Quality over quantity has been the norm for just about anything you do in life but with content being such a driving force behind successful inbound marketing, this old adage may not be the best answer. For many reasons that we will discuss, you don’t have a clear choice between the two if you want to maximize your online presence and realize your business growth goals.
Quantity vs Quality for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In order to improve your site ranking for your keywords, you have to produce content consistently so search engines can recognize that your site is relevant and updated continually. There isn’t a magic number of posts that should be made or a standard frequency; these numbers will depend on your content marketing goals and reviewing your analytics to see if you are posting often enough to climb in the rankings. The quantity versus quality conundrum comes into play with how the search engines index.
All of the major search engines are developing algorithms designed to return quality information so the user experience is improved. For you, this means that although you have to publish content with a steady frequency, diluting your content so you can build up volume will work against your SEO efforts.
Consistency and quality are paramount to proving your content is a reliable source of information for people searching for your keywords. This means that if your goal is to rank higher for important keywords that convert qualified visitors you can’t choose quantity over quality or quality over quantity. You simply have to find the balance that works best depending on your objectives, resources and budget.
Greater Frequency Produces Sound Results from your Audience
If you are frequently publishing high-value content, your visitors come to rely on your site as a valued source of information for the topics they are researching. For example, you can publish one 5,000 word essay that answers every question your visitors may have pertaining to your business or practice, but it will have far less impact than 10 posts of 500 words that address the problems individually.
The reason is that people want answers quickly and don’t want to scan through thousands of words; a piece that takes under five minutes to read and addresses one question they might have will get read. And it will likely rank well too, since the topic is specific and focused and not general in nature. The second reason behind this principle is that your visitors see that you can solve 10 of their issues, rather than one.
Since you would post your pieces over a pre-determined length of time, your visitors that see that you are consistently posting information that solves their problems and keeps them engaged because they learn to rely on you as their information source.
The content marketing quantity over quality debate is one that is not likely to be solved by a definitive answer any time soon. The important takeaway from this is that you shouldn’t publish any content that weakens your brand reputation as a reliable information source and you have to remain present to engage your audience.
If you need help with this time and resource intensive task, your Lasso Up partners can help you develop the perfect content schedule to realize your business goals.
