, more use-case specific landing pages. We also saw that free tools were driving the majority of backlinks, so we created more of them. Each cycle, the flywheel turned faster — more content meant more data, more data meant better content decisions, better decisions meant higher conversion rates.
What "High-Value Content" Actually Means
The difference between content that ranks and content that ranks and converts comes down to two questions: what to write and how to write it.
What to write (data-driven)
Every page we created was backed by data — keyword gaps from competitor analysis, high-impression queries from GSC, and conversion data from the product itself. We never wrote content because it "seemed like a good idea." Every page had a clear search intent, a target keyword, and a role in the buyer journey.
How to write (value-first)
High-value content gets referenced by other websites — that's what builds domain rating organically. We wrote genuinely helpful comparisons (not just feature lists, but honest analysis of tradeoffs), actionable listicles (with real recommendations, not generic filler), and free tools that solved actual problems. When other HR blogs and newsletters cite your content, Google notices.
Making Content LLM-Readable
The market for search is shifting. Google is still dominant, but LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini are increasingly where people discover tools. We optimized every page not just for Google's crawlers, but for how LLMs understand and cite content:
The Content Types That Built the Engine
Listicles
"Top 10 HR tools" and related high-volume keywords. These captured awareness-stage traffic and — because they were genuinely well-researched — got cited by HR newsletters and blogs, driving backlinks that boosted DR.
Review Posts
In-depth, honest reviews of competitor products. Not biased takedowns — real analysis of pros, cons, and tradeoffs. This built trust with readers and search engines alike.
Free Tools
Interactive HR calculators and templates that solved real problems. These attracted natural backlinks on autopilot — other sites linked to them because they were useful, not because we asked.
Alternatives Pages
"Best BambooHR alternatives" and similar pages targeting users actively looking to switch. The highest-converting content type in the entire strategy — bottom-of-funnel gold.
Programmatic SEO
Template-driven pages targeting long-tail keywords at scale across HR verticals — "best HR tool for [industry]" × dozens of industries.
Hub Pages
Pillar content tying topic clusters together. These signaled topical authority to Google and gave internal link equity a clear path to flow through the site.
The Results
Within 8 months, organic search became the primary revenue channel. The company transitioned from LTD dependency to a healthy recurring revenue model:
- ✓ Revenue grew from $0 MRR to $9K MRR in 8 months
- ✓ Organic traffic became the primary driver of new signups
- ✓ High-value content attracted natural backlinks, steadily increasing domain rating
- ✓ SEO + AEO pipeline replaced one-time LTD dependency
- ✓ Each flywheel cycle made the next one more effective — compound growth over 20 months
Key Takeaway
The flywheel works because each step feeds the next. Research tells you what to write. High-value content earns references and backlinks, which builds DR. Higher DR makes every future page rank faster. First-party data from GSC tells you what's actually working — not what a keyword tool guesses. You double down on winners, cut losers, and the whole engine accelerates. That's how $0 MRR becomes $9K MRR in 8 months — not from a single brilliant move, but from a compounding system that gets better every cycle.