As a business owner or marketer, you know the importance of digital content.
You develop your webpages, blogs and email lists, and churn new content out every month.
Then, you sit back, track your metrics and wait for the growth.
But for some reason, that growth never comes.
That’s because volume is no longer effective. In fact, in the age of AI search, publishing too much low-quality content could actually hurt your search engine visibility.
Creating better digital content for your brand hinges on quality, not quantity.
It requires a strong focus on adding value with everything you publish. This guide explains why.
Why can publishing more content weaken your performance in AI search?
All the major search engines model – and value – topics. Instead of judging pages in isolation, they evaluate how your pages relate to each other. To do this, they use signals such as internal linking, topical similarity and engagement patterns.
They then use this insight to generate a conclusion about how coherently your content covers a topic. If the search engine thinks your content does this well, it lists the page higher up in the search results. If it doesn’t, the content ranks lower.
However, publishing many small posts can fragment that coherence. If you answer only part of a question across multiple pages, but never fully answer it, the algorithms will struggle to identify a central ‘authority’ page. They might even identify the wrong page.
So, make sure you have one comprehensive page to create a clear centre of gravity for your content about the topic in question. Reinforce it with supporting pages (sub-pages and blogs) that link to and reference it, but don’t swamp it. That’s how information is organised in reference systems and research, and it’s also what AI search is looking for.
AI search prioritises comprehensive content
AI-driven search aims to answer people’s queries in as few steps as possible. It looks for content that explains everything in one place. If a page forces users to open five separate tabs, it fails in that test.
Clearly, short posts typically don’t have the scope to display comprehensive content. They usually contain internal links to other pages. They also almost always repeat ideas found elsewhere on your website. So why would AI surface them?
Well, if the content is high-quality, helpful and specific to the search term, it stands a better chance of being referenced by AI.
Today’s search engines try to surface content that adds unique value. In other words, how much new information a page adds compared to existing search results.
If there’s a high overlap with other pages (either on or off your own website), it doesn’t benefit the end-user much. And with frequent posting, it’s much more likely that the search engines will see more of that overlap and discard your content as a result.
Once again, this points to how having fewer comprehensive (yet niche) pages and posts can help you feature more favourably in search. Instead of reusing the same angles and examples, invest in original research and expertise to produce content that better matches the users’ search intent.
User behaviour shows a page’s value
Search engines also track end-user interaction. If people like your site, that’s a positive signal. If people aren’t interested, that hits your rankings.
Search engines might infer that quick clicks, bouncing and short dwell time are from dissatisfied users who didn’t find what they were looking for. Thin pages are much more likely to trigger these behaviours because they don’t answer the users’ questions.
Instead, you want pages that provide comprehensive answers to what the user was looking for.
How better digital content for your brand solves problems
When someone searches for something on Google or any other search engine, it’s usually because they have a problem.
What kind of problem?
Anything. A minor question. A concern. Perhaps they’re looking to compare things. Or maybe it’s a full-blown crisis of some kind. Your content should match that intent, and answer that question, whatever it is.
So-called ‘keyword-stuffing’ is becoming less effective for the reasons mentioned here. Instead, your content needs to recognise your understanding of the search query in question, explain the necessary basics and provide more relevant context to showcase your knowledge and expertise. You should also cite any external sources of information and attribute the content to a named author with proven expertise in the subject matter. These are all signals the search engines – especially Google – use when deciding if the content is credible, authoritative and trustworthy.
Of course, all this starts with identifying what the reader is looking for.
It’s best to write this down and clearly define it in all your content briefs.
Stick to the page’s scope
Speaking of content briefs, let’s talk about scope.
Scope defines what a page exists to do. It’s driven by search intent, not how much you know about your subject.
The scope of a page or post really depends on your target audience. You know them better than anyone else. So, take the time to think about what they’re looking for.
Now, each page should answer one core question fully, without drifting into adjacent topics or skipping essential steps.
For instance, if you’re an IT support company writing about cybersecurity, your clients will want to know how you’ll protect their business and what happens if something goes wrong. They won’t need an in-depth technical breakdown of encryption protocols or firewall configurations.
Similarly, if you’re an IFA explaining pension transfers, your page should focus on the process, timeframes and what your clients need to do next, not a comprehensive history of pension legislation since 1975.
You (and search engines) can tell if you’re sticking to the page’s scope via the dwell time. If someone leaves soon after landing on the page, it probably isn’t what they were looking for. You can use your analytics to identify the pages that need tweaking or rewriting within the intended scope.
Deeper pages signal greater value
Your expertise and experience should naturally come through in your writing.
It’s the simplest way to create better digital content for your brand.
Search engines judge how well you understand a topic. They do this by looking for nuance,
because this shows you know what you’re talking about and have personal experience with it.
Short, surface-level content doesn’t always reach this depth of knowledge. AI systems can detect this difference through the semantic richness of your content and the relationships between the entities on the page.
It’s all about building trust, first with the search engines, and then with the end users.
If, on this page, we were to tell you that ‘you can trust us to create your content!’, would you?
Perhaps. But you’d certainly, and rightly, ask, ‘why should I trust you to create my content?’.
See, trust is about far more than a vague claim. You have to prove it. With evidence. Like data, sources, examples, process details, customer reviews and walking people through your methods and approaches.
Inbound links from authoritative sources are another key trust builder. These matter because they prove that your content is rooted in information that people (and search engines) already trust.
Building trust is a key plank of E-E-A-T. When you put all this together, you’ll be able to develop better on-page content that shows you understand the topic. And that will make you stand out from the many competitors with sites filled with generic, unoriginal filler.
Invest in tiered, structured content
One of the best frameworks for creating better digital content is what we call the content pyramid. It consists of five layers:
- Pillar content
- Cluster pages
- Blogs
- Emails
- Social posts
The pillar page deals with the central topic. Cluster pages answer related (but not overlapping) queries. Blogs can go into even more niche depth, and so on, through emails and finally social media posts.
Pillar content concentrates your authority
Your pillar page is the primary source of authority on your topic. It should be the place on your site where you cover a core subject in detail, define the context, outline the options and guide a reader’s decisions.
Because it’s your central authority, it should have a large number of internal links directing users to it. Remember, search engines evaluate entities when ranking pages. A strong pillar page anchors these entities around your subject. And that recognition lifts all your related pages, too.
Cluster pages expand on the pillar page
Your cluster pages should answer the questions related to your topic. Each cluster page should also link back to the main pillar, as well as any related clusters. This creates the basis of a structured sitemap.
Search engines like to see this. They read this structure as intentional coverage, because it infers a hierarchy and a depth of knowledge that’s easy for a person to understand and navigate.
Blogs, emails, and social posts
Blogs expand your depth of knowledge further and answer a user’s more niche queries. You can use these to feed your emails and social posts to maintain the connection with your audience and showcase your personal insights.
When your content functions as a pyramid rather than a stream, everything climbs up to the pillar page, which is what the search engines want to see.
- Blogs exist to answer the narrow, high-intent questions that sit underneath your main topic. Each blog should address one specific concern, objection or comparison your audience searches for. These posts should always point back to a central pillar page. Where relevant, blogs should also link laterally to cluster pages to reinforce topical coverage.
- Email content targets people who already know your brand. Each message should focus on one idea, update or insight and drive the reader toward a single action. Emails don’t need to cover a topic in full. They exist to get people back to your website. Consistency and clarity matter more than depth here, because you’ve already established that trust.
- Each social post should answer one tight question or address one specific concern in as few words as possible. This is usually not the time or the place for in-depth explanations or nuance. All you’re aiming for is to capture attention, demonstrate relevance and direct users toward your deeper content.
Use internal linking to define your site hierarchy
Knowing that structure is all well and good. But how do you define it?
Well, it’s all about internal linking, which signals the relationships between pages.
A page with several internal links is obviously the most important. It helps improve your website’s crawl paths and distributes link equity across your site. More importantly, it removes any ambiguity about which pages matter most. When Google’s bots see multiple pages competing for similar keywords, strong internal linking tells them which one deserves to rank. Without it, Google has to guess, and it might pick the wrong page, leaving your most important content buried while a minor blog post takes centre stage.
Use the content pyramid to derive new pages and posts
Once you have a defined pillar page, you can use it to derive your cluster pages. These support the pillar. Then, once you have cluster pages, you can narrow down the queries even further for blog posts, emails and social updates.
Now, it’s crucial to make sure you don’t just regurgitate your content across the pyramid. There will always be a need to answer more questions relating to the main topic. The more niche the question, the lower down the content pyramid it belongs. Just try to avoid saying the same thing multiple times in different contexts, as this can confuse the search engines.
As this structure develops, it all funnels to the central authority: the pillar page, which signals to the search engines and your human audience that your website is a trustworthy source of information.
How the content pyramid matches customer intent
In that spirit, let’s touch on how the content pyramid shows where a customer might be on their journey, and how it can help you understand your analytics.
Each layer of the pyramid maps to a customer’s stage of intent.
- Pillar page views might show a customer on the verge of purchase.
- Cluster pages show a customer considering but not yet sure.
- Supporting content (blogs, emails, social) is all about brand awareness and recall.
Your key metrics can then reveal cause and effect throughout your site. For example:
- More search queries entering through the main pillar show a growth in demand
- Clickthrough rates show how relevant your content is
- Engagement time shows how clear your content is
- Assisted conversions show your influence in your sector or region
- Referring domains show how your website’s authority is developing
What should you track in Google Analytics?
Here are the key metrics to track in Google Analytics, so you know how well your brand’s digital content is performing:
Track engagement time to understand a page’s value
Engagement time is one of the most important metrics to track in your analytics. A short engagement time naturally indicates a significant, possibly structural- or server-based problem. That’s an issue for another blog.
That said, engagement time indicates whether your content resolved the reader’s uncertainty. Of course, it’s just one metric, and could mean other things. However, longer engagement time usually indicates that your content has done a good job at meeting the user’s search intent.
So, compare engagement time across similar pages to identify and diagnose those that aren’t performing so well.
Use assisted conversions to see how important a page is
Few users convert on their first interaction with your brand. In fact, your content, especially lower down the pyramid, is more of a building block for a later decision.
Assisted conversion paths reveal which pages are most influential in helping a customer make the decision to convert. If you find pages that never appear in these paths, they’re not adding value to your website. Consider revamping or deleting them.
Track domain authority to keep the overall approach in mind
Domain authority (DA) predicts how well your website will rank in search compared to your competitors. The higher your DA score (out of 100), the more the search engines trust your site as a credible source of information. DA is tied to multiple factors, but one of the main ones is external links from other sites. These show that your content is valuable. Having one strong resource on your site is much more likely to get those external links than many weaker ones.
In particular, track how many referring domains you get to your pillar pages. Any gains here are likely to lead to future improvements in the search rankings.
Why investing in better digital content wins
So, what have we learned?
Well, it’s clear that best-performing content in search is built on quality, clarity, trust and authority. It’s also structured in a clear hierarchy that helps AI-led search engines navigate and understand what you’re talking about, so they can serve it up to their users. In turn, that should lead to more conversions and more sales.
But quality beats quantity when it comes to content, especially in this new era of search. With this in mind, maybe it’s time to rethink your publishing strategy and revamp or rebuild your website?
If that’s the case, QBD designs websites and creates SEO-friendly digital content for how modern search works in the age of AI. We help businesses like yours achieve more. So, if your brand needs better digital content to bring in more leads and more income, work with us to develop content your brand can be proud of.
About the authors
Jon Smart
Jon is our Head of Creative Content. He works with a range of QBD clients, producing engaging, SEO-friendly website and digital content to help them reach a wider audience. He does this by gaining a deep understanding of who our clients are, what they do, who their customers are and what makes them special, then helps them to tell their brand story in a way that connects with their target audiences.