How Many Blog Posts to Get Traffic? The Minimum That Works

If you have ever asked, “How many blog posts do I need before Google sends me traffic?” you are not alone. It’s one of those questions that sounds simple, but the honest answer is… it depends. Annoying, I know.

Still, there is a minimum that tends to work. Not a magic number, not a guarantee, but a point where most sites stop feeling invisible and start getting those first consistent clicks. And once you know what that minimum looks like, you can plan your content like a grown up. Instead of randomly publishing and hoping.

Let’s get into it.

The uncomfortable truth: posts don’t drive traffic, coverage does

The internet loves blog post counts. “Publish 100 posts.” “Post every day.” “Create 3 posts a week.”

But Google doesn’t reward you for effort. It rewards you for being the best answer, consistently, across a topic.

So instead of thinking in raw post count, you want to think in:

• How many keywords (or questions) are you targeting?
• How many of those are realistically winnable for your site?
• Are your posts internally connected so Google sees topical depth?
• Are you covering a topic end to end, or just writing one-off posts?

Traffic usually shows up when you hit enough topical coverage that Google starts to trust your site in that niche.

That said, you still need a number. A minimum. Something you can aim at.

The minimum that works (for most new sites): 30 to 60 posts

For a brand new domain with little authority, I’ve seen a consistent pattern:

• 0 to 10 posts: basically nothing happens. Maybe a few impressions. Occasional random long tail click.
• 10 to 30 posts: you might get early traction if you target low competition queries, but it’s still spiky.
• 30 to 60 posts: this is where many sites start getting reliable organic traffic. Not huge, but steady.

So if you want a practical minimum that works for most sites, aim for 30 to 60 high-intent, low-to-mid competition posts. It's also crucial to consider the blog post length as it can significantly influence SEO outcomes. These posts should be published within a reasonable window (more on that in a second).

If you’re in a brutally competitive niche, that minimum can be higher. If you’re in a small niche and you target long tail properly, you might see results with 15 to 25. But as a baseline, 30 to 60 is the most useful number I can give you without lying.

What “traffic” actually means here (because people mean different things)

When someone says “get traffic,” they might mean:

• 10 clicks a day
• 100 clicks a day
• 1,000 visits a month
• leads and signups, not just readers

So let’s define it in a grounded way:

• Initial traction: 100 to 500 organic visits per month
• Meaningful traction: 1,000 to 5,000 organic visits per month
• Compounding growth: 10,000+ organic visits per month, where new content lifts old content

That first level, initial traction, is usually reachable around 30 to 60 posts, if the posts are targeted well and you are not writing fluff.

The real minimum is not a post count. It’s a cluster count

Here’s a better way to think about it.

Instead of “I need 50 posts,” think:

I need 5 to 10 topic clusters, each with enough supporting content that Google sees me as relevant.

A simple cluster could look like:

• 1 pillar post (broad, high-level)
• 5 to 10 supporting posts (specific questions, comparisons, how-tos)
• internal links connecting the supporting posts back to the pillar and to each other

That means:

• 5 clusters x 6 posts each = 30 posts
• 10 clusters x 6 posts each = 60 posts

Which lands us in the same range. The difference is now you have a plan. And your content isn’t a pile of disconnected articles.

How fast should you publish to reach the minimum?

Publishing 60 posts over 3 years is not the same as publishing 60 posts in 4 months.

Momentum matters. Not because Google is counting your weekly output like a teacher. But because:

• you collect data faster (impressions, indexing patterns, early winners)
• you can interlink content sooner, which boosts crawling and context
• you build topical authority quicker

A practical pace that works for most teams:

• 2 posts/week if you’re doing it manually and also running a business
• 3 to 5 posts/week if content is a growth priority
• 10+ posts/week if you have a system, or you’re using automation responsibly

If you are trying to hit that minimum 30 to 60 range, here are realistic timelines:

• 2 posts/week: 30 posts in ~4 months, 60 posts in ~7 months
• 4 posts/week: 30 posts in ~2 months, 60 posts in ~4 months

Then give it time to index and settle. Which brings us to the part people hate hearing.

When will you actually see traffic after publishing?

Most sites start seeing meaningful organic traffic within:

• 3 to 6 months for low competition topics (if you publish consistently)
• 6 to 12 months in more competitive spaces
• longer if your site has technical problems, thin content, or no focus

And yes, you can get lucky and rank something in week two. It happens. But planning around that is like planning your finances around winning a raffle.

What matters more than volume (and can reduce how many posts you need)

You can sometimes cut the “minimum posts” number in half if you do these well.

1. Keyword difficulty and search intent selection

If you are writing about “best CRM software” as a new site, you’re basically volunteering for pain.

But if you target “CRM for electrical contractors” or “how to track leads in a CRM for real estate teams,” suddenly you have a shot. Those are the kinds of long tail, intent-driven keywords that let new sites win earlier.

2. Content quality that is actually useful

I don’t mean “long.” I mean:

• clear steps
• real examples
• templates
• screenshots or specific tool walkthroughs
• direct answers near the top
• not written like a Wikipedia rewrite

Google has seen enough generic posts. Readers too.

3. Internal linking that builds topical authority

A lot of sites publish 80 posts and still wonder why they get no traffic. Then you click around and every post is a dead end.

Your posts should behave like a map, not a stack of flyers.

Link supporting articles to the pillar page. Link laterally to other relevant posts. Add a “next step” section. Make it easy for both users and crawlers to move through your content.

4. A site that is technically crawlable and not a mess

Basic stuff, but it matters:

• pages indexable (no accidental noindex)
• fast enough site
• clean URLs
• proper headings
• no duplicate tag pages taking over

If Google struggles to crawl, your content velocity won’t matter much.

So what’s the minimum number for your site?

Here’s a simple way to estimate it without overthinking.

If you’re a brand new site with no authority

• Minimum to expect early traction: 30 to 60 posts
• Focus: long tail, low difficulty, high intent
• Timeline: 3 to 6 months for first meaningful growth if consistent

If you’re an existing site with some authority

• Minimum: 15 to 40 posts
• Focus: fill topic gaps, build clusters, refresh old pages
• Timeline: 2 to 4 months to see lifts (sometimes quicker)

If you’re in a competitive niche (marketing, finance, health, etc.)

• Minimum: 60 to 150 posts
• Focus: narrow positioning, programmatic long tail, expert-led content
• Timeline: 6 to 12 months, sometimes longer

Not fun, but it’s real.

The “minimum that works” strategy (a plan you can follow)

If you want a clean approach that doesn’t burn you out, do this:

Step 1: Pick 5 core topics you want to be known for

Not 50. Just 5.

Example (for an SEO/AI content marketing SaaS site):

• AI content generation
• SEO automation
• content strategy
• programmatic SEO
• content optimization and internal linking

Step 2: Build one pillar post per topic

These are your big “hub” pages. They don’t have to be 5,000 words, they just have to be comprehensive and actually helpful.

Step 3: Publish 6 to 10 supporting posts per pillar

This is where the traffic usually comes from early. The specific questions. The comparisons. The “how to” posts.

That gets you to:

• 5 pillars + (5 x 6 supports) = 35 posts
• or push it further to 55 posts with 10 supports each

That’s your minimum plan.

Step 4: Interlink everything

Every supporting post links back to the pillar. Pillar links out to supports. Supports link to each other where it makes sense.

Now you have clusters. Not just content.

What if you can’t write 30 to 60 posts manually?

This is where automation can be genuinely helpful, as long as you’re not using it to publish junk.

If your goal is hands-off, consistent content production (and you want it scheduled and published without babysitting), you might look at something like SEO Software, which is basically built for this exact problem. It scans your site, builds a keyword and topic plan, generates articles, and publishes on a schedule. The point is not “AI wrote my blog.” The point is “I finally have consistent output and topical coverage.”

If you want to see what that looks like in practice, their AI blog post generator is a decent starting point. And if you’re comparing platforms, their roundup of AI writing tools is also worth a look.

Subtle warning though. Tools don’t remove the need for strategy. They remove the bottleneck of production. You still need to choose smart topics and build clusters.

A quick reality check before you go publish 60 posts

If you publish 60 posts targeting random keywords, with no internal linking, and the content is generic, you can still get basically nothing.

But if you publish 30 to 60 posts that are:

• tightly focused on a few topic clusters
• written for real search intent
• internally linked like you actually care
• updated when they start ranking

You usually get traffic. Not overnight. But you get it.

And once it starts, it compounds. That’s the good part people forget. You are not “starting over” every time you hit publish. You’re stacking relevance.

Wrap up (the minimum, in plain English)

If you want the simplest answer you can act on:

• Aim for 30 to 60 posts as your minimum target to start getting consistent organic traffic.
• Publish them as topic clusters, not random articles.
• Give it 3 to 6 months after consistent publishing to see real movement.
• If you want to go faster, use a system (or a platform like SEO Software) to keep output steady without burning out.

That’s it. Not sexy, but it’s how it works.