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Content is king. So we are told, over and over, in the race to create social media posts, videos, infographics, and other content in the hopes of “going viral” to give our brands the boost that pushes them to the next level.
But not all “content” is social-focused. What about the day-to-day text, images, and videos that make up your website? That content plays a huge role in your search engine rankings for keywords and in the ability to capture online leads that can be converted into sales.
That basic structural content can be measured in numbers of pages, and when it is optimized page by page (here’s how), every page counts.
So, just how does the amount of content impact a website’s traffic and lead generation numbers? Let’s take a look at the results from more than 7,000 HubSpot customers.
Impact of Website Content on Traffic
When looking at content as measured by the number of pages on the site, more pages typically mean more traffic, with a slow and steady increase as the size of the site moves from an incredibly basic 50-pages-or-fewer site up to 400 pages or so.
The big tipping point?
Around 500 pages. That is when the graph takes a steep turn upward with B2C companies that have 500 to 1000 pages getting more than twice the traffic of those with 300-500. Take it up over 1000 pages, and traffic at B2C websites increases four-fold compared to 500-1000.
While the increase for B2B websites (which may be less likely to be ecommerce sites) is less dramatic, there is still a tripling in traffic when comparing sites with 500-1000 pages to those with more than a thousand.
Interestingly, when HubSpot compared companies based on the number of employees, small companies—1-10 employees—benefited the most from super-charged websites with the highest number of pages.
Takeaways:
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Even on a small scale, increasing your content can boost traffic. Companies with 51 to 100 pages generated 48 percent more traffic that those with 50 or fewer.
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But if you want to go big, GO BIG. Companies with more than 50 employees and more than a thousand web pages saw 9.5 times more traffic than the smallest websites.
Impact of Content on Lead Generation
So, if increasing the amount of content on a website (i.e. the number of website pages) boosts traffic, will it do the same for lead generation? Do you really have to ask?
When it comes to lead generation, the curve increases in intensity even sooner, with significant gains seen even in going from 200-300 pages to the 300-500 page level. As before, B2C companies see the most impact, but even B2B companies double their leads at that point, and when comparing a 200-300 page site to one with more than a thousand pages, B2B companies increase their leads four-fold, while B2C companies see nearly 10 times the number of leads.
With leads, as with website traffic, increasing content has the biggest impact on small companies. Where the lead generation of a small company with more than a thousand pages on its website is 3 times greater than companies of the same size with 100 or fewer.
Takeaway:
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Both B2B and B2C companies with 101-200 pages generate 2.5 times more leads than those with 50 or fewer pages.
How do you create more website content?
If your website is an ecommerce site, you’ll naturally have more pages with a separate page for every product you sell. But most of our clients are B2B companies, focused on inbound marketing rather than ecommerce. How do they increase their website content?
Two ways:
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Landing pages for downloadable offers.
Every new post to a business blog adds pages of content (keyword-optimized, and focused on the things your buyer personas< are searching) to your website.
And a library of resources, gated behind landing pages, provides opportunities to generate leads as prospects complete landing page forms to access offers that address their needs.
Find out how many blog posts and landing pages it takes to have a significant impact on your own website traffic and lead generation in our report based on the real world results of more than 7,000 HubSpot customers.
Then, find more information about how to maximize your own business blog and online offers in our Inbound Marketing Learning Library and throughout the Inbound Accelerator blog at the links below:
