Make it high quality.
I’ve heard that phrase in every kickoff meeting I’ve ever been in.
It’s become this vague, comforting instruction that no one can argue with.
But ask ten marketers what “high quality” actually means and you’ll get ten different answers, most of them recycled from 2015.
When I started in content, quality was measurable.
Clear writing, tidy formatting, authority links, no typos.
If it looked right, it was right.
That formula worked, until it didn’t.
Now?
The internet’s full of polished content that does absolutely nothing.
Search is just…confusing?
SEO people love to argue about whether search is dying.
It’s just changing faster than anyone wants to admit.
A few months ago, I sat in a client meeting for a Gen Z skincare brand.
Someone on their team mentioned that 10% of their audience starts searches with Google Lens.
I laughed, until they showed me screenshots.
Actual product searches starting with photos. “What is this serum?” “Find this bag.”
Visual-first search is real, and it’s growing 60% every year.
Gen Z does more daily searches than any other group.
Meanwhile, Google’s rolling out AI Overviews, and tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT are eating chunks of traffic that used to belong to blogs.
The Polished Stuff Doesn’t Always Win
We publish a lot of content at our SEO agency.
The work’s not glamorous.
We’re writing about lubrication systems, equipment calibration, safety standards.
No one’s sharing these on LinkedIn.
But those articles are getting surfaced in AI summaries, driving leads, and outperforming our “beautiful” pieces.
They’re not over-designed or over-edited.
They’re just..right for their job.
I used to overthink every line, rewrite intros three times, tighten every paragraph. Now, I just focus on clarity and relevance. If it ranks and converts, I’m done. I’ve had to unlearn a lot of what I thought “good writing” looked like.
Context Beats Craft Every Time
A typo on a LinkedIn post can make you look human.
A typo in a whitepaper makes you look careless.
A shaky handheld video on TikTok feels real.
That same energy on a webinar? Feels lazy.
It took me a while to stop chasing one universal standard of quality.
Different formats, different rules. Context decides what good looks like.
Sometimes “good” is a 2,000-word guide with expert quotes and graphics.
Other times it’s a messy one-paragraph hot take written between meetings. Both can win if they fit the moment.
Good Enough on Purpose
I still over-edit sometimes.
I’ll sit on a post for days, knowing full well it should’ve gone live yesterday.
Then I’ll rush out something half-finished, and it performs twice as well. Go figure.
That’s the part no one likes to admit: most of the time, “good enough” is exactly what works.
Not because we’re lazy, but because perfection is slow. And slow loses.
Now, before I hit publish, I just ask:
Does this piece do the job it’s meant to do?
If yes, it goes out, imperfections and all.
That’s the new version of quality.
Not universal standards. Just smart decisions, made with the user in mind.
