If you’ve been trying to improve your website’s traffic or rankings, you might have heard about the 80/20 rule also called the Pareto Principle. But how does this rule apply to SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?
Let’s break it down in a simple way
What is the 80/20 Rule in General?
Before we jump into SEO, let’s understand what the 80/20 rule means.
The 80/20 rule says:
80% of results come from 20% of the efforts.
This concept applies in many areas of life and business:
- 80% of your sales might come from 20% of your customers.
- 80% of your problems might come from 20% of the causes.
- 80% of your happiness might come from 20% of your activities.
Now, let’s apply this idea to SEO.
What is the 80/20 Rule in SEO?
In the world of SEO, the 80/20 rule means:
80% of your website traffic, rankings, or results come from just 20% of your SEO activities or content.
In simple words:
- You don’t need to do everything.
- You just need to do the right things.
This is a huge relief, especially if you’re a solo business owner, a beginner, or don’t have a big marketing team.
How Does It Look in Real Life?
1. Content Creation
Let’s say you have written 100 blog posts. If you check your Google Analytics or Search Console, you’ll often find:
- Only 15 to 20 of those posts bring in the most traffic.
- The rest get very little attention.
So here, 20% of your blog posts are giving you 80% of the SEO results.
What to do? Focus more on updating and improving those 20% posts. Promote them, build links to them, and keep them fresh.
2. Backlinks
Out of all the backlinks your site gets, only a small portion (around 20%) actually help with rankings and authority.
What to do? Identify high quality backlinks from trusted sources and aim to get more of those, rather than focusing on quantity.
3. SEO Tools & Tasks
Many people spend hours on SEO tasks like checking every technical detail, fixing small errors, or buying every tool out there. But guess what?
- A few basic tools (like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Ubersuggest)
- And a few core actions (like keyword research, writing useful content, and getting good backlinks)
… will give you most of your results.
What to do? Don’t waste time on every SEO trend. Stick to a few core activities that matter.
Why Is the 80/20 Rule Important in SEO?
Because SEO can feel overwhelming. There are so many things to do:
- On-page SEO
- Off-page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Local SEO
- Content marketing
- Link building
- Site speed
- Schema markup…
It’s easy to get lost or give up.
The 80/20 rule reminds us:
You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be smart.
How to Apply the 80/20 Rule to Your SEO Strategy
Here’s a simple step by step approach:
1. Check Your Top Performing Pages
Use tools like Google Search Console or Google Analytics.
- Find out which pages are already ranking well.
- Which ones bring the most traffic?
2. Improve Those Pages
- Update the content.
- Add FAQs, examples, images.
- Improve internal linking.
- Add better meta titles and descriptions.
These small changes can boost rankings without creating new content.
3. Find Your Best Keywords
Look at which keywords are bringing traffic.
- Are they long tail keywords?
- Are they buyer intent keywords?
Then, focus on finding similar ones.
4. Double Down on What’s Working
If listicles work well, write more of them. If “how to” guides bring traffic, focus there.
Stick to formats and topics that already work for your audience.
5. Cut Out Wasted Efforts
Are you spending hours fixing tiny errors no one notices? Are you writing content that doesn’t rank or get shared?
Stop doing what doesn’t give results. Free up your time and energy.
My Personal Experience with the 80/20 SEO Rule
Let me share a real life experience with one of my clients. This was a small business owner who had a website with around 70 blog posts. The client was frustrated because, despite all the content, traffic was somewhat low and leads were less.
They asked me to take a look and help them figure out what was going wrong.
So the first thing I did was open up Google Analytics and Search Console to see what was actually working.
And guess what?
Out of the 70 blog posts, only 8 posts were bringing in over 75% of the traffic.
Yes, just 8!
The rest of the posts were barely getting any clicks or impressions. Some hadn’t even been indexed properly.
That’s when I applied the 80/20 rule.
What I Did:
- We shortlisted those 8 high performing posts.
- I updated the content added FAQs, more examples, internal links, and fresh statistics.
- We improved the meta titles and descriptions for better CTR.
- I built a few quality backlinks pointing to those pages.
- We also made sure the pages loaded fast and were mobile-friendly.
We didn’t touch the other 60+ posts. No point wasting time there.
The Result?
Within 3 months, traffic to those 8 posts doubled, and the overall website traffic went up by 40%. Even better those pages started bringing in inquiries and actual leads for the client’s services.
All of this was done without creating a single new blog post.
That’s the power of the 80/20 rule in SEO focusing your energy where it matters most.
Summary
The 80/20 rule in SEO is not about doing less. It’s about doing what truly matters. Whether you’re a blogger, business owner, or freelancer, focusing on the top 20% of your SEO activities can save you time and give you better results.
So, stop trying to do everything. Start doing the right things.
Ready to Get Better SEO Results with Less Effort?
If you’re tired of doing everything but still not seeing results, let me help you apply the 80/20 rule to your website.
I’ll help you focus on what truly works so you get more traffic, more leads, and less stress.
👉 Contact me today for a quick SEO audit or consultation!
Let’s find your top 20% and grow from there.
