There is a natural curiousity that arises when planning an SEO campaign - what'll it take? How far do we have to push this to get results? This question comes up often during the copywriting phase, because good content isn't cheap, and can't be automated.

The primary factor that will determine whether your SEO content is "good enough" is the content provided by competing websites. When a search engine displays a list of websites, the question being asked is "what are the best sites that answer this question?" There is no set standard for content that qualifies as "good enough" - it is always measured against the competition.

Competition comes from many places

Note that "competing" websites don't just include your marketplace competitors - they include any site whose content competes for attention on that topic. Car companies "compete" with car magazines in search engine results.

Gauging the quality of competing websites will help determine how much content will be needed, what it should focus on, and how well it should be supported by incoming links.