Lean SEO: Our Framework For SEO Traction

Pat Walls

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Updated: June 30th, 2025

Hi! I'm Pat Walls, the creator of Starter Story.

People think SEO success is about knowing Google's algorithm front to back.

It's not. It's about taking action. Finding what works. And then scaling it.

I grew Starter Story to over 1M visitors/month with this approach.

It's a framework called Lean SEO, and you can use it too.

Here's the framework:

(1) Research: Identify content opportunities through quick research
(2) Create: Create MVCs (Minimum Viable Content) to test the viability
(3) Test: Measure results over a 30-day period
(4) Decision: Iterate on your content based on its performance
(5) Scale: Scale it when something works, using structured data, automation, outsourcing, and UGC

And do this across many 'experiments', simultaneously & in parallel.

Why does this work?

By using this framework, we make many small bets with an iterative approach.

Instead of spending weeks on one piece of content that may never pan out, we run dozens of experiments at once.

Through these experiments, we eventually landed on multiple big content opportunities.

And when we got serious about this framework, we 4x'd our search traffic in 6 months. Here is proof (Google Search Console):

What happened in July? That's what this course is all about!

About the course

I walk through the entire framework in about 3 hours of screencasts + 100 slides. I also show a multitude of examples from Starter Story and other sites. And how you can do this, too.

You can take this at your own pace, and you'll have access to it forever. If you want to implement Lean SEO and have some questions, you can email me at anytime.

Thank you for checking it out!

Requirements for the course

I recommend that you have time, patience, and a long-term mindset. These experiments take time. I recommend you already have a business you'd like to grow with SEO, but if you're planning on starting something, that works too!

Testimonials

"F*cking brilliant. Lean SEO is completely non-BS, real approach to SEO" - Alex West, Cyber Leads

"It's a super interesting, no bullshit, perspective from Pat's experience building Starter Story to 20,000 unique viewers per day." - Reilly Chase, Hostifi

"Lean SEO reveals how to grow traffic from someone actually doing the thing they're teaching. Rare" - Brett Lindenberg, FoodTruckEmpire.com

"Really clear and timeless thinking about how to rank on Google." - Raphael Spannocchi, Janori.de

"Really enjoyed the Lean SEO course. Found Pat's framework to be practical and very actionable." - Abhishek Ray, Learn AWS

"Just finished watching the Lean SEO course. Can’t wait to start creating those MVCs." - Nimrod Kramer, daily.dev

"First time in awhile that I've felt hopeful about SEO. Your framework is practical and you can actually see what works!!!" - Daniel Schlabach, monarchpatio.com

"I loved Lean SEO, and learned more from it than any other SEO course I've ever taken (they always just goes through the same things over and over)." - Paul Kim, SEO @ ocho.com

"No need to listen to self-proclaimed gurus or buy expensive tools. It's all about the mindset. This book has all you need to start ranking on Google" – Ilya Ilford, MakerStations.io

Pricing

Pricing started at $79. The price will now increase as we sell more copies:

SOLD: 100 copies @ $79
SOLD: 100 copies @ $99
SOLD: 150+ copies @ $119
PRICE NOW: $249
NEXT PRICE: $499

15 Lessons

Intro To Lean SEO

Introduction to the course and the framework that changed our SEO. It’s Time to Leave the Stone Age.

Academy Bonus: Setting Goals & Tracking Progress

Let's set some goals to grow your search traffic this month.

Principles

Why does this framework work? Because it’s a way of thinking. It's designed to work for any team, any size.

The Framework

The framework's 5 steps: Research, Create, Test, PPS, and Scale.

Analytics & Tracking

The framework's 5 steps: Research, Create, Test, PPS, and Scale.

Find A Content Type

Don’t look for keywords, look for content types. Learn how others do it, and how you can do it and use it on your own website.

Bonus: Create Your Own Swipe File

Don’t look for keywords, look for content types. Learn how others do it, and how you can do it and use it on your own website.

Create MVC

Learn how to create content fast. A strategy to develop and publish content in 2 hours.

Test

The 30 Day Experiment. Learn how to design and track experiments.

Pivot

PPS: Pivot, Persevere, or Scale.

Measuring Success

How to define success? Why are some performing better than others?

Persevere

When to persevere vs. letting go? Bonus: 12 ways to improve content quality.

Scale

Your goal is not 10 blog posts; it’s 1,000. (over time). Plus: 5 ways we scale content.

Wrap Up

How you can get started today.

Bonus: Step By Step Examples

Creating an MVC in 24 minutes

Get The Course

Option 1: Join Starter Story to get unlimited access to all courses

You can access the course (and all other courses) as a member of Starter Story.

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Option 2: Purchase just this course

If you only want access to this resource, you can buy it here.

Purchase The Course ($249)

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