The Content Frequency Myth (And What to Do Instead)
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Hello Reader, 👉 Designers: Don't miss my friend Alyssa's workshop about setting boundaries in the AI era! It's super affordable and bound to be top-notch! If I were to guess at the question I receive most often in my strategy sessions (and Summer of SEO, which starts soon), it's this: “How often do I need to publish new articles if I want to actually get found online?” Once upon a time, SEO giants like Ahrefs looked at the data and suggested that the “sweet spot” was five times per month. And while that’s an incredible goal that can have an immediate impact, I also think it’s highly unrealistic for most small or solo businesses—and potentially unwise. Welcome to one of my infamous controversial opinions. In the Post Keyword Era of marketing, chasing volume and trying to win a popularity contest is a losing game. Instead, I recommend a schedule that is far more sustainable, deeply strategic, and actually works. (Which is the whole point, right?) First, let's talk about why aiming for an intense content schedule is a trap. We no longer just stuff keywords into paragraphs to please an algorithm. Today, great content plays a hybrid role of AI-friendly authority building and thought leadership. Modern search engines and AI discovery software focus on topical authority, original insights, and user intent. This type of content creation takes serious planning and thoughtfulness. You aren't just writing; you are:
This takes work—and practice. Most of our clients don't have a marketing director or a full-time writer on staff. Instead, team members and CEOs are doing double-duty to create this content. (By the way, please don't outsource this to sketchy content mills or rely entirely on generic, AI prompts, both which lack unique insights that not only get you found, they earn trust. The internet is already drowning in that noise, and search engines are actively penalizing it.) Setting too aggressive of a goal stands in the way of your success. More importantly, churning out too much content too quickly doesn't give you the space to analyze your insights and adjust. We use data, qualitative research, and a heavy dash of common sense to guide clients toward “right-fit” content that attracts an ideal audience of problem-aware visitors. But I'll let you in on a secret: modern content strategy is an art form. It requires experimentation, fine-tuning, and agility. With each piece of strategic content you create, you receive data. If you have a plan for analyzing your results, you can adjust and improve with each additional piece of content in your topic cluster. That’s why when people first start using our topic cluster method to build authority, my go-to recommendation is simple: Start with one piece per month. That’s right. Just one new piece of high-value, deeply authoritative content every 30 days. The Create Once, Distribute Everywhere FrameworkInstead of sprinting to write the next article, your focus should shift to feedback and aggressive redistribution of that single content asset. Here is what a sustainable, highly efficient monthly schedule looks like for a client active on several marketing channels:
Trying to do this weekly is completely unsustainable unless you have a dedicated media team. Will your results be as rapid as if you buckled down and wrote 20 articles all at once? Probably not. But will your results be more focused, highly aligned with how modern search engines actually work, and better for your sanity? Absolutely. Do you think you could commit to a schedule like this? I’d like to challenge you to try it for just three months and see what happens to your traffic and your lead quality. Talk soon, Sarah |