How many blog posts per week for ranking?
That's a question I get asked pretty regularly.
If I want my articles to rank on page 1 of google, how often should I blog?
Unfortunately, the answer is ... "It depends".
I know you probably hate this answer as much as most people do, but that's the honest truth.
Google's ranking factors change all the time as explained by Brian Dean.
Several factors come into play including (but not limited to):
- Freshness of content
- Domain authority — a term coined by Rand Fiskin)
- Content length
- Title tags and keyword descriptions
- Page loading speed
- Content recency
- Outbound link quality
- Keyword in URL
- and so on ...
This article from Neil Patel shares 5 simple strategies you can use to get clarity around how often you should post to your blog.
I recommend reading the whole article but in short, Neil suggests you follow this 5-step approach:
- Get clear on your marketing goals
- Get clear on how many posts you've already published on your blog
- Track your traffic channels
- Understand your audience's demand and reflect on your resources
- Experiment and refine your blogging frequency to find your sweet spot
One of the recommendations in the article is that your recommended blogging frequency is (in part) determined by how many blog posts you already have on your website.
This brings us to the next point:
After you’ve hit a critical mass (reached escape velocity), the frequency of publishing becomes less important
Most publishers say you should publish consistently and frequently. While I agree with this approach, I also think you should publish content that you think is good.
If you don’t have something impactful to say, maybe it’s better just not to say anything.
I found this to be a good approach and it’s helped me stay confident about what I’m putting out there.
For example, I haven’t published much in the last 3 months. I’m ok with that.
Publishing content consistently and frequently is important when you’re starting off and trying to gain escape velocity in terms of rising above the noise in the digital sphere.
But once you’ve hit a certain critical mass (in terms of content) — aka "escape velocity" — then consistency is less important and quality starts to emerge as a more important factor.
Don’t get me wrong. Publish every day if you can, but make sure it’s something you’re proud of putting out into the world.
If you have achieved It’s ok to go quiet for a while if you don’t have something valuable to add.
