Types of content are the formats a company uses to bring information to its audience: an article, a guide, a video, a case study, a newsletter, a podcast. The type decides three things before the quality of the writing even comes into it: where the content can be found, how much it costs to produce and at which point in the buying journey it's useful.
On 10 October 2026 we read the nine pages Google UK shows on page one for "types of content". Almost all of them list the same formats; one sorts them into four purposes (educate, inspire, entertain, interact) close to the Smart Insights matrix. Five of the nine don't give a single figure with its source, and none says which types get cited by AI assistants, which in the meantime have become a discovery channel.
Here you'll find the formats one by one and, next to each, a figure checked against the primary source. Figures collected outside the UK are flagged as such.
Two ways to classify content: by format and by purpose
The first criterion is format, meaning the medium: text, image, video, audio, interactive tool. It's the classification that matters to whoever produces the content, because each format needs different skills and timescales.
The second is purpose. The best-known model is the Content Marketing Matrix that Dave Chaffey and Dan Bosomworth published on Smart Insights in March 2012. It crosses two axes: the journey from first contact to purchase, and the kind of engagement, emotional or rational. The result is four quadrants, usually labelled entertain, inspire, educate and convince.
The matrix is useful for balancing a content plan. It has a date problem: in 2012 content was found on Google or on social media. Today there's a third channel, the answers given by ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Mode, and there not every content type has the same chance of being cited. More on that below.
Types of content in one table
The table lines up the formats companies use most, with their main purpose, the stage of the journey where they work best and a checked figure. The rest of the article explains the rows one by one.
| Type | Main purpose | Journey stage | Where it's found | Checked figure (source) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog post and guide | Educate, capture searches | Discovery and evaluation | Google, AI answers | 1,312 words and 3 hours 20 minutes on average (Orbit Media 2026, mostly non-UK sample) |
| List and ranking ("the best...") | Guide a choice | Evaluation | Google, AI answers | 40.86% of AI citations on commercial questions (Wix, 2026) |
| Definition page (glossary) | Answer a direct question | Discovery | Google, AI Overviews | Articles get 45.48% of AI citations on informational questions (Wix, 2026) |
| Case study | Persuade with proof | Decision | Website, sales team, email | Among the best-performing formats for 53% of B2B marketers (CMI, 2024, North America) |
| Original research and reports | Get cited, earn links | Discovery | Google, press, AI answers | 50% more likely to report strong results for those who publish research (Orbit Media 2026) |
| E-books and white papers | Collect leads | Evaluation | Landing pages, email | Among the best-performing formats for 45% of B2B marketers (CMI, 2024) |
| Long-form video | Explain, demonstrate | Evaluation | YouTube, Google | The best-performing format for 58% of B2B marketers (CMI, 2024) |
| Short-form video | Get known | Discovery | Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts | 52% of content marketers are moving budget to video and multimedia (Siege Media, 2025) |
| Podcast | Build trust over time | Discovery and retention | Listening apps, YouTube | 27% of UK adults listen to podcasts every week (Ofcom, 2026) |
| Newsletter and email | Stay in touch | Retention and decision | Inbox | Email at 42% and newsletters at 37% among the most effective channels (CMI, 2024) |
| Infographic | Make data readable | Discovery | Social media, Google Images | Google works out an image's subject from the page text (Google Search Central) |
| Reviews and user-generated content | Provide social proof | Decision | Google Maps, product pages | Median of 124 reviews across the 24 local pack listings checked (Visilay, September 2026, Italian searches) |
Written content: articles, guides, lists and glossaries
Text is still the format almost everything else rests on, because it's what search engines read. Even a video or an infographic needs a page with text around it to be found.
Within text there are different types, and the difference matters more than length. A guide explains how to do something. A definition page answers "what is it". A list compares options and helps people choose. Which one you need is decided by the search, not by the writer's preference: if Google shows ten lists for a query, an essay won't rank. How to read that is explained in our guide to search intent.
On the work involved, Orbit Media's 2026 survey of 1,042 content marketers, mostly American, puts the average post at 1,312 words and 3 hours 20 minutes. In our own content plan, adapting an existing piece takes a median of 55 minutes, and an article with original data between 6 and 10 hours. The cost breakdown, on Italian rates, is in our article on how much content marketing costs, and the word counts in the ideal blog post length.
Case studies and original research
A case study tells what happened to a real client, with numbers and dates. Original research produces a figure that didn't exist before. They're the two content types a competitor can't copy, and that's why they work.
In the Content Marketing Institute research published for 2025 (980 B2B marketers, mostly North American, surveyed between June and August 2024), case studies and customer stories are named among the best-performing formats by 53% of the sample, second only to video. Research and reports reach 45%. Orbit Media adds that bloggers who publish original research are 50% more likely to report strong results, even though fewer and fewer of them do it.
Here's an example from one of our projects in Italy, already public. For Macropix, an Italian maker of LED screens, the page targeting "monitor pubblicitario" (advertising display) moved from position 88 to 2, and the site holds a 25.55% share of voice on the group of LED wall searches, ahead of Amazon at 18.08%. The full story is in our case on SEO for manufacturing. A case study written like this, with numbers and method, works for three audiences: the salesperson who sends it, Google which indexes it, and the buyer looking for proof before picking up the phone.
Long-form and short-form video
Video is the format B2B marketers name most often among those with the best results: 58% in the same CMI research. Wyzowl's 2026 survey, run at the end of 2025 with 266 people split between marketers and consumers, says 91% of businesses use video and 63% of people prefer a short video to learn about a product. The sample is small and not UK-based: it points in a direction, it isn't a measurement.
Long-form and short-form video are two different types. Long-form video on YouTube gets searched for: it has a title, chapters, a description, and it can show up in Google's results too. Short-form video on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube Shorts comes through the feed and lives on recommendation more than search. The rules for the first are in our guide to YouTube SEO, those for the second in our analysis of TikTok SEO.
One detail the content type lists we read leave out. For Google to treat a video as a video result, Google Search Central's documentation talks about a watch page, a page whose main purpose is to show that single video. A video embedded at the bottom of a 2,000-word article helps the reader, but for Google it remains an add-on to the text.
On spending, Siege Media's survey of 353 marketing professionals (November-December 2025, mostly US sample) finds 52% planning to move budget towards video and multimedia, and 39% intending to take it away from blogs and long-form content.
Podcasts and audio content
The podcast is the content type whose UK audience is measured best. According to Ofcom's audio research published on 20 May 2026, 27% of UK adults listen to podcasts every week. In the 2025 edition the highest weekly reach was among 35-44s (30%), and it rose to 30% in higher-income households.
For a company the limit is findability. An episode doesn't rank on Google by itself: it needs a page with the transcript or a written summary, and often a video version on YouTube, where the same content becomes searchable. A podcast pays off when there's a series with a defined audience, for example the customers in one sector, and someone in the company willing to talk regularly.
Newsletters and email
The newsletter is the content type that doesn't depend on anyone's algorithm. It reaches the people who asked for it. In the CMI research email is among the most effective distribution channels for 42% of B2B marketers and newsletters for 37%, behind in-person events (52%) and webinars (51%).
In a content plan the newsletter usually has no content of its own: it reshares articles, case studies and videos already published. It's the type that does the most work for the least production, provided you have a list built up over time. How to fit it into the calendar is explained in our content marketing plan.
Infographics and visual content
An infographic is an image that combines data and design. For the person looking at it, it works. For a search engine, data locked inside the image barely exists: the Google Images documentation explains that an image's subject is worked out from the page content, captions and titles.
The practical consequence: every number shown in an infographic should be repeated in HTML below the image, with its source. That's also why the data in this article sits in text tables rather than charts. The nine types of infographic and the typical mistake with each are in our guide to infographics.
Reviews and user-generated content
User-generated content is the content a company doesn't write: reviews, customer photos, questions and answers, social media mentions. For a local business the Google review carries the most weight, because it feeds into ranking on Maps. In the UK, since 6 April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act has banned fake reviews, including publishing customer reviews without taking reasonable steps to check they're genuine.
On 26 September 2026 we checked the 24 local pack listings across eight Italian searches: the median was 124 reviews, the minimum 20, the average rating 4.72. In 3 searches out of 8 the listing in first place had fewer reviews than the one in third. The full check, with the review rules that apply in Italy, is in our article on how to get Google reviews.
Which types of content ChatGPT, AI Mode and Perplexity cite
The question guides to content types still don't ask is which format AI assistants pick up. The largest study we found is from the Wix Studio AI Search Lab, published on 23 March 2026: 75,000 answers and 1,056,727 citations collected from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Perplexity across five sectors (ecommerce, health and wellness, home repairs, professional services, software). The study doesn't state the language or market of the questions, so it should be read as an international figure.
| Question intent | Most-cited type | Share | Second type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Informational | Articles | 45.48% | Lists, 21.68% |
| Commercial | Lists | 40.86% | Category pages, 12.42% |
| Transactional | Product pages | 24.88% | Lists, 16.87% |
| All questions | Lists | 21.9% | Articles, 16.7% |
Two figures go beyond the table. Perplexity cites discussion pages, such as forums and communities, 17.35% of the time, more than twice the average. Head-to-head comparison pages ("X vs Y") stop at 2.20% and alternatives pages at 0.29%, even though they're among the formats marketing blogs produce most.
Read alongside the UK results page, the figure says Google and the assistants choose the format by the same criterion: the question. People who ask "what is" get articles, people who ask "which is best" get lists, people who want to buy get product pages. How to measure how often your brand appears in these answers is explained in AI visibility, and how to get cited in AI citations and mentions.
How to choose the right type of content
Three questions, in this order.
- What does Google show for the search you want to capture? The dominant format on page one is the one people expect. You can check it in two minutes by opening the SERP.
- What stage is the reader at? Someone who doesn't know you needs a guide or a short video, someone choosing needs a list or a case study, someone who has already bought needs a newsletter.
- What material do you have? A case study without the client's numbers is a promotional piece, research without data is an opinion. Choose the format after you've seen what there is to tell.
For the same budget, two articles with first-party data cost as much as four generic ones, and we'd almost always pick the first two. It's the criterion we use in our SEO consultancy projects, where the content plan starts from Search Console and from the questions customers actually ask the sales team. For the difference between working on content and working on rankings, see our article on SEO and content marketing.
The content type almost nobody counts
Lists of content types, British and American alike, almost always leave out product pages and category pages. They're seen as sales pages, not content. Yet in the Wix study product pages get 24.88% of citations on buying questions and 13.7% overall, more than how-to guides and comparisons put together.
For many B2B companies the content AI assistants read most is a spec sheet written years ago by the engineering team and never updated. Before starting a podcast it's worth rereading that, and rewriting it the way you'd write a good article: with the questions customers ask on the phone built in. For anyone selling online, the reasoning continues in our guide to category page SEO.
FAQs
Articles and guides, lists, definition pages, case studies, original research, e-books, long and short videos, podcasts, newsletters, infographics and user-generated content such as reviews. They're grouped by format (text, image, video, audio) or by purpose (entertain, inspire, educate, convince).
They're the four quadrants of the Content Marketing Matrix published by Smart Insights in 2012: content that entertains, inspires, educates and convinces. The matrix places them on two axes, from first contact to purchase and from emotional to rational engagement.
It depends on the search and the stage. In the Content Marketing Institute research on 980 B2B marketers, mostly North American, video comes first (58%) and case studies second (53%). For an informational question, though, Google and AI assistants mostly show articles.
Lists, with 21.9% of citations, followed by articles (16.7%), according to the March 2026 Wix study of more than a million citations from ChatGPT, AI Mode and Perplexity. ChatGPT cites articles more often than average, and on informational questions articles rise to 45.48% of citations.
No. It's better to start with one or two formats that answer customers' real questions, usually guides and case studies, and add video or a newsletter only when there's material and time to keep them going.
