How Often Should You Publish Blog Content for SEO?

Publishing frequency might not seem all too important when it comes to SEO. But it actually plays an integral role in the art of marketing and getting content noticed effectively online. The rate at which you publish blog posts is one of the most misunderstood and underestimated parts of SEO. 

While there’s no universal “magic number”, as the frequency needed depends on a wealth of different factors, there are clear principles that determine publishing frequency to drive rankings and traffic. From the industry you work in to the niche you have, and everything in between, there’s no clear-cut answer when it comes to blog post publishing frequency.

In this article, we’ll be telling you how often, in a general sense, you should be publishing blog posts (based on your industry, niche and writing capabilities), as well as how to determine a frequency, why it matters and some mistakes for you to avoid. Let’s take a closer look at how often you should publish blog content for SEO.

How often should you publish content for SEO?

While there are numerous factors involved when determining blogging frequency, there is a general rule that most content marketers will follow. For instance, if you have a new or small website, then aim to publish 1-2 blog posts a week. 

For sites that are growing and establishing, aim for between 2-4 blog posts a week. Finally, for large and well-established websites, aim for 4 or more blog posts a week. However, blog post publishing frequency alone doesn’t guarantee great results. Let’s look at the summary:

• Small or new websites – publish 1-2 blog posts a week
• Growing websites – publish 2-4 blog posts a week
• Established, large websites – 4 or more blog posts a week

You need to strike a good balance between blog post publishing frequency, quality and strategy, which can be far easier said than done. So, how can you decide how often you should be publishing blog post content? 

How to determine content publishing frequency

We’ve just been through a basic rule of thumb to follow when it comes to blog post publishing frequency; however, there are a few ways to determine the rate at which you publish content more accurately. 

From choosing consistency over intensity to balancing velocity and depth, here’s how to choose a blog post publishing frequency that works for you and that drives excellent results every single time:

Choose consistency over intensity

Instead of asking “how often should I publish?”, ask “what can I publish consistently for the next 6-12 months?”. For instance, two blog posts a week for a year is achievable and realistic. It’s also consistent, which helps to drive traffic and rankings. However, publishing ten blog posts a week and then not publishing anything for the next two months is inconsistent and will likely damage your traffic and ranking progress. This is because consistency helps to build search engine trust, meets audience expectations and ensures content momentum for the long-term. 

Match frequency to your goals

If your ultimate goal is traffic growth and increased rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs), then you should look to be publishing content 3-5 times a week, generally. Focusing on long-tail keywords, in addition to that, is a great way of building a large content library as quickly and as efficiently as possible. An example of a title with a long-tail keyword would be “How to create long-form content”. 

If your goal is to establish brand authority, then publishing blog posts once or twice a week is a great way of getting started. Have a focus on in-depth, evergreen content that never gets old. This is because evergreen content will always be relevant, whether it was published ten years ago or yesterday. An example of evergreen content would be “What are daylight saving hours?”, for example. 

Finally, if your goal is to convert, then you should aim to publish 1-3 posts a week. The content you produce should have a focus on things like buyer-intent keywords, comparison posts and product-focused content, for instance. The rate at which you’re posting those types of blog posts is essential, being just a handful of times over the course of seven days. You should also mix up blog post types so as to avoid repetition. 

Get the balance between velocity & depth right

When it comes to publishing content regularly on your blog, there needs to be a balance between velocity and depth. This prevents over-publishing and ensures that only quality content is being produced. The velocity of the content helps you to scale your blog posts, as well as allows you more time to capture the right keywords as part of your research. 

The content depth refers to the quality of the post alone. This is what helps to build trust between yourself and your readers, as well as enables rankings to be boosted. But you might now be wondering what the best balance would be to strike when it comes to velocity and depth. Usually, 70% of it should be scalable, and 30% of it should be high-authority pillar content. 

What about the “content threshold” effect?

You might be wondering where the “content threshold” effect comes into play. Well, SEO often works in such a way that the first ten blog posts are assumed to produce little traffic, between 30-50 blog posts generate small traction and more than a hundred blog posts result in exponential growth. 

This is a general rule of thumb that most content marketers will follow. This is predicted to happen because internal linking is improved, authority levels build and keyword coverage expands. This is why blog post consistency matters more than just short, sporadic bursts of content being published here and there.

Remember that industry & competition matter

Your niche affects how often you should be publishing blog post content. For example, high competition industries require a higher frequency of blog post publishing. The content also needs to be of a higher quality, with relevant keywords and correct spelling and grammar throughout. Industries that have lower competition often only require blog posts to be published once or twice a week. However, the quality still needs to be high to build trust and authority in the SERPs.

Keeping content updated is just as crucial

Publishing the content and forgetting about it just isn’t enough these days. Updating the blog posts that are published is a crucial part of SEO techniques and content marketing. With this in mind, you should update old blog posts every 3-6 months. This often involves doing things like improving accuracy, updating internal and outbound links, amending out-of-date information, facts and statistics, and fixing any broken links present. Refreshing content can boost rankings faster than new blog posts can, so it’s well worth your time in this sense.

Devise a practical publishing plan

While the schedule you choose should be based on a number of factors, we’re going to give you a simple, practical blog post publishing plan based on your experience. From beginners to seasonal content marketers, here’s what we suggest with regard to an effective blog post publishing schedule:

• Beginner plan – publish two blog posts a week at most and focus on long-tail keywords specifically. The ultimate goal is to publish between 50-100 posts in 6-12 months
• Intermediate plan – publish between 3-4 posts weekly, with a mixture of guides, comparisons and informational blog posts
• Advanced plan – publish four or more times a week, using topic clusters, internal linking and content refresh cycles as an effective content strategy

Why does publishing frequency matter for SEO?

You might be wondering what the importance of blog post publishing frequency is when it comes to ensuring excellent SEO techniques and results. Firstly, it makes for faster indexing and crawling. For instance, search engines revisit sites that regularly publish blog posts more frequently than sites that don’t. 

This means that new content is indexed more quickly and updates are noticed faster. In addition, frequent blog post publishing also allows for more ranking opportunities. It gives each blog post a chance to target new keywords, rank for long-tail searches and capture different search intents effectively.

Finally, publishing blog posts more frequently and consistently ensures topical authority. Publishing consistently around a niche helps to establish authority. For example, fifty articles on “fitness nutrition” have a stronger relevance than five random blog posts that are published at the same rate.

The common SEO mistake: Quantity over quality

Publishing five low-quality blog posts every week is far more damaging than publishing a single blog post that is of high quality. This is because Google prioritises depth, relevance, expertise and user satisfaction. 

If your content lacks those things, instead being thin, repetitive or AI-generated with absolutely no value behind it, then it won’t rank, regardless of how often you publish blog posts or how well it’s been updated over the course of a few months to a year.

Kumo provides a wealth of digital marketing services to businesses throughout the UK. Regardless of the industry you work in, we can always be counted upon to deliver exceptional SEO, PPC, content creation and website design services in Nottingham that produce excellent results every single time. If you want to propel your business into the spotlight, then look no further than Kumo for unrivalled marketing services. Get in touch with a member of our friendly, professional team today – we’re always pleased to hear from you.