Content Cadence: How Often Should You Blog?

It’s no secret that when it comes to content, quantity is just as important as quality.

You’ve got a much greater chance of meeting your content marketing goals if you’re publishing regularly instead of once in a blue moon. It’s the same as any other marketing activity – you’re going to get out of it what you put in.

This being said, the quality of the content you publish is just as important as the frequency of your posting. It’s no good publishing gibberish written by a disinterested high school student while thinking that you’re going to start reaping the rewards of content marketing…

That’s why the quality of our writers is our number one concern here at The Content Panel. We vet them, interview them, and test them thoroughly (our rejection rate is around 90%).

But I digress, in a nutshell you need both quality and quantity to ensure you’ve got a decent chance of meeting (or exceeding) your goals in a reasonable time frame.

So let’s focus on quantity…

How often should you be posting on your blog?

As a bare minimum, it’s generally accepted that you want to be posting once per week to get the biggest bang for your buck with content marketing. This cadence provides two main benefits – repeat visitors and Google love.

When visitors see that you’re posting at least once a week they are enticed to come back regularly to check for new content. Every time they do this they’re connecting with your brand, digesting your message, and you’re remaining at the forefront of their minds.

Hint: A weekly cadence works exceptionally well when combined with an email capture form that periodically notifies visitors of new content.

The Google side of things also benefits from a once per week cadence too. Google uses the amount of content on a site as one of the largest authority signals that determine its quality and legitimacy. Within a few months, you’ll probably have more content (and more authority) than the majority of your non-blogging competitors.

Perhaps the most interesting benefit from this cadence, however, is with regards to the “fresh content” quality signal that Google loves to use. A website that is regularly updated with high-quality content gets a sizeable advantage over websites that add posts infrequently. This is because they’re more likely to be up to date and have the latest information on whatever subject it is they’re an authority in.

Conveniently, it’s generally accepted in SEO circles that once a week is the minimum amount of posts required to benefit from this “fresh content” bonus.

What Do We Recommend?

It’ll come as no surprise to you to learn that once per week is generally what we recommend to all of our new clients, especially if this is their first time delving into the world of content marketing…

However, more is always better.

I may sound slightly biased here, but you cannot have too much quality content on your site. It’s impossible.

The only real upper limit to the amount of content you should publish is budget. Quality content isn’t cheap, and while it’s easy to justify the cost of a once per week cadence – you might have trouble convincing the rest of your team that you should be posting twice per day…

The Final Word

As a parting note, I want to mention pillar articles briefly. The vast majority of our customers opt for our standard plan at 600 words per article for the bulk of their content (click here to learn why), but it’s always good to mix it up a bit.

A popular option is to go for either 4 or 5 posts per month at 600+ words as your standard “bread and butter posting”, you can then supplement this a few times a year with a 1400+ word long-form post that covers an important topic in detail. This provides your visitors (and Google) with a more “serious” read and keeps things feeling fresh on your blog.

At the end of the day, only you will be able to decide what kind of posting schedule is right for your brand. But if you stick with once a week as a minimum (and sprinkle in a long-form article every now and again), you’re going to be well on the way to meeting your goals.