Could decreasing publishing frequency negatively affect our SEO?
-
Hi Moz Community!
I run marketing for a DA 43 website. We've been consistently blogging 4-5 times per week for the past 7 years, and its become ingrained in company culture. Due to limited resources, I want to decrease publishing frequency on the blog and focus on other marketing activities (content promotion, higher value content, link outreach, CRO etc).
However, our team is worried that decreasing frequency might negatively affect our SEO (organic search is by far our most important acquisition channel, is the main revenue driver for the whole company). When I look at metrics, a couple of things stand out: 1) a very small % of our blog posts get meaningful organic traffic, 2) the majority of organic traffic that produces customers actually goes through the homepage, not the blog, 3) the vast majority of our blog posts are not earning links as we have not focused much on promotion.
Anybody have thoughts on specifically whether decreasing blogging frequency might have an impact? (I know Moz and Hubspot have both done frequency experiments, but those were on high-DA, high-engagement sites where every post had a chance to earn links, etc.) so I'm wanting to isolate the case where publishing frequency is decreased on a site where most posts aren't getting links/much engagement.
Thanks!
-
Hi,
I have been in the same position myself. I would recommend taking a look at all your old content like Anthony mentioned and find what has been really valuable to your users. See if you can create less and only on the topics that hit home. I would also think about using a writing service and then just have an editor review and change what is needed. You will cut the cost down tremendously.
Does decent work, but you have to pick 4 or 5-star writers. You also have to make sure you brief is detailed so you get a good first round. Keep in mind this is not replacing writers just giving them original materials they can work with.
I would also try out https://promote.quuu.co/ which does a good job with getting the content out there at a very low cost. You can get a better gauge on what is more shareable topics. It also can help get more inbound links. When you promote your posts this gives a faster and greater understanding to what works.
Which brings me to the topic of gaining quality inbound links which in my opinion is one of the main reason for generating ongoing content. So I would look at how and where it is shared to gauge the quality of the content.
Good Luck!
-
Thanks Anthony! We're definitely doing some re-publishing and some removing, I love the idea of doing more combining with republishing though.
-
Decreasing will not negatively affect your organic traffic.
Here is what I think you should do.
Find those blog posts that get little to no organic traffic. Look for opportunities to combine/merge similar posts into one new, better post - then republish them. When you encounter old posts that you can't imagine having any future value, consider removing them completely.
*edited to correct a typo
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Updating a Business Blog Article - Old or New Published Date
There are a few business blogs that I'm currently updating - include more details, information, case studies, statistics etc. The blog was originally published in September of 2016. Once I make the changes, do I keep the same original date or do I change the date to the day that i've uploaded the new information? Example:
Content Development | | Kdruckenbrod
Original Published date: September 2016
Updated Blog: June 2017. What date should the blog display? Thank you.0 -
What is CSS/ HTML good for SEO ?
Hi forks I dont know why Thesis and Genesis is good for SEO ? what is diffirent about website's code ( css/html). it is something about schema.org. i have to fix my website's code like that. thank U
Content Development | | giasungoaithuong0 -
Is this a worthwhile SEO tactic?
Many 'list' articles break down so that number one is on page one, and you are asked to click 'Next' to see number two. Number two is on page two, etc. For example: http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/12-replacements-high-cholesterol-foods Is this done simply to keep bounce rate down? Is it something I should try, or is it frowned upon in any way? Will it help bounce rate? If it's a good practice, how would I do this in a Wordpress blog post? Thanks!
Content Development | | getwilder20 -
Can you help me with my options on publishing others' news releases on my site?
I wish to add a "News" section to a highly-read, highly ranked blog I have. The News pieces will not be in the same flow as my regular posts. I'm contemplating what the best way to do this is, and would like some advice, please. I see these options: Option 1. Pay textbroker type people to rewrite news releases and post them into the news flow. Pro: indexable content. Con: expense. Option 2: Have a Submit News form on the site for vendors to submit their news stories. I would have to ask them to rewrite their stories to avoid dup content. Pros: Easy for me, no cost. Cons: Will still get dup content I bet, a lot of companies won't take the time to do it, and I will have no control over quality. (I really doubt this option will work). Option 3: Post news releases from companies in their raw format, and mark them as no index (even if I don't noindex, they won't move up the SERPs anyway, so why not just noindex them). Pros: very easy, all the news I want. Cons: not creating any indexable content. Bonus question: If I do Option #3, and I place an adsense ad on the page, will it work the same as if it was an indexed, non-duplicate content page? Your thoughts?
Content Development | | bizzer0 -
Clear examples of SEO success with content marketing needed.
I know SEOmoz is always going on about content marketing as the best SEO tactic, but I'm struggling to achieve search engine success with it for my site. Has anybody very successfully pursued a content marketing strategy for their site in a competitive niche? Can you give us the examples? (including the keywords you succeeded for). Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks
Content Development | | kevinmorley0 -
What is your opinion about: SEO SearchTerms Tagging 2 (WP plugin)
The purpose of this plugin is to strengthen our On Page SEO by adding new internal linking to the blog post using the most popular keywords used by search engine visitors to find the blog post from a search engine ( incoming search terms ). We can also display the most popular & recent search terms in the sidebar to get a side wide internal linking to the corresponding blog post. New since version 1.25: Automatically convert popular search terms into Post Tags.
Content Development | | cdrdz870 -
SEO guide for journalists
I am looking for a white paper or similar focused on helping journalists (online) writing better and more SEO-friendly content. If you know of anything or anyone who might be of help I would love to hear from you.
Content Development | | jpndk0 -
Second Blog on the Same Site? Best SEO Practice
I would like to start up another blog which has more of a "technical" topic coverage vs my regular blog, which appeals more to non-techie business folks. If the goal is to drive traffic ultimately to the main site, should I do this second blog on a different domain, a subdomain, or try to incorporate it as a separate-but-equal blog on the same domain as the currrent one? What would you do?
Content Development | | JMagary0