Moving Away From SEO

Hello! I'm running a content website and we've recently made an interesting decision; while SEO has been our bread and butter, we're experimenting with content that prioritizes genuine user interest over search volume. Questions for the SEO community: 1. How do you balance pure SEO content vs engagement content? 2. Has anyone seen long-term SEO benefits from this approach? 3. What metrics would you track to measure success beyond traditional SEO KPIs? 4. Any suggestions for making high-engagement content that still performs well in search? Love to hear thoughts from other content/SEO folks who've tried similar approaches.