Have you ever thought about applying the concept of the Keynesian Multiplier in SEO? Anyone who knows me understands that I take a great interest in almost everything. However, two subjects I am currently involved in on a daily basis are economics and SEO.
I’ve recently read “Poor Charlie’s Almanac” by Charlie Munger. He was legendary investor Warren Buffett’s business partner until passing away in 2023 at the age of 99.
In one chapter of the book I’ve been reading about the Keynesian Multiplier and it got me thinking; is there anything like this in SEO that we can use to boost our organic success?
What is the Keynesian Multiplier?
Named after economist and philosopher John Maynard Keynes, in economics, the Keynesian multiplier shows how an initial injection of spending (like government expenditure) can lead to a much larger increase in total income or output due to repeated rounds of spending. For example, a £1 increase in spending can result in a £4 increase in national income if the multiplier is 4x.
It’s a similar concept to the compound effect or what those in economic circles call the most powerful force in the universe – compound interest!
Now in SEO you often see a lot of boasts about “10x your traffic”. This is an obvious, loud, and often quite incredible claim. But of course, they’re marketers, they will say that won’t they? Unlike the fiscal world, marketing isn’t quite so tightly regulated like where we have the Financial Conduct Authority here in the UK, overseeing what financial institutions can and can’t do or say.
But is there an element of truth in that claim?
The SEO Multiplier in Action: Beyond Pareto’s Principle
I recently worked for a client reviewing their backlink profile. Analysing the data, I focused on a strategy to first fix their “do follow” links that were HTTP, not HTTPS, and any links that used their old www URL rather than their more recent non-www URL. I speak more about the specific habits of why I’m doing this in the post Backlink Accuracy for Better SEO Benefits.
Filtering my exported CSV of incoming link data, there was a huge number of backlinks from a website that this company’s web developer had built. The links clicked through to the parent company’s website but in between was a redirect. Being a code and concept purist, I naturally felt compelled to fix the fact that an https://www link would pass on a purer link equity if it were https://
So with a quick security check and a new login, I found my way into the footer of the WordPress website and, using their visual code editor, corrected the old link.
Now today I’m waiting for one of my SEO tools, SE Ranking, to run its weekly audit. By this afternoon I will hopefully see a new backlink profile as something like 1,500 backlinks are suddenly removed from the “to do” list.
So the multiplier effect here is that I fix ONE malformed link in a WordPress footer and I get ~1,500 corrected backlinks.
Will that 10x my clicks? Probably not, at least not directly from this one fix alone. However, the cumulative effect of improving link equity across a large number of previously suboptimal links can contribute to overall domain authority and potentially lift rankings, which in turn can lead to increased traffic. This is where the concept of a “marginal gain” often comes into play in SEO, where numerous small improvements collectively lead to significant results.
Unravelling Traffic Multiplier Boasts
When I’m confronted by terms like “skyrocket your SEO” or “supercharge your traffic”, I must admit to being a little jaded by seeing them.
Whilst I’m always one to focus on the positives and keep my eye on the prize, it’s only professional to be realistic. I wouldn’t dare sit on a call with a customer, look them in the eye and make any fantastical promises.
What I can do however is caveat the claim, after all, that’s what financial ads need to do;
“The value of your investment can go down as well as up” is the general small print, often accompanying a claim of high percentage rises in high-risk investments, for instance. The same principle is perfect for marketing too, because as literal and technical as it is, SEO is still a form of marketing.
In fact, rather than caveats and small print, digital marketers should be more upfront. You might have “reeled in” a client on the back of a big boast, but now you have to explain the reality. That’s a bit like a “bait and switch” tactic which is often seen as not just inaccurate, but disingenuous, immoral, and sometimes even illegal.
So What’s the Reality?
(Oops there goes gravity…)
Maybe I can’t 10x ALL your traffic.
Also, I can’t multiply it by ten right now. Not in a week. Not even in a month, nor possibly six months. But I can try. And I would have to calculate that too.
So I’d look at your current traffic and your rankings and then find opportunities to increase your rank in such a way that it should earn not just more clicks, but more relevant clicks, and better still, clicks that are more likely to convert.
The fact is that this is a simple concept with complex nuance. I’ve achieved #1 rankings for keywords where they’re so competitive that the top organic position gets a meagre 0.23% CTR because everybody else is bidding on PPC ads and pushing the organic listings down the page.
So you need to find queries that have ranking potential, healthy volume, and a good CTR already, plus they should have the correct search intent behind them. That’s for another day but that’s the task here. It is possible to 10x traffic if you can increase rank for eligible keywords.
Beyond Link Fixing: Other SEO Multipliers
There are other areas where a concentrated effort can yield disproportionate results in SEO. Let’s take a quick look;
Content Hubs and Topic Clusters
Instead of creating individual blog posts that exist in isolation, building interconnected content hubs around broad topics allows you to establish authority in a specific niche. A well-structured hub can elevate the ranking of all related articles within that cluster, creating a compounding effect on visibility and traffic. By optimising one pillar page, you can see a significant uplift across numerous supporting articles.
Technical SEO Audits
Similar to how I work with links, a comprehensive technical SEO audit can uncover site-wide issues that are hindering performance. Fixing a single critical technical flaw (e.g., a crawling issue, site speed problem, or fundamental indexation error) can positively impact hundreds or thousands of pages, leading to a substantial increase in organic visibility and traffic. This isn’t a one-off fix, but a foundation upon which all other SEO efforts build.
Featured Snippets and Rich Results Optimisation
Securing a featured snippet or other rich results (like recipe cards, product carousels, or FAQs) for a high-volume query can dramatically increase your click-through rate, even if you aren’t in the #1 organic position. Optimising content to win these coveted spots is a targeted effort that can yield a significant “multiplier” in terms of visibility and clicks from a single piece of content.
International SEO Expansion
If a website has a strong domestic presence, strategically expanding into new linguistic or geographical markets can unlock entirely new traffic streams with a relatively smaller investment compared to building a brand from scratch. Leveraging existing content, authority, and technical infrastructure for new locales can result in a significant multiplier effect on overall traffic.
Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) for Organic Traffic
While not directly about getting more traffic, optimising your website for conversions once organic traffic arrives is a powerful multiplier. A 10% increase in conversion rate can effectively be seen as a 10% “multiplier” on the value of your existing traffic, making your SEO efforts far more impactful in terms of business results.
The Multiplier
The key takeaway is always look for the SEO work that will provide the most return on investment. The “multiplier” in SEO isn’t about a single magic formula. It’s about identifying areas where a focused, strategic intervention can have a cascading positive effect across a larger set of pages or a wider audience. It’s about working smarter, not just harder, and understanding that some actions have a far greater leverage than others in the complex ecosystem of search engines.
And unlike the often overstated claims of overnight success, the true SEO multiplier is built on meticulous analysis, strategic execution, and a realistic understanding of what’s achievable.
Next Steps
If you’re looking for a strategic SEO expert to improve your website’s ranking, traffic, and leads, call me on 01252 692 765 or leave a message via my contact page.