Full disclosure, I feel my group and I are a little bit embarrassed. Consider it or not, running a blog is form of our important factor right here at The HubSpot BLOG — so the truth that it‘s taken over a decade for us to place collectively our first-ever report on the state of running a blog isn’t the perfect look.
However hey! As that Chinese language proverb says, “One of the best time to plant a tree is 20 years in the past. The second finest time is correct now.” That is why we surveyed over 500 entrepreneurs throughout numerous industries and firm scales to get a pulse on the present state and future destiny of running a blog.
We coated all the massive bases, together with:
Do corporations nonetheless publish weblog content material?
Why do corporations weblog?
What sort of content material are corporations publishing?
The place does weblog visitors come from?
How is AI remodeling the observe?
How are blogs adjusting within the period of E-E-A-T?
The place is running a blog headed?
A lot extra!
Test it out! Yeah!
Do corporations nonetheless publish weblog content material?
Brief reply? Yeah, they do — for good purpose.
Our survey signifies that 65% of entrepreneurs are employed by corporations that keep blogs, and so they typically put up fairly diligently. Our analysis discovered that:
22% of companies that keep blogs publish content material every day.
37% publish two to a few occasions per week.
30% publish weekly.
7% publish bi-weekly.
5% publish month-to-month.
Most of these respondents additionally say running a blog continues to be fairly essential to their broader advertising methods. Of our respondents whose corporations publish weblog content material:
47% cite it as being essential.
46% cite it as being essential.
5% cite it as being impartial.
2% cite it as being much less essential.
That‘s why running a blog stays a reasonably important staple of many advertising orgs’ budgets. Based on our analysis:
24% of entrepreneurs from blog-producing companies say they dedicate lower than 10% of their advertising finances to running a blog.
31% say they allocate 11-20% to it.
25% say they allocate 21-30% to it.
18% say they allocate greater than 30% to it.
And people figures make sense when you think about the returns running a blog generates for a number of companies. Our analysis discovered that:
50% of entrepreneurs from companies that keep blogs say they noticed a better ROI from running a blog in 2024, relative to 2023.
31% stated it was roughly the identical 12 months over 12 months.
15% noticed a decrease ROI.
So it is smart that quite a lot of blog-publishing companies are leaning into the technique. Based on our examine:
45% of entrepreneurs from blog-maintaining companies say their corporations are going to take a position extra finances in running a blog in 2025, relative to 2024.
Solely 13% are going to take a position much less.
40% are going to maintain their funding constant 12 months over 12 months.
So by the appears to be like of it, running a blog continues to be common and never going anyplace anytime quickly — however why is that the case? We dug into that as effectively.
Why do corporations weblog?
Running a blog is a reasonably versatile observe. It could assist cowl quite a lot of bases on the advertising entrance, however our analysis signifies that almost all companies that leverage it are doing it to garner consideration. Our examine discovered that:
66% of blog-maintaining companies publish content material for model consciousness.
53% do it for buyer engagement.
49% do it for lead era.
34% do it for Website positioning-related functions.
26% do it to challenge thought management.
Naturally, these targets align with the KPIs most of these corporations use to gauge their content material’s success. We discovered that extra model awareness-oriented metrics have been the preferred with companies that publish weblog content material. Based on our analysis:
54% of blog-maintaining companies use pageviews to measure their blogs’ success.
53% use social shares.
46% use conversion fee.
45% use time on web page.
22% use backlinks.
Finally, weblog content material is — before everything — a promotional play for many companies. Whereas some use it for arduous conversions, most blog-producing companies are simply in search of one other avenue to get their model in entrance of potential prospects. Whereas these targets are typically constant, there are quite a lot of methods to attain them.
“Weblog content material” is a reasonably broad catch-all that covers a number of content material codecs — and the entrepreneurs we surveyed noticed worth in a variety of them.
What sort of content material are corporations publishing?
An organization weblog might be a superb medium for establishing longer-term credibility by way of evergreen content material and instant clout with extra trend-responsive articles, and the entrepreneurs we surveyed typically publish a mixture of the 2. Based on our analysis:
40% of retailers that produce weblog content material produce evergreen and well timed content material at a 50/50 cut up.
24% cut up their content material 75% evergreen and 25% well timed.
18% cut up their content material 75% well timed and 25% evergreen.
7% publish evergreen content material solely
2% publish well timed solely.
Our analysis additionally signifies that blog-producing companies see strong returns from a reasonably big selection of various content material codecs. Our examine discovered that:
51% of blog-producing companies discover that how-to guides carry out effectively for them.
45% discover that trade information performs effectively for them.
42% discover that case research carry out effectively for them.
34% discover that encyclopedic articles explaining ideas related to their verticals carry out effectively for them.
23% discover that product listicles carry out effectively for them.
However the way you construction the content material you produce is a little bit of a non-factor if you cannot distribute it successfully — and as any content material strategist will inform you, that is among the most (if not probably the most) difficult features of sustaining a weblog.
The place does weblog visitors come from?
Getting engaged eyes in your content material is each bit as difficult as it’s important — and in a panorama dealing with seismic shifts prompted by components like volatility in natural search and the popularization of short-form content material, sustaining a various vary of distribution channels is transitioning from nice-to-have to need-to-have for bloggers.
The entrepreneurs we surveyed mirrored that sentiment. Our examine discovered that:
83% of companies that keep blogs distribute their content material by way of social media.
47% leverage electronic mail newsletters.
47% leverage paid advertisements.
36% leverage natural search.
33% leverage influencers.
23% leverage paid search.
Our analysis additionally signifies that companies with blogs are typically cut up on sourcing visitors organically versus by way of paid avenues. Our survey discovered that:
38% of companies with blogs largely sourced visitors organically.
21% sourced it primarily by way of paid avenues.
36% sourced it with a largely equal mixture of the 2.
Whereas we’re as regards to nice-to-haves turning into need-to-haves, let‘s check out how AI is taking part in into companies’ weblog methods.
How does AI play in?
AI — particularly generative AI — might be probably the most disruptive aspect ever launched into the world of content material advertising (and possibly the world normally, however that is neither right here nor there.)
It is presenting an actual “adapt or die” second for bloggers, and our respondents appear to grasp that. Our analysis signifies that:
Solely 4% of bloggers by no means use AI instruments to help content material creation.
21% use it to help lower than 25% of content material creation.
37% use it to help 25-50% of content material creation.
19% use it to help 51-75% of content material creation.
16% use it to help greater than 75% of content material creation.
Bloggers additionally use AI at numerous factors within the content material creation course of. Our examine discovered that:
43% use AI to help enhancing and proofreading.
38% use it to help define creation.
37% use it to help first-draft writing.
31% use it to help picture creation.
30% use it to help subject analysis.
26% use it to help meta-description era.
Of the AI assets out there to bloggers, the preferred have been:
ChatGPT with 68% of respondents referencing utilizing it for content material creation.
Google Gemini with 50%.
Copy.ai with 13%.
Claude with 12%.
Jasper with 11%.
HubGPT with 8%.
5% used different assets.
As you’ll be able to most likely assume, one of many main advantages of incorporating AI instruments into bloggers’ workflows has been a rise in content material manufacturing quantity. Our analysis discovered that:
19% of respondents noticed their manufacturing considerably enhance after folding AI assets into their content material manufacturing.
48% noticed it reasonably enhance.
17% noticed no change in content material manufacturing quantity.
9% noticed it reasonably lower.
3% noticed it considerably lower.
AI‘s emergence isn’t the one aspect that just lately rocked the world of content material advertising. These previous couple of years noticed Google pivot to E-E-A-T (Expertise-Experience-Authority-Belief) — a brand new search-grading standards that locations additional emphasis on related, first-hand expertise with the subject material bloggers cowl.
How are blogs E-E-A-T-ifying?
A number of blogs have discovered themselves scrambling to regulate to those new requirements, and our respondents took a spread of approaches to get there.
One key consider appeasing the E-E-A-T gods is establishing creator credibility, and respondents whose corporations publish weblog content material went about that a number of methods. Our analysis discovered that:
43% of blog-producing companies established creator experience by referencing printed works and citations.
42% used creator bios with credentials.
40% included hyperlinks to skilled profiles.
27% referenced trade certifications.
8% have been not sure.
Incorporating analysis and information can be an enormous assist when E-E-A-T-ifying weblog content material — making it one of many extra common approaches our respondents took. Based on our examine:
8% of our respondents featured information in 0-20% of their weblog content material.
23% featured it in 21-40% of their content material.
28% featured it in 41-60% of their content material.
26% featured it in 61-80% of their content material
13% featured it in 81-100% of their content material.
3% have been not sure.
Nevertheless, loading your content material with information won’t be sufficient to chop it on SERPs these days. Once more, the extra “E” in E-E-A-T stands for “expertise” — that means firsthand perception is fairly mission-critical when attempting to make headway within the present search panorama. Based on our analysis:
45% of blog-producing companies challenge firsthand expertise by highlighting private experiences from group members.
36% supply authentic quotes from subject material consultants.
35% reference case research from precise shoppers.
33% characteristic professional interviews.
25% share product testing outcomes.
10% do not particularly doc expertise.
6% have been not sure.
Finally, E-E-A-T represents what could be probably the most monumental shift in natural search ever, so naturally, it‘s essentially formed a number of blogs’ content material improvement course of. Based on our analysis, these are the first methods our respondents have tailored:
39% elevated quotation of main sources.
34% applied professional evaluate processes.
36% added authentic analysis and information.
31% applied enhanced fact-checking procedures.
20% added creator credentials and bios.
12% did not implement any important modifications.
7% have been not sure.
So with all the shifting tides, turmoil, and uncertainty that‘s been shaping the panorama of content material advertising as of late, there’s actually just one query to ask — the place is running a blog headed?
The place is running a blog headed?
Effectively, regardless of all the current headwinds and “all-over-the-boardness” that quite a lot of my fellow content material strategists can converse to, a lot of the entrepreneurs we surveyed have been optimistic about the way forward for running a blog.
Our analysis discovered that:
56% of entrepreneurs who work for blog-maintaining companies say they see the position of running a blog of their content material advertising technique increasing sooner or later.
32% say it should keep the identical.
7% they’re going to be lowering concentrate on it.
5% are not sure.
Nonetheless, content material advertising is ever-evolving, and companies can‘t lean strictly on their blogs to drive engagement going ahead — and most of our respondents acknowledge that. That’s why they’re additionally investing in different content material codecs. Based on our examine:
81% of blog-producing companies are additionally investing in video.
53% are investing in podcasts.
46% are investing in newsletters.
39% are investing in webinars.
20% are investing in ebooks.
So what’s the state of running a blog in 2025?
Finally, if our analysis is any indication, running a blog is way from out of date midway by way of the 2020s. Lots of modifications have rocked the observe lately — the popularization of AI and the introduction of E-E-A-T standards being two of probably the most transformative — however bloggers look like adapting.
Running a blog continues to be probably the most efficient automobiles advertising orgs have at their disposal for facilitating key targets like lead era and producing model consciousness. And the truth that the entrepreneurs we surveyed nonetheless see sufficient worth within the observe to maintain investing in it speaks to how versatile and productive it may be.
So what is the state of running a blog? In a phrase — strong.
It is ever-changing and essentially totally different than it was … however nonetheless strong.
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