The Consistency Heresy

Or: How I learned to stop worrying about the algorithm and love the grind

Let me tell you something that’ll make the growth hackers reach for their smelling salts: consistency isn’t a strategy. It’s not a hack. It’s not even particularly clever. It’s just showing up, day after bloody day, until the universe gets bored with ignoring you.

But here’s the radical bit, in a world where AI traffic is up 527% and everyone’s panicking about ChatGPT stealing their lunch, consistency has become the most rebellious act of all. Because while you’re obsessing over whether to optimise for Instagram’s latest algorithmic mood swing or Google’s AI Overviews, the people building actual audiences are doing something far more subversive: they’re just there.

The Algorithm Anxiety Epidemic

We’re living through the greatest case of collective impostor syndrome in human history. Every content creator, every business owner, every poor sod with something to sell is convinced they’re one algorithm change away from digital oblivion.

And they’re not entirely wrong.

Facebook prioritises content from friends and family members over businesses. Instagram’s playing favourites with video content. LinkedIn’s engagement patterns show that multi-image posts are leading with a 6.60% engagement rate, up 30% compared to 2024. Meanwhile, TikTok’s algorithm remains about as predictable as a caffeinated toddler with a paintbrush.

But here’s what nobody wants to tell you: chasing algorithms is like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. The moment you think you’ve cracked the code, the code changes. The common thread in 2025 is clear: relevance, relationships, and real-time engagement win, which is just fancy consultant-speak for “make good stuff and talk to people.”

Revolutionary, innit?

The Uncomfortable Truth About AI Discovery

Now, before you start hyperventilating about AI stealing your organic reach, let’s look at some actual numbers instead of the usual doom-scrolling prophecies.

Google sends 345x more traffic to websites than ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity combined. That’s not a typo. While we’re all busy preparing for our AI overlords, good old-fashioned Google is still serving up the vast majority of discovery traffic.

But, and this is where it gets interesting, 80% of sources cited by AI search platforms don’t appear in Google. Which means AI is finding content through entirely different pathways. It’s not just scraping Google’s top results and calling it a day.

What does this mean for you? It means the content that shows up consistently, that builds genuine relationships, that creates actual value, that’s what’s getting discovered by both humans and AI. The SEO tricks that worked in 2015? Those are about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

The Radical Act of Just Showing Up

Here’s my heretical proposition: what if, instead of frantically pivoting every time Meta sneezes, we just… kept going?

I know, I know. It sounds almost insultingly simple. But consider this: whilst everyone else is busy optimising their content for the 18% of Google searches that now show AI Overviews, you could be building something far more valuable—a body of work that speaks for itself.

Because here’s what the algorithm-obsessed miss: platforms come and go, but consistency compounds. The person who’s been writing, creating, and showing up for two years straight has an unfair advantage that no growth hack can replicate. They have momentum. They have an actual relationship with their audience. They have something AI can’t fake, authenticity born from repetition.

The Numbers Game Nobody Talks About

Let’s get properly nerdy for a moment, shall we?

Analysis shows that video posts are the most improved format across platforms, but before you rush off to become the next TikTok sensation, remember this: improvement is relative. A 20% increase on bugger all is still bugger all.

The real insight is buried deeper. Between January and March 2025, zero-click behaviour among these queries actually declined slightly, which means people are still clicking through to actual content. They’re not just reading AI summaries and calling it done.

This matters because it means there’s still room for the long game. The consistent creators aren’t just surviving the AI revolution; they’re thriving in it, because their content is what’s feeding these AI systems in the first place.

Why Everyone’s Getting It Wrong

The problem with most social media advice is that it treats consistency like a mechanical process. Post three times a day! Maintain a 50% educational, 30% inspirational, 20% promotional split! Use 5-7 hashtags for optimal reach!

Bollocks to all that.

Real consistency isn’t about gaming the system; it’s about becoming the system. It’s about being so reliably useful, so consistently present, that your absence would be noticed. It’s not about perfect posting schedules; it’s about showing up even when you don’t feel like it, especially when you don’t feel like it.

72% of companies worldwide now use AI in at least one business function, but the companies that are actually winning aren’t the ones with the fanciest AI tools. They’re the ones who understand that AI can amplify your message, but it can’t create your voice.

The Long Game in a Short-Attention-Span World

Here’s where the radical part comes in: whilst everyone else is optimising for quarterly growth, you’re going to optimise for decade-long impact. Whilst they’re chasing viral moments, you’re building something sustainable.

Because here’s what the data actually shows us: ChatGPT went from just 600 visits/month in early 2024 to over 22,000/month by May 2025. That’s explosive growth, sure, but it’s also exactly what consistent content creation looks like when it reaches critical mass. Not an overnight success, compound returns on showing up.

The platforms will change. The algorithms will evolve. New players will emerge, and current favourites will fade into irrelevance. But the person who’s been consistently creating valuable content, building real relationships, solving actual problems? They’ll adapt. They always do.

The Consistency Heresy Manifesto

So here’s my manifesto for the attention economy refugees:

Stop optimising for platforms. Start optimising for people. Real people, with real problems, who need real solutions.

Stop chasing algorithmic approval. Start building algorithmic immunity. Create content so good that it succeeds regardless of whether the platform wants to show it.

Stop pivoting every quarter. Start playing the infinite game. Build something that compounds, not something that converts.

Stop measuring vanity metrics. Start measuring sustainable engagement. Comments matter more than likes. Shares matter more than views. Return visitors matter more than reach.

The uncomfortable truth is that consistency isn’t just a strategy, it’s a philosophy. It’s choosing to show up even when it’s inconvenient, even when it’s hard, even when nobody seems to be paying attention.

Because here’s the secret the growth hackers don’t want you to know: eventually, if you’re useful enough, consistent enough, stubborn enough, the attention finds you. The algorithms adapt to you. The AI systems learn from you.

You become unavoidable not through clever tactics, but through sheer, bloody-minded persistence.

And in a world of algorithmic chaos and AI uncertainty, that might just be the most radical strategy of all.

Now stop reading think pieces about consistency and go create something worth being consistent about.

Until Next Time