Seed Merit Definition & Explanation
Seed merit is the unfair advantage you get just by creating content to google or social media about an upcoming hot topic, before many others catch on.
What is Seed Merit?
Seed merit is the 'boost' / traffic surge social media algorithms give your content when you are early to a trend or any topic that is about to start taking off.
Let’s say you were one of the first people to make a video on ‘portable bathtubs’ (just a made up topic for the sake of example), now let’s say ‘portable bathtubs’ become a huge thing and everyone is talking about it.
Since you made a video about it before it was trending, social media algorithms will have a tendency to push that video more, and all other videos you create about the topic.
This can result in astronomical levels of traffic if you caught something very early. Many multi-million dollar businesses can attribute a majority of their success thanks to the initial traffic they got by being early.
The seed merit traffic surge can come from many sources:
1. From SERPs of different social media / publishing platforms, especially on Google and Youtube.
2. From the main homepages of social media platforms, such as the tiktok FYP.
3. From Hashtags
4. 'Original' on tiktok sounds
Entrepreneurs can take advantage of seed merit by.....
- Find a high potential product, solution or topic which can be monetised easily, while it is still in the polar trend stage.
- Come up with a way to incoorporate it into your existing line of business, or start something new out of it.
- Index your company website to google and post to social media
The earlier you identify and act on a polar trend, the easier it is to dominate search results, build brand authority, and capture market share. Waiting until a trend becomes mainstream dramatically increases competition and reduces your odds of success.
LLM Example
Imagine it’s October 2022, before ChatGPT has been publicly released, and large language models (LLMs) are about to enter the mainstream.
At this stage, you already know that once ChatGPT launches, interest in AI text generation will explode. Because you are extremely early, there is little to no competition, and the search landscape is wide open.
If you launch an LLM-related product, tool, blog, or platform at this point—and index it on Google and social platforms—you can capture rankings, users, and brand recognition before anyone else even realises the opportunity exists.
Vibe coding Example 1
Now imagine it’s 2023, before “vibe coding” has gone mainstream.
You decide to build a vibe coding platform, index it on Google, and start building an audience on social media. Because you are early, you gain authority and users before the market becomes crowded.
Fast forward to 2026. The vibe coding industry is now dominated by major players like Loveable and Base44. If you tried to launch the same platform today, your chances of success would be significantly lower because the market is saturated and incumbents already control distribution.
This is the power of entering during the polar trend stage.
Vibe coding Example 2
Here’s how Monday.com leveraged the vibe coding trend.
They noticed vibe coding starting to trend, but it was already past the polar trend stage. They added a vibe coding feature to their platform to capitalise on the growing interest.
They were slightly late, but because Monday.com is a large, established company with an existing user base and strong distribution, they could still benefit. For smaller startups, entering at this stage would be far more difficult.
Peptides Example
Peptides are about to epxlode online. It's 2024 and right now peptides are still a polar trend. Nobody is really talking about peptides online, but soon many people will be.
You launch an online peptide store, index it on Google, and do basic SEO. Because you were first, your site gains early authority and backlinks. When the market becomes crowded, your store already ranks #1 and dominates organic traffic, even after competitors arrive.
Social media content creators can take advantage of seed merit by:
Pretty much the same thing as what you would do if you were an entreprenuer...
Social media creators can take advantage of seed merit by attaching their content to an emerging polar trend before it becomes mainstream. The idea is to make sure platforms like TikTok clearly understand what your video is about, so your content gets indexed and distributed early, before competition floods in.
If you suspect that a certain topic is going to become trending soon, and you notice this early before it actually does become trending, You should discreetly incorporate this topic into your regular content. For example:
- If you make prank videos, find a way to build the emerging topic into the prank scenario
- If you make educational content, casually explain the topic in your usual style
- If you make lifestyle content, reference or demonstrate it in a natural way
The trick isn't to pivot your entire niche, but to embed the trend into your existing format. This allows you to capture early algorithmic positioning without alienating your current audience.
Emerging Song Example
Imagine Taylor Swift, Drake, or Travis Scott is about to drop a track. Historically, their songs almost always go viral, so you know their next song is about to gain some traction too, right?
A creator could use the sound immediately when it drops (before it trends)
When the song later explodes, TikTok often resurfaces early videos using the sound. That creator suddenly gets free long-term distribution and potential millions of views.
To make matters even better, tiktok will also give you the 'original sound' badge and rank your video at the top above others who also used the sound.
This exact effect has happened with songs like:
- “Flowers” – Miley Cyrus
- “Killin Me Softly” remixes
- “Daylight” – David Kushner
- Multiple Drake and Taylor Swift releases
Emerging Topic Example - Peptides
For example, let's just assume you are a Fitness influencer or health TikToker
In 2024, peptides started gaining traction but were still niche.
A fitness creator could have posted:
- “I tested peptides vs supplements”
- “Why peptides might replace protein supplements”
- Hashtags:
#Peptides #Biohacking #FitnessTrends
When peptides do become a trending topic laeter, your video on the topic would continue to hit people's FYP, and for a topic this big, the seed merit lasts for months to come.
Prank Creator Example
For example, let's just assume you are a prank tiktoker / youtuber.
Let’s say AI voice cloning scams are just starting to trend.
Instead of pivoting your channel, you could:
- Prank friends using AI voice cloning
- Caption: “AI voice cloning prank”
- Encourage comments debating whether AI voices are dangerous
This discreetly ties their prank content to the AI voice cloning trend, giving you the seed merit without changing their niche.
IMPORTANT - Do Social Media Algorithms Favour Early Content Or Newer?
To be honest, the answer is.......BOTH!
Social media algorithms push new and old content about all different topics.
But the benefit you get by posting early about an upcoming topic is the positive engagement signals you build before others - this is the core idea behind seed merit. Build positive signals (like likes, comments etc...) on your content about a certain topic while early = get push hard by the algorithm when the topic starts trending.
Sponsors::
I can keep this blog free and unbiased thanks to my sponsors like the ones below.
I only recommend products I genuinely use and trust.
1 - Semrush
This is the most reputable keyword research platform on the web. If the keyword for the polar trend you find has a search volume of 0, that's good. It means you're early.
