Good Content Defined: 8 Experts Weigh in on the Meaning

It’s the bar of excellence every marketer strives to reach: good content. But what makes content good? 

At Ten Speed, creating well-researched, authoritative B2B SaaS content is our bread and butter. But when we set out to define good content, we wanted to let some of the top content professionals in the industry weigh in. 

Everyone has their own definition of quality content. Just Google ‘good content’ and you’ll find thousands of definitions, many of them fluff. Rather than pile on more fluff, we decided to outsource the question to the talented content marketers who’ve set a high bar for quality. 

Below are the responses from those we surveyed — writers, editors, SEO strategists, and CEOs — to let their experience speak for itself! 

What does ‘good content’ mean? Our favorite definitions 

You’ll probably be shocked to know one of our favorite responses came from Ten Speed VP of Content and Strategy Ryan Sargent:

“Good content is a gift to the audience. It offers up something truly valuable without strings. It can be as simple as a basic answer to a basic question, but the best content surprises audiences by answering a question people didn’t even know they had. The best gifts are the ones you don’t know you need.” 

Kevin Shahnazari, Founder and CEO of FinlyWealth, had similar things to say about content that answers people’s questions: 

“Good content is a powerful fusion of relevance, value, and authenticity. It doesn’t just exist to fill space or hit arbitrary word counts — it solves real problems, answers burning questions, and provides actionable insights that readers can immediately apply to their lives or businesses.” 

To Will Yang, Head of Growth and Marketing at Instrumentl, content creation is all about the audience consuming it: 

“Good content is always focused on providing value to the audience. It’s not just about creating something that looks nice, but rather creating something that resonates with the target audience and meets their needs.” 

The best content reads like a conversation 

It’s no secret consumers hate being sold to. They want to have natural conversations that help them solve a challenge or address a need. Sixty-eight percent of consumers say they want organizations to communicate with them in real time, and many businesses are using live chatbots to do so. 

But do people really prefer bots to real humans? No. More than two-thirds of consumers say they still prefer human interaction. 

This is why good content has to be conversational. Nearly all of our survey respondents agreed that good writing flows naturally and feels more like a conversation with someone you know and trust. 

In the B2B space, this is even more critical. SaaS products often have complex features and functionalities that need in-depth explanations. Good content should mimic real-time conversations, anticipating consumers’ questions and providing clarifying responses. 

Companies that do this successfully establish authority and trustworthiness in their market. Consumers see them as industry insiders they can turn to for personalized, relevant information. Conversational content can also help move consumers through the sales funnel more quickly and shorten the (extremely) long SaaS sales cycle. 

So, how can you make your own content marketing more conversational? 

Ryan Sargent recommends telling a story with a captivating familiarity that speaks to a target audience with assurance and confidence — but not arrogance. It should tell a story the way someone deeply familiar with the topic tells a story, leaving out basic details and adding richness with specific vocabulary, research, and experience.

You might even craft your story in the same way you’d share it with a friend. Venture Starter CEO and Editor-in-Chief Jon Morgan says: 

“Good content engages, informs, and adds value to the reader’s life. It should feel like a conversation with a friend who knows exactly what you need and is eager to share it in an engaging way.” 

When it comes to conversational content, there isn’t one kind of content that’s better than the others. You can have a social post that’s just as well-written and informative as a long-form blog post. Variety can help you determine what resonates best with your audience. 

The strongest writing starts with deep research 

These days, anyone can claim to be a thought leader or subject matter expert. Anyone can use AI to produce content that looks and sounds authoritative at first glance.  

But research is what separates the wheat from the chaff. Recycling the same facts and points of view will only get you so far. Consumers gravitate toward companies that present unique perspectives backed by verifiable information. With the web at their fingertips, they can validate or invalidate any claim you make within seconds. 

Over time, the companies that take the time to research their sales and marketing claims will have more favorable reputations in the market. Consumers look to these brands when they’re looking for insights to alleviate their pain points. 

But if you hear the word ‘research’ and imagine spending hours holed up in a library, don’t worry. According to Ten Speed’s Ryan Sargent: 

“Deep research doesn’t mean a PhD dissertation. Sometimes a qualitative datapoint can be just as effective — a quote or anecdote. If you tell a logical story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, the audience will pay attention.” 

Laia Quintana, Head of Marketing and Sales at TeamUp, agrees that how you present your information is just as important as how well you can back it up: 

“The qualities that separate good content from average content include depth of research, factual accuracy, and a clear, logical structure. Good content is meticulously researched and fact-checked, presenting information in a way that is easy to follow and understand.” 

The most valuable content balances audience needs with SEO considerations 

In the content marketing kingdom, SEO is often king. Many companies know that to drive traffic to their websites, they have to battle for the attention of the search engine results page. 

Unfortunately, SEO can inspire mediocre copywriting. When companies are more concerned with keywords than the value they provide consumers, content suffers. In the race to the top of the SERP, they leave their prospective customers behind. 

Make no mistake: SEO considerations like keyword placement, internal linking, backlinks, and image optimization are important. But if a consumer comes to your site expecting an answer to their question and they’re greeted by meaningless keywords on a webpage, they might get frustrated and head straight for your competitor. 

This is especially true for B2B SaaS brands. The customer journey often has many touchpoints. After they become aware of your brand, consumers could spend months exploring your customer knowledge base, following your social media accounts, and experimenting with free trials. 

The more unique content you create to help make this process seamless, the more likely you are to bring a consumer across the sales finish line. Plus, you’ll naturally get more organic traffic to your site.  

DVC Agency CEO Waleed Chohan says it’s ultimately up to the consumer to decide if your content is valuable: 

“When creating good content, writers must think from a user’s perspective. Though it is important to have SEO elements in your content, at the end of the day, it is the user who decides to share it, revisit it, and link to it.” 

Marc Bishop, Director of Wytlabs, also cautions brands to focus more on the audience than the Google algorithm:

“It’s not just about using the right keywords; it’s about weaving those keywords into compelling, valuable narratives that resonate with the audience’s needs and interests.” 

Learn how strong editing processes support high-quality content creation at scale -> How to Establish an Editorial Process That Gets Consistent Results (podcast)

Creating high-quality content has become more important as a result of the growing popularity of AI 

Like inquisitive children, your consumers also want to know why. Although AI can summarize massive amounts of data, this is one question it can’t answer. 

Ryan Sargent summarizes AI’s ability to create original content like this: 

“AI fails spectacularly at answering ‘why?’ because it doesn’t actually know the answer. Drilling down to the second level is the way to build content that transcends AI. Don’t ‘analyze data,’ explain exactly what the analysis requires and how it will help.” 

It’s not just your imagination: Competition in the SaaS market is fierce. Seventy percent of the apps companies use are SaaS-based, and this number is expected to increase to 85% in 2025. As more companies try to dominate the market, SaaS companies will need a bulletproof strategy for setting themselves apart. 

When creating their content marketing strategies, companies shouldn’t fear AI. It can regurgitate facts, but it can’t produce the great research-backed content consumers need to guide them through the decision-making process. 

TechKV Co-Founder and Professional Tech Blogger Tushar Thakur echoes the point that high-quality content should be intentional: 

“Great content provokes, inspires, and sometimes even ruffles a few feathers. After all, mediocrity never made history. It stands out by being bold, insightful, and sometimes disruptive. It dares to question the status quo and offers fresh perspectives, while average content plays it safe and recycles the same old ideas.”

Want to hear more about AI’s impact on content marketing? Check out our Content That Grows Podcast, Episode 25, featuring a conversation between host Nate Turner and SaaS Content Expert Derek Flint. 

Learn how Ten Speed can help you polish your content 

If the survey responses we received from content creators taught us anything, it’s that creating a great piece of content is an art form. Now more than ever, companies need high-quality content to engage prospective customers and move them through the sales funnel. 

How do you find the time and resources to create all this valuable content? 

Ten Speed can help! With some of the top content marketers in the business, we’ve created original content in various formats for multiple channels. Not only can we help you boost the quality of your content, but we can create the type of content that resonates with the decision-makers you’re trying to reach, on the channels where it will have the most impact. 

Let’s schedule a time to talk about your company and content needs.