Today, running a blog seems essential for any business that wants to become more visible on the web and attract new customers through this channel.
But what are the real benefits of blogging? Is it so important for your content strategy ?
The answer in numbers.
Statistic No. 1: Companies that publish more than 16 articles per month get 3.5 times more traffic
This chart shows the impact of the number of blog posts published each month on the traffic generated to a website.
The results are clear: the more content you create on your blog, the more visitors you attract. Companies that publish more than 16 articles per month even have 3.5 times more traffic than those that post between 0 and 4.
Indeed, blog posts are generally long (over 1,000 words) and address very specific topics. Consequently, they target a relatively small number of internet users, but those users will be highly engaged: they will read your article and share it with their networks. They will be grateful to find exactly the study they were looking for.
In the end, not only will traffic be higher because the click-through rate is very high for long-tail queries, but that traffic will also generate a good conversion rate. So, without hesitation, bloggers, get typing!
Statistic No. 2: Articles with an image generate 94% more views
While text is very important, especially for SEO, the power of images is quite remarkable on the web.
Indeed, articles containing at least one relevant, high-quality image have on average 94% more views than others.
The same study also finds that news, politics, and sports articles are those for which images boost performance the most.
The ideal is therefore to combine both: the image serves to grab attention and hook the reader, who will then decide to take the time to read the article's text.
Statistic No. 3: Headlines of 6 to 13 words attract the most traffic
A post's title is at least as important as its content: it is what will provoke the desire to click and read a post, so it must be polished to attract as much traffic as possible. And that's not even mentioning the role it plays in search engine optimization.
The recipe for a successful headline involves different ingredients: syntax, choosing the right keywordsbut also length.
This HubSpot study tells us that the best-performing article headlines are between 6 and 13 wordsYou get the idea: there's no room for dragging things out — a good headlineis a headline that contains enough information to be comprehensive, while being short enough not to bore.
Don't forget that a good headline must meet two different requirements: first, it must inform rationally; second, it must create an emotional response in the reader. If you can achieve this mix in a short headline, you maximise your chances of grabbing the reader's attention.
Statistic No. 4: Top-ranking sites have longer content and articles
While the quality of an article is crucial for its readability, relevance, and interest to your readers, you shouldn't skimp on quantity on your blog either.
First, a long article (from 800–1000 words) allows you to cover the topic in more depth and offer richer, more complete content. But the word count of an article it also has a significant impact on organic search rankings.
This is evidenced by a statistic showing that, on average, sites ranked in the top positions in search results have much longer content than those pushed down to 9th or 10th place, for example.
Indeed, a long article generally inspires more confidence than a short article. Length appears as a mark of expertise, even like academic work for the most in-depth articles.
And paradoxically, internet users accustomed to the ultra-short, ephemeral formats of social networks, distinguish leisure “scrolling” formats from formats considered more serious — long articles — when they, for example, do research before a professional or significant real estate purchase.
Statistic No. 5: A blog generates 67% more leads
It's obvious that blogging brings traffic and visibility to companies that invest in it fully, but does your blog deliver concrete results in terms of customers, and therefore revenue?
It turns out B2B marketers who use blogs in their strategy generate 67% more leads than others. Potentially, that's 67% more sales leads to convert into customers.
This is even more true in B2B, because professionals making business purchases are hardly subject to emotional, compulsive buying.
On the contrary, they compare technical specifications, strictly measure their budget, and demand particularly detailed information.
Statistic No. 6: Companies with a blog have 97% more backlinks
The backlinks, that is, inbound links to your site, are an important factor for its organic ranking in search engines.
And believe it or not, having a blog allows you to multiply the number of backlinks from which your website benefits, as the same infographic shows: sites with a blog have 97% more links.
A blog therefore helps make your entire site better ranked, and thus more visible to users.
Statistic No. 7: Around three quarters of internet users (70 to 80%) actually ignore paid ads
Admittedly, paying for an ad guarantees appearing in position zero, at the very top of the search results. However, it is expensive in Google Ads subscriptions, and it's far from a silver bullet.
Tired of the omnipresence of overt advertising, Internet users will indeed always prefer, more or less consciously, non-ad sites driven only by their organic traffic. And that is true even if the site's content is exactly the same. It is important to keep in mind this powerful psychological trigger among potential audiences, who will always prefer to feel like they are quenching their thirst for knowledge rather than visiting a site that is explicitly advertising.
This shift in perspective is, moreover, the basis ofInbound marketing (as opposed to outbound marketing, which is more traditional), which relies on providing the user with high-quality information and letting them come to you after forming a good impression on their own.
Statistic No. 8: About three quarters (73%) of internet users skim a blog rather than read it thoroughly
At first glance, this statistic may seem simply irrelevant. It is not. The long-form blog article (often over 1,000 words) reassures the reader, which is why it is preferred over posts shorter, more laconic pieces. But once placed in a reading context, the reader's actual attention span remains very short.
Indeed, today the average consecutive attention span of a typical internet user is estimated at only 10 seconds. And that figure drops even further for those reading on their smartphone…
Moreover, users are increasingly accustomed to cross-checking sources and doing in-depth research on a precise topic that interests them, for example before making a purchase. So there is a good chance they will visit your blog post but only skim it in search of a very specific piece of information.
This means structuring your text well with heading tags (h1 to h3 in general), but also breaking up long texts with highlighted quotations, colored drop caps at the start of paragraphs, or visual cues like arrows and list bullets — all with the aim of making the text attractive and holding the visitor's attention as long as possible.
As you can see, the blog is a formidable tool that should be part of any good content marketing strategy.
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