I don’t think it is about mattering or not mattering. It’s about what’s the ROI if I think about SEO for a couple of hours before publishing content. Very high I imagine.

You can still follow the strategy you mention, but make sure the SEO basics are right. If nothing else come up with a decent title and meta description so that the SERP result when seen gets clicks and sets up the right intent and user expectation. Then when Google does send you traffic and it will it pays off.