The quantity vs quality debate in online content isn’t a new one. For years, bloggers and other digital publishers have sought balance between the two — enough content to appease search engine giant Google’s lust for fresh content, but also high enough quality content to appeal to actual readers and keep them coming back.
The problem with cheap content lands squarely on the shoulders of Google however. While in 2018 Google’s John Mueller stated that content frequency wasn’t a ranking signal, this wasn’t always the case.
How “Relevancy” Got Confused With Content Volume
Back in 2011, Google rolled out an algorithm update that made “freshness” of content a ranking signal, with the stated goal of giving searchers results that were more “relevant and recent.” SEO professionals, of course, took notice.
While Google might have had decent intentions at the time — with freshness being a bigger factor where timeliness really matters, like sports scores or TV series updates — the change led to editorial declines on a large scale.
You would have been hard-pressed at the time to read about search engine optimization without that idea of “relevancy” being tied to recency — and having this mis-applied to all content. And SEO pros took advantage of that to push clients to update their content much more frequently with the promise of higher rankings.
The problem with that? Companies tend to have set budgets, and bloggers of the time had limited funds for the most part. So “more content” meant many had to bring in outside help from freelance writers, but without an adequate budget to do so.
The Resulting “Race-to-the-Bottom” Content Market
That also drove new freelance writers into the market, seeing a demand to be filled.
It wasn’t uncommon at the time to see clients advertise penny-per-word writing gigs. And you would often see plenty of writers jump to compete for those opportunities — most of them not subject matter experts, many simply rewriting others’ content (which is a copyright-violating derivative work), and many not speaking English well enough to appeal to English-speaking readers.
Despite the problems, companies put quantity over quality because SEO pros misled them about the intentions of Google’s changes, and because Google hadn’t really thought through all of the implications at the time. So we found ourselves deluged with cheap, sub-par content on the web.
Unfortunately much of that content still exists, including that old and outdated SEO advice. Some clients still think $4-20 articles are their key to strong Google rankings. But they aren’t. And they can do far more harm than good.
What Cheap Content Could Cost Your Business
Thinking extremely low-priced content writing will help you rank well in Google is a big enough mistake on its own. After all, Google’s algorithms change. And low quality content — what you almost always get for those very low rates — tends to suffer in those changes. This leads to “algorithm-chasing” where you’ll pay again and again to have that low quality content rewritten, improved, or replaced.
The only ones who benefit from that are the SEO people and shoddy content writers selling those services. They know you’ll have to come back. And you can end up spending more money in the long run than you would have if you purchased higher quality content in the first place.
That increased cost over time, and lower search engine rankings than you hoped for, aren’t your only risks however.
Reputational Risks Can be Even Greater
As someone coming from a PR background, I can assure you that you don’t want to get caught up in a crisis management scenario because of poor content you published from low-priced writers.
Low-paying gigs are often poorly-researched gigs because you aren’t paying enough for the time required to do a thorough job. Depending on your industry, that means your content could do real harm to your readers — from encouraging them to make irresponsible financial decisions to sharing un-vetted health advice.
When your content hurts readers, or simply includes embarrassingly-misinformed “facts” that you’re publicly called out on, are you prepared to clean up that mess? Would you even know how?
Then There Are the Legal Risks
Another holdover from the “freshness”-driven cheap content craze is “Copyscape-passing” web content. This often meant rewriting existing content rather than writing something unique. Clients only cared that the wording itself passed the plagiarism checker Copyscape.
There’s a big problem with this though. Passing plagiarism checkers doesn’t mean the content is legal. Rewriting someone else’s content is not writing. And as noted previously, it can constitute a derivative work. No one is legally authorized to create a derivative work other than the copyright holder of the original.
Not only do some clients not understand this, but as long as the work passes a plagiarism detector, they assume they’re fine and wouldn’t even know how to tell if the cheap content they purchased is a derivative work that could leave them open to a lawsuit.
This is why it’s so important you understand what you’re buying. If you’re buying extremely low-priced content, it’s unlikely you’re covering the cost and time involved in creating truly original content. And, especially for smaller businesses or solopreneurs, the reputational and legal risks involved could even put you out of business.
What “Quality Content” Really Means
Now that you understand the risks involved in underpaying for low quality content, what’s the alternative? What does “quality content” actually mean? To summarize, high quality content:
- serves readers first (answers a question, offers a solution, features clean easy-to-read writing, etc.);
- conveys a message in line with your brand;
- helps you rank well in search engines without having to chase algorithm changes constantly;
- preserves or boosts your reputation, as a thought leader when appropriate;
- conveys expertise rather than simply parroting another source;
- in most cases includes persuasive copy in the form of a call-to-action (CTA).
In other words, write for your target readers before all else. Hire subject matter experts when possible. Be the subject matter expert in other cases, such as when working on thought leadership content with a freelance ghostwriter. Tweak content for better SEO without writing primarily for Google. Cite your sources. Be ethical. And let your readers know what you’d like them to do with that content (hire you, sign up for your newsletter, buy a product, etc.) — in general you want your content to do something for your business.
Where Professional Freelance Writers Come In
There are several alternatives to buying cheap content from under-qualified content producers. For example, you could write your content yourself.
Then again, if you’re a business owner or on a small staff, you might not have the time to devote to content writing personally. And not everyone who can run a successful business counts themselves a strong writer. If you can bring in more money focusing on other things, it can make sense to hire help.
Along those lines, you could hire a member of staff to take on your content writing. That makes sense if you need a lot of content on a regular basis and you can afford to pay those regular hours, taxes, and benefits.
What if you need content more sporadically though? Or what if you need content writing regularly, but not very much — maybe just a couple of blog posts each week?
In that case, your best bet is to hire a professional freelance writer.
What sets pros apart from cheap content producers?
- They’ll know the value they bring to the table, so they’re likely to charge accordingly.
- They can turn in drafts that need minimal input and revisions (after all, you’re hiring them to save you time).
- Professional freelance writers can work well independently and take the reigns of a project once you’ve worked out the details with them.
- A pro-level freelancer knows how to balance writing for your readers with seeking search engine benefits.
- They don’t over-promise results (such as guaranteeing your new content will rank in the top 5 for highly competitive keyword phrases shortly after publication).
In other words, if things sound too good to be true, they often are. Real pros don’t work for next to nothing. And they’re honest about what clients should expect. Anything short of that, and you’re almost guaranteed to be getting a raw deal.
When it comes to hiring professional freelance content writers, you have another important consideration though.
Subject Matter Experts vs Ghostwriters
When it comes to hiring freelance writers, consider whether you plan to give them bylines (have their name on what they write) or if you’d rather have them ghostwrite (meaning you, or your business as a whole, get the benefits of credit).
If you plan to give bylines, it’s always a better idea to hire subject matter experts. That’s because their professional reputation in that subject matter lends greater credibility and trust to your website or company.
On the other hand, if you prefer to keep posts anonymous or you want them to appear under the company name or even yours, you should hire a freelance ghostwriter. The primary reason to hire a ghostwriter is their expertise is in writing in your consistent brand voice and putting your expertise into words that appeal to and influence your readers or customers.
That’s not to say you can’t have both. You might have a ghostwriter work on the bulk of your content and have subject matter experts come in for specialized pieces. Or sometimes your ghostwriter will happen to be a subject matter expert as well (such as what you’d get hiring me as a ghostwriter covering online business, marketing, or PR topics).
In the end, you need to consider your long-term content strategy. When you have a plan in place, it makes it easier to focus on quality content rather than quantity and to make sure credit is going where you want it to go for every piece of content you publish.
If you decide a freelance ghostwriter is right for you, or if you’d like some help planning out your own content strategy, get in touch and let’s work together.
