An SME that's still building visibility does well with four to eight blog posts per month, so one to two per week. Those who have already answered the most important customer questions maintain their position with two to four posts per month. The number comes from the maths: how many questions do your customers ask, and by when should they be answered?
People asking about the right number usually mean one of two situations. Either the blog is new or thin, and the website needs to appear at all on Google and in AI answers. Or the blog has already covered the most important topics, and it's about maintaining that position. Both situations need a different number. Why consistency matters more than volume is explained on the answer page How often should you publish a blog post?. Here, it's about the maths behind it.
The maths starts with the questions, not the calendar
A blog becomes visible when it answers the questions customers actually type in: "How much does a heat pump cost for a detached house?", "How long does a tax return take for a limited company?", "Which type of wood is best for a kitchen front?". How many such questions exist in your industry determines the workload. That's why, before the question of the number, comes a topic collection. How you can put one together in an hour is shown in the editorial plan for the company blog.
Once the list is ready, the question "How many blog posts per month?" turns into a simple division: the number of open questions divided by the time in which you want them answered.
Phase 1: Building visibility
Example calculation: your topic collection gives you 40 questions that are regularly searched for and match your offering. Then the time required looks like this:
| Posts per week | Posts per month (rounded) | 40 questions answered after |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | around 10 months |
| 2 | 8 to 9 | around 5 months |
| 3 | 13 | around 3 months |
| 7 | 30 | around 6 weeks |
The table shows the leverage, but also its limit. Google needs time per page to crawl, index and rank it. Based on experience from blog projects for Swiss SMEs, the first movement in rankings shows up after six to eight weeks, regardless of whether one or seven other posts have appeared alongside it. So seven posts per week don't make each individual post visible faster. They cover the topic area faster.
This only pays off if the topic area is large enough. An online shop with hundreds of products, a hotel with seasonal topics, or a property management firm with owner and tenant questions can fill seven posts per week with genuine topics. A painting business with 25 customer questions can't. Anyone who still publishes daily in that case ends up with repetition and generalities. Where Google draws the line on mass-produced content is described on the Scaled Content Abuse page.
For most SMEs, that means one to two posts per week, so four to eight per month. That covers a topic area of 40 to 60 questions within six months to a year, giving each post time to find its place.
Phase 2: Maintaining visibility
Once the core questions are answered, the task changes. Now it's about three things:
- Picking up new questions that arise from changes in law, new products or the season.
- Updating existing posts when figures, deadlines or processes have changed.
- Closing gaps shown by the Search Console: search terms with impressions but no matching page.
Two to four posts per month are enough for this, with an update counting as a post. When revising pays off and how to do it is covered under Updating old blog posts. Anyone who stops the rhythm entirely during this phase loses ground slowly: posts become outdated, and competitors answer the new questions first.
How to classify blog system plans
Blog systems like BlogPilot tier their plans by posts per week, not per month. The logic behind it is the same as above:
| Posts per week | Suited to |
|---|---|
| 1 | Service providers with a clear niche, maintenance phase, first entry point |
| 2 | Businesses in growth mode wanting to cover a medium-sized topic area within six months |
| 3 | Broad offering, multiple target groups or locations, fast build-up |
| 7 | Large topic area: shops, hotels, management firms, multilingual offerings |
The prices for these are on the pricing page. However, the decision shouldn't start with the price, but with the topic collection. Those with 25 questions don't need a plan with seven posts per week. Those with 150 won't reach their goal in three years with just one post per week.
What the number doesn't replace
Four posts a month on topics nobody searches for achieve less than two posts answering questions customers type in before calling. Three things matter more than frequency:
- Each post answers a specific question, and does so in the opening sentences.
- The posts are linked to each other so Google recognises the connection.
- The rhythm is kept up. A blog with four posts per month over twelve months beats a blog with twenty posts in the first month and nothing after that.
What to do with this
Count your open customer questions. Divide the number by the months in which you want to be visible. Round up to whole posts per week and choose the number you or your system can reliably keep up. After six to twelve months, check the Search Console to see which questions are still open, and adjust the rhythm.
Frequently asked questions
Is one blog post per month enough?
For building visibility, one post a month is too little, because with 40 open customer questions it takes more than three years to answer them all. As a maintenance rhythm for a blog that already covers the key topics, one post a month can work. But then it should appear reliably and cover a genuine topic.
Is more always better?
No. More posts are only worthwhile as long as each post answers its own question. Anyone who starts at seven posts a week and ends up repeating topics or answering questions nobody asks is wasting budget and risking Google classing the content as mass-produced.
Do updated posts count too?
Yes, during the maintenance phase, updates are often more valuable than new posts. A post that brings a price example, a deadline or a product detail up to date is more likely to hold its position than a new post on a minor topic. Two new and two updated posts a month is a sensible mix.
What if I can't keep up the rhythm?
Then it's better to choose the smaller number and stick to it. A blog with four posts a month over a year is worth more to Google and readers than twelve posts in January followed by silence. You can always increase the rhythm later.