Technical SEO vs Content SEO: Where to Invest First

You have a limited budget and a choice: hire a developer to fix technical SEO issues, or invest in content creation?

Most companies agonize over this decision. SEO agencies will tell you technical SEO is the foundation. Content agencies will tell you that you need content to rank.

They're both right—and both wrong.

Here's how to actually make the decision.

What is Technical SEO (And When It Matters)

Technical SEO is everything that makes your site crawlable, indexable, and fast:

• Site speed
• Mobile responsiveness
• XML sitemaps
• Robots.txt configuration
• Canonical tags
• Structured data
• Core Web Vitals
• HTTPS

When technical SEO matters most:

• Your site is genuinely broken (pages won't load, Google can't crawl)
• You're getting crawl errors in Search Console
• Core Web Vitals are in the red
• Mobile experience is terrible

When it matters less:

• Your site loads in <3 seconds
• Mobile users can navigate fine
• Google is indexing your pages without issues

If your site works reasonably well, technical SEO improvements will give you marginal gains—maybe 10-20% traffic lift.

What is Content SEO (And When It Matters)

Content SEO is creating pages that target keywords and satisfy search intent:

• Blog posts
• Guides and resources
• Product pages
• Landing pages

When content SEO matters most:

• You have fewer than 50 indexed pages
• You're not ranking for your target keywords
• Competitors have 10x more content than you
• Your site gets minimal organic traffic

When it matters less:

• You already have hundreds of pages
• You're ranking well but want incremental gains

If you have no content, technical SEO won't help—there's nothing to rank.

The Decision Framework

Ask yourself these questions in order:

1. Is your site fundamentally broken?

Check:

• Can Google crawl and index your pages?
• Does your site load on mobile?
• Are Core Web Vitals passing?

If NO: Fix technical issues first. A broken site won't rank no matter how good your content is.

If YES: Move to question 2.

2. Do you have enough content to compete?

Check:

• How many pages do top-ranking competitors have?
• How much content are they publishing per month?
• How many keywords are you ranking for (vs. competitors)?

If you have 10 pages and competitors have 200: You need content first. Technical perfection won't help you outrank sites with 20x more content.

If you have comparable content volume: Move to question 3.

3. What's your biggest bottleneck?

Look at Search Console:

• Are pages being indexed but not ranking? → Content quality or keyword targeting issue
• Are pages not being indexed at all? → Technical issue
• Are you ranking but below position 10? → Could be either

Run a speed test:

• Is your site loading in >5 seconds? → Technical issue
• Is mobile experience poor? → Technical issue
• Is everything reasonably fast? → Content is likely the bottleneck

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Early-Stage Startup

• 5 pages total
• Site loads fine
• No organic traffic

Answer: Content first. You could have the fastest site in the world—it won't rank with 5 pages. Create 30-50 pieces of content targeting your core keywords, then revisit technical SEO.

Scenario 2: E-commerce Site

• 500 product pages
• Site loads slowly (6 seconds)
• Ranking, but not well

Answer: Technical first. You have content. Speed is holding you back. Fix Core Web Vitals, then create supplemental blog content.

Scenario 3: B2B SaaS

• 50 blog posts
• Site is reasonably fast (2-3 seconds)
• Competitors have 200 posts and outrank you

Answer: Content first. Your site works. Your bottleneck is content volume and coverage.

Scenario 4: Established Site

• 300+ pages
• Good rankings
• Want to grow further

Answer: Both, but prioritize technical. At scale, technical improvements compound across all pages. Optimize what you have, then keep creating content.

The 80/20 Rule for Technical SEO

If you do invest in technical SEO, focus on the 20% that drives 80% of results:

High-impact technical fixes:

1. Fix crawl errors: If Google can't access pages, nothing else matters
2. Improve Core Web Vitals: Especially on mobile
3. Fix broken internal links: They waste crawl budget and confuse users
4. Ensure mobile responsiveness: More than half your traffic is mobile
5. Add structured data: Helps Google understand your content

Low-impact technical tweaks (do later):

• Optimizing every image to perfection
• Shaving 0.1 seconds off load time
• Implementing every possible schema type
• Perfectly tuning server response codes

The 80/20 Rule for Content SEO

Similarly, don't create content randomly:

High-impact content moves:

1. Create pillar pages for your core topics
2. Target low-competition keywords you can actually rank for
3. Update thin/old content before creating new posts
4. Build content clusters around each pillar
5. Match search intent (don't write guides when people want product comparisons)

Low-impact content moves (do later):

• Publishing daily for the sake of frequency
• Targeting ultra-competitive head terms
• Creating content with no keyword strategy
• Writing about topics unrelated to your business

How to Balance Both

The ideal approach isn't either/or—it's sequencing.

Phase 1 (Months 1-3): Create foundational content

• 20-30 core articles
• Pillar pages for main topics
• Basic on-page SEO

Phase 2 (Months 4-6): Fix major technical issues

• Site speed
• Mobile experience
• Crawlability

Phase 3 (Months 7-9): Scale content

• Increase publishing velocity
• Build content clusters
• Update old posts

Phase 4 (Months 10-12): Advanced technical optimization

• Structured data
• Advanced performance tuning
• Technical edge cases

The Pensteady Approach

We focus on content first because:

1. Most companies have adequate (not perfect, but adequate) technical SEO
2. Content gaps are almost always bigger than technical gaps
3. Content compounds; technical SEO doesn't

We help you publish 2-12 articles per month, fully optimized, while you separately handle (or hire for) technical improvements.

The result? Faster growth than trying to perfect technical SEO before creating content.

Make the Right Choice for Your Business

Audit honestly:

1. Is your site broken or just imperfect?
2. Do you have enough content to compete?
3. Where's your biggest gap?

Then invest there first. You can always circle back to the other later.

Want to start creating high-quality content while you figure out technical SEO? Try Pensteady free and publish your first 4 articles this month.