This is a rare post. It doesn’t have the structure I normally use. It has no comparison table, no list of 7 points, no FAQ section at the end, no “how to start” as a closing. It’s a long opinion post, written in paragraphs, about a topic I get asked about a lot: monthly blog services for SEO.
If what you’re looking for is a quick comparison of prices, a table of providers or a “7 steps to choose the best one”, this isn’t your post. Close the tab. If what you want is to read the long, nuanced, honest opinion of someone who has been publishing 2-3 posts a week on client websites and his own for 3 years, keep reading. It’s going to take you 8-10 minutes, and at the end you’ll know if a monthly blog service makes sense for your case or if they’re selling you fluff.
I’ve been publishing content on the internet for 3 years. At first for my clients, then for my own website. And in that time I’ve seen the “monthly blog for SEO” industry mutate from a reasonable thing (a freelance writer who would write you 4 good posts a month) to a fairly toxic industry, full of services that promise “50 posts a month for €50” made with pure AI without review, which only generate junk content that Google ignores more and more. And this is a problem for those of us, like me, trying to do it right.
I’m going to try not to be harsh, but I’m also not going to soften what I think. The SEO content industry has a serious problem, and if you’re a business owner and you’re thinking about hiring a monthly blog service, you need to know it before dropping €300-1,000/month for 6-12 months on something that isn’t going to work for you.
The first problem is that most cheap monthly blog services (€50-150/month for 20-50 posts) are made 100% with AI, without human review. I know because I’ve reviewed client websites that came to me after trying these services, and the content is directly generated by ChatGPT or similar, without editing, without verifying data, without putting the client’s voice. Google detects it better and better. The “Helpful Content Update” of 2024 was designed precisely to sink this type of websites. And those that didn’t sink in 2024 are sinking now with the 2025-2026 updates. If you bought such a service in 2023, it’s very likely that your website is already in limbo. I’m sorry.
The second problem is that even the “serious” blog services (€300-500/month for 4-8 posts) usually have a base problem: the writer doesn’t know your business. They do an initial 30-minute interview with you, pull out an automatic keyword research, and start writing posts on topics “that rank in your sector”. The problem is that a post that ranks for keyword X doesn’t always bring you clients. It brings you visits, yes, but not always clients. Because the writer doesn’t know what service you want to sell, what objections your client has, what success stories you can tell, what FAQs people ask you on WhatsApp. Without that information, the posts are generic. And generic posts attract generic traffic, which doesn’t convert.
The third problem, and this is the most subtle, is that many clients hire a monthly blog service when what they need is something else. I’ve seen clients pay €500/month for 8 months on SEO posts, and when you ask them “how many leads has the website brought you in that time?”, they say “5”. At €100 per lead. When what they needed was a €1,500 technical tune-up that would position their homepage for a transactional keyword, which is where the clients are. The monthly blog is a tool, not the solution to everything. If your website doesn’t have correct technical SEO, the posts aren’t going to rank well. And if they rank well, they won’t convert well for you.
Having said that, a well-done monthly blog service is still the best investment in 6-12 months for a small business with a decent website. This is what I do, what I sell, and what I recommend when I’m asked. And what I do is not what 90% of the industry does. I’m going to try to be as concrete as possible about what I think works, without making this an ad for my service.
What works is this: a writer (human, with first and last name, who signs the posts) who researches each post with real keyword research (not automatic), writes 1,000-1,500 words per post with the client’s voice and cases, adds FAQPage schema, internally links to 2-3 posts or service pages, and publishes with a 24-48 hour client review before. This costs €350-500/month for 4 posts, and takes 3-6 months to start delivering results. It’s slow. It’s boring. It’s not viral. But it works.
What DOES NOT work is this: an agency that sells you 20 posts a month for €100, written with AI, without review, without internal linking, without real client cases, without voice. This is what’s killing the industry, what makes Google distrust SEO content, and what makes people think “SEO doesn’t work”. SEO works. What doesn’t work is badly-done SEO, which is what 90% of the market sells.
If after reading this you’re thinking “OK, but I want a monthly blog service, how do I tell the good from the bad?”, I’ll give you the 5 questions I would ask before hiring. And watch out, I’m not giving them to you to sell you to me (my service meets all 5, but there are also other serious professionals in the market, and what’s important is that you hire the good one, whether it’s me or not).
The first question is: who writes the posts, with first and last name, and has experience in my sector? If the answer is “a team of specialised writers” or “native writers”, be wary. That means you don’t have a fixed person reading about your sector, but generic writers who write about restaurants one day and dentists the next. You need a writer who understands your business, not one who produces 10 posts a day on random topics.
The second question is: can you show me 3 real posts you’ve written for other clients, without anonymising them? If they tell you “no, the posts are confidential”, that’s a sign that they don’t have good posts to show. Good professionals have posts published under our name or our clients’ names, and we show them with pride. If they don’t show you anything, be wary.
The third question is: what keyword research do you do before each post, and do you show it to me? If they tell you “we do a general keyword research of the sector”, it’s not enough. You need to see the specific keyword research of the post: main keyword, related long-tails, analysis of what competitors are ranking for that keyword, search intent (informational, commercial, transactional), and a plan to differentiate yourself. This is 30-60 minutes of work per post, not something done in 5 minutes with a tool.
The fourth question is: what schema and internal links do you put in each post? If the answer is “I put Article schema” or “I link to other pages”, it’s insufficient. You need FAQPage schema on each post with 3-5 real questions, BreadcrumbList schema, and 2-4 internal links to service pages or related posts with descriptive anchor text. This is what differentiates a post from someone who knows SEO from a post from someone who only writes.
The fifth and last question is: what happens if in 6 months I don’t see results? If they tell you “SEO takes 6-12 months” and wash their hands, be wary. A good monthly blog service has a monthly reporting system: positions in GSC, organic traffic attributed to the posts, leads generated. And if in 6 months there’s no positive trend in some of those metrics, the service should be reviewed with you, not keep billing the same. Honesty here is key.
My service meets the 5 questions. But before you think this is an ad, I’m also going to tell you what my service does NOT do, and why some clients tell me no. It’s not for everyone, and it’s better that you know before writing to me.
My service isn’t for you if you want results in 1 month. SEO is a 6-12 month investment, and if your business needs clients this week, you need Google Ads or a more immediate acquisition channel, not a monthly blog. I tell you this on the first call if you tell me you need results now, and I recommend a colleague who does Ads.
My service also isn’t for you if you don’t have the technical SEO of your website sorted. If your website takes 5 seconds to load, doesn’t have Schema.org, doesn’t have llms.txt, and doesn’t have a Google Business listing, the posts I write won’t rank. First the base has to be fixed, and that’s another service (from €40 the audit, €600 the implementation). Once the base is there, we talk about blog.
And my service isn’t for you if you want generic posts without your voice or your cases. The monthly blog I do requires that the client dedicates 1-2 hours per month to a meeting where they tell me what’s happened in their business, what FAQs people have asked them, what new cases they have, what objections come up. Without that information, the posts are generic, and I don’t make them. I prefer not to have the client to having an unsatisfied client.
Having said all this, and being honest: if you have a small business with a decent website, without time to write, and you want to grow in SEO and GEO without dedicating hours, a monthly blog service at €350-500/month with a serious professional is one of the best investments you can make. In 6-12 months, with 1 good post a week, you’ll have 25-50 posts positioning for 200-500 long-tail keywords, 1,000-3,000 organic visits per month, and 5-20 qualified leads per month. At an average ticket of €500, that’s €2,500-10,000/month of attributable revenue. And the monthly cost is €350-500. The ROI is 5x to 20x.
But this only works if you hire the right professional. 90% of the market will sell you junk. If after reading this you’re clear that you want a good one, write to me at landinowebs@gmail.com and we’ll talk. And if I don’t fit what you need, I recommend someone I trust. My reputation depends more on saying “this isn’t for me” when it fits, than on closing a client at any price.
If you’re interested in my service, the details are on my website: 4 posts per month at €350, 6 posts at €500, no permanence, with a monthly 30-minute meeting, monthly report with GSC and Plausible data, and your review of each post before publishing. I stop it whenever you want, without penalty. And if in 3 months you don’t see a positive trend in organic traffic, I refund the last month. That’s the minimum I can promise so that you trust me without having ever seen me.