How Often Should You Blog? (The perfect schedule inside)

How often should you blog? 

If you’re looking for the exact number of blog posts to publish every month to reach your goals, read on! I’ll share exactly how I went from a few blog posts to scaling my content marketing efforts. 

Want to learn more? 

Let’s dive right in!

You’ll learn: 

How often to blog for SEO 

Per month 

Per week 

How to optimize your blog posts 

How fasts blog posts rank

The optimal blog post length 

Key takeaways

• Start with 1-2 high-quality blog posts per month if you’re just starting out and don’t have the budget to scale to several blog posts a week. (That’s how I turned my blog into a multiple six-figure traffic channel.)
• Publish 2-4 blog posts or more per week when you’re ready to scale your blog.

How often should you blog for SEO?

If you want to get traffic from search engines, blogging is important.

In fact, a small business with a public-facing blog will see 126% more lead growth than one without a blog.

So, if you want to see these kinds of results for your business, how many blog posts do you need to publish? 

Should you blog daily or weekly? 

Is more always better?

What’s the optimal blogging frequency? 

Let’s look at the numbers. 

How many blog posts should you publish for the best rankings? 

Publish two to four blog posts per week for higher rankings and traffic. This number of blog posts helps you publish new blog posts while keeping things consistent. However, the “magic” blogging schedule for your business depends on your niche, target audience, goals, and budget. 

For example, according to HubSpot, a company that publishes 16 posts or more every month will receive 3.5 times more traffic than those that post just four times per month. 

So you’d need to publish four blogs a week.

That’s a lot of content for most businesses without a dedicated in-house content or search engine optimization (SEO) team. 

Even then, you would need several content writers on staff to build that type of content machine.

After all, if you only have one in-house or freelance writer creating that much content for you, you risk posting bad-quality blogs. 

And bad content is hard to come back from.

More than 23% of readers say bad content can ruin the credibility of a blog.

So what’s the perfect blog posting frequency? It’s simple. 

You should blog as often as you can while maintaining the quality.

Can you blog once a month? 

Yes, you can blog once a month. 

It’s way more important to produce high-quality content than churn out bad blog posts. 

Consistency also matters. After all, Google favors active websites that produce consistent content. 

So if you only have the budget to invest in one SEO article a month, start there. 

Because here’s the truth: You can see SEO results with way fewer blogs than you think.

Take my blog for example. 

I started writing just 1-2 blog posts a month. With the traffic those blogs generated, I made multiple six figures in two years. 

That’s all inbound organic traffic – no pitching, hustling, or daily social media grinding. 

But how did I get these results with so little content? 

Simple. By focusing on making those blogs informative, engaging, and incredibly valuable to my ideal client.

To summarize: Producing 16+ blog posts seems to get the biggest benefits, but hold off on a tight blog post frequency unless you can produce quality content. 

If you publish bad content, your SEO and your brand will suffer. 

Instead, start with 1-2 blog posts per month. 

Want to learn more about building your SEO traffic with your blog posts? 

Check out this video:

How many blog posts should you publish per week?

According to HubSpot, you should publish four blog posts per week to see results with SEO. 

However, you can create a great blog with high authority by publishing fewer blog posts than that. I used to publish one blog post every two weeks.

How many blog posts should you publish per month?

As we saw, around 16 blog posts per month seem to be the sweet spot for reliable SEO growth and increased leads.

But is it OK to blog once a month? 

Yes. Here’s why: 

The quality of your blog posts matters the most. 

Your content needs to be shareable, detailed, and informative for your reader. 

That also builds your brand’s reputation as an expert in your field. 

So if you’re just starting out and you don’t have a big budget to produce 16 articles, start small with one post per month. 

This will start building your website’s authority and still help your SEO growth. 

You can always increase the amount of content you publish as your business grows. 

THIS is what really matters for your blog’s success

So now you know how often you should blog. 

Here’s the truth: It doesn’t matter as much as you think. 

Sure, more content can make your business grow faster. But more content won’t help your growth if your content is low quality, outdated, or not strategically planned.

These are the things that matter. Let’s take a look:

The right keywords 

Keywords in your content make it possible for people to find your content on search engines. Search engines use them to identify the content that should rank the highest for different search queries.

So if you’re a graphic designer, you might use phrases like these in your content:

“Graphic designer”

“Freelance graphic designer”

“LA graphic designer” 

How do you find and use these keywords, though? 

First, start with this free tool: Google Keyword Planner.

Google Keyword Planner is a tool for finding keywords for ads. But you can also use it to find keywords for your blog. 

Go to Google Keyword Planner and search for a term related to your niche. For example: “graphic designer.”

Now, you’ll get several keyword ideas and information about the keywords.

The factors to pay attention to are the:

• Average number of monthly searches: This shows you how much traffic a keyword gets. Of course, high volume is great because it means more opportunities to reach customers. But these keywords tend to be higher competition, so go for smaller keywords in the beginning. If the keyword is highly targeted, you’ll be far better off with 100 people to your website than 1,000 people who aren’t as interested in your products or services.  
• Level of competition: Targeting low-competition keywords is the fastest way to grow. Does that mean you should avoid high-competition keywords completely? Not necessarily. If you can create a unique piece of content, go for it. But generally, it’s better to focus on low-competition keywords to build up your website’s authority (more on authority later).
• Top of the page bid: The page bid shows you how much people are willing to pay to rank in the ads results for this keyword. A valuable keyword can be more competitive but also be more profitable if your content ranks. 

With the right keywords, you target the right people. 

For example, someone searching for “running” is less likely to be ready to buy compared to someone who searches for “running shoes for marathon.” So the latter is the better keyword to target even though “running” is, most likely, a keyword with more traffic.

Now here’s a key part of keyword research that many people miss: 

You should create one blog post for one keyword. 

Sure, your content will naturally include other related keywords just by covering the topic. But you should avoid targeting more than one keyword in your blog posts. 

Why? Search intent. 

People are looking for specific advice when they look for keywords – they have what’s called “search intent.” If you try to optimize a blog for several types of search intent at the same time, your content won’t rank. 

So focus on one main keyword per post and your strategy will be more successful.

Next up – content updates. 

Content updates 

Did you know it’s not just new content that affects your SEO?

One of the easiest ways to keep your blog fresh is to update old blog posts.

Google has over 200 ranking factors. One of the key ones is a domain or URL’s age. 

So the older your blog post, the more authoritative it could be for Google. 

What does this mean for your content strategy?

Well, if you update old content, you keep it competitive and maintain its search rankings. 

You can update your content by adding: 

• Relevant sections: Making your blog post more comprehensive adds value to the reader. What could you add to your post to make it even more valuable? Has anything changed that requires new or updated text? 
• Photos and video: Photos and videos make your post more engaging. You can also refresh your content by adding newer videos that are more relevant to the topic. 
• Statistics and quotes: Quotes and stats from reputable sources add credibility to your blog posts. The key here is a reputable source. Cite studies or trustworthy websites like WebMD, Psychology Today, and other major publications in your niche to back up your content. 

Taking the time to refresh and breathe new life into an older blog post will pay off. 

That simple action could increase website traffic by as much as 106%.

Tip: Avoid removing any keywords that could be helping your content rank. If you want to edit the writing, focus on making sentences shorter and cutting out unnecessary words.

Create the best content

About 70 million blog posts are published on WordPress each month – so you need to stand out. 

Here are a few tips on how to make your content the best it can be:

Answer the searcher’s question

Your readers are looking for specific answers to specific questions. Good content answers those questions. The best content addresses the question so well that the reader doesn’t need to keep searching.

You can make your blog posts more comprehensive by looking at the “People also ask” section on Google.

By adding these questions to your blog post (if relevant) you can add more details to your post. The more complete your article is, the more likely the reader is going to stay on the page and enjoy your content.

Make your posts engaging

Photos and videos make your blog more visually engaging to read. They also make blog posts more entertaining. You can create your own visuals using platforms like Canva.

You can also make your posts engaging through your writing. Use personal stories and short sentences to keep the reader hooked. 

Add value

Blogs are a great way to show your expertise to your ideal customers. Add your unique insights from your experience to make your content stand out.

Practical steps and detailed tutorials also work well for SEO. Always think back to what the reader is searching for and how you can add value. 

Edit your writing

Even if you’re not a writer, you can improve your writing with some simple edits. You can use grammar checkers like Grammarly to avoid any spelling or grammar mistakes.

The Hemingway Editor App is a free tool that helps you rewrite complicated sentences.
Keep your writing concise. Short sentences, short paragraphs, and short sections work better for online content.

By following these simple steps, you’ll write better blog posts and see faster results. 

How fast can you expect to see results from blogging? 

Do blogs automatically appear on Google search right after publishing? 

Read on to learn more.

How fast do blog posts rank?

The speed at which your blog posts can rank depends on a few key factors:

Your domain’s age

Domain age refers to the length of time a domain has been registered and active.

And Google sees older websites as more trustworthy and authoritative. 

Especially if they have been consistently creating content around a niche topic since launching. 

So if you have a new website, you can expect blogs to take longer to rank. 

This is just while Google learns what your business is about and the type of content you create. 

Slowly, it will categorize your content and send more traffic to you.

Your website’s authority 

Google measures your website’s authority to quantify your expertise on a topic. 

The higher your authority, the higher your content will rank. 

Authority is kind of related to age but they’re not the same thing. 

New websites tend to have lower authority. But so do websites with high bounce rates or poor-quality content.

To build up authority, you need to consistently create high-quality content around industry topics. 

But even your industry can impact how fast or slow your blog posts rank. Let’s talk about it.

Your industry 

Some industries are naturally more saturated when it comes to content.

Let’s say you’re a business coach for new entrepreneurs. 

There are hundreds of thousands of blogs out there posting about entrepreneurship. Some of them come from the biggest websites on the internet – Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Shopify, and so on.

So it might take time for your blog posts to rank. 

Compare this to a niche blog about creating a bakery business. . 

Because there is less content on the internet about bakery businesses, that content is more likely to rank. 

Does that mean you should only post about niche topics? Not if they’re not relevant to your business. 

If your business is in a popular niche, you can get around that popularity by choosing the right keywords to target. Let’s talk more about that next.

Your keyword

The keyword you’re optimizing for plays a big role in how fast your website can rank.

By targeting low-competition keywords within your niche, you can get a blog post to rank quickly. Even if your blog is on a popular topic. 

By providing a unique angle or perspective on popular topics, you’re also more likely to drive traffic to your content. 

Go back to the keywords section to learn more about how keyword research can work for you.

Bottom line: If you have a new article, it can take a few months for it to rank. If you have an established website and publish on a topic you’re an expert on, your post might rank right away.  

How long should a blog post be?

There’s no perfect length for blog posts. But there are a few guiding rules. You will.. 

• Need as many words as necessary for the topic: Word count will be different from topic to topic. For example, a step-by-step tutorial on how to use a tool could be shorter than an in-depth blog post on how to nail job interviews. Or vice versa. 
• Need to answer the question fully: Every reader is looking for answers when they click on your blog post. It’s called “search intent”. Your post should be detailed enough to answer the search intent without too many extra details. 
• Blog posts should be concise: That means no unnecessary fluff that distracts from the main topic. But concise doesn’t necessarily mean short. Your blog can be over 5,000 words, but still be concise. 

Want a ballpark guide?

1,500 words tend to be the minimum you need to thoroughly explain most blog topics. 

1,300-1,700 works well with readers. 

But again, if you’re creating an “ultimate guide” and it needs to be 5,000 words long to be comprehensive, that’s the right word count. 

Tip: Look at the other ranking blog posts around the topic and see how many words they write. You want to write around the same number of words or more as the average blog post ranking for that query. 

Next steps 

Now you know how often you should blog! 

But there’s more to improving your SEO than just your blog posting schedule. 

And ultimately, organic traffic can become an incredibly profitable traffic channel that helps you scale your business.

Want to learn more? 

Get my free PDF on how to get clients on demand. 

Read more:

What is a Business Blog?

How to Grow Your Blog

The Top Blogging Courses

The Benefits of Blogging