Niche size problems tend to show up a few months in, once you’ve actually written a handful of posts and can feel whether the topic is working or not. Here’s how to diagnose which problem you have — because the fix for “too broad” and the fix for “too narrow” are opposites.
Signs your niche is too broad
You have endless things to write about, but nothing you write seems to build on anything else — each post feels disconnected from the last. Readers who land on one post rarely explore others, because there’s no obvious thread pulling them deeper into the site. You struggle to describe what your blog is “about” in one sentence without listing several unrelated things.
Signs your niche is too narrow
You’re running out of new things to say within a few months. Search volume for your specific topic looks thin or nonexistent when you check it directly. You find yourself stretching to make tangentially related topics fit, because the core topic alone can’t sustain a full content calendar.
The fix for too broad
Pick the single sub-topic within your broad niche that’s generated the best response so far — the most comments, most shares, most obvious reader interest — and narrow toward that. You don’t need to delete existing posts; you just need new posts to cluster more tightly around a specific angle going forward.
The fix for too narrow
Widen slightly by adding one adjacent angle — not a completely different topic, but a natural neighbor to what you’re already covering. If you write exclusively about a specific hobby, adding posts about the broader lifestyle or community around that hobby usually opens up meaningfully more material without losing focus entirely.
The test that catches both
Could you write fifty genuinely different posts about this over a year, each one useful to the same core reader? If the honest answer is “no, I’d run out by post fifteen,” you’re likely too narrow. If the answer is “yes, but they wouldn’t feel connected to each other,” you’re likely too broad.
Diagnostic checklist, side by side
| Signal | Too Broad | Too Narrow |
|---|---|---|
| Idea supply | Endless, but disconnected | Runs dry within weeks |
| Reader behavior | Rarely explore other posts | N/A — usually not enough posts yet to test |
| Search volume when checked | High, but you compete with everyone | Thin or nonexistent |
| Elevator pitch | Hard to summarize in one sentence | Easy to summarize, but limiting |
| Fix | Narrow toward best-performing sub-topic | Widen to one adjacent angle |
A worked example of narrowing after the fact
Imagine a blog that started broad — “healthy living” — and six months in, the posts about meal prep for one or two people have consistently outperformed everything else, by a wide margin. The fix isn’t to abandon the site or start over; it’s to let future content lean hard into that specific, proven angle, while the older, broader posts stay up and continue earning whatever traffic they already have. Over time, the site’s overall identity shifts to match what’s actually working, without requiring a dramatic relaunch.
A worked example of widening after the fact
Now imagine the opposite: a blog that started narrow — “sourdough baking” specifically — and by month four, genuinely struggles to find new angles within that single topic. The natural widen here isn’t “all of cooking,” which would lose the focus that made the niche findable in the first place. It’s one adjacent step — home baking more broadly, or the wider world of fermentation — something that shares an audience and a voice with the original topic without becoming so broad it loses its identity.
When it’s genuinely fine to leave things as they are
Not every “this feels a bit broad” or “this feels a bit narrow” instinct needs a fix. If posts are still getting written consistently, readers are still finding value, and there’s no clear pattern of one problem or the other showing up repeatedly, it’s often better to keep writing and let more data accumulate before making any structural change. Adjusting a niche too early, based on a small sample of posts, risks fixing a problem that was never really there.
Why this matters more than it might seem
Niche size feels like a minor structural detail, but it quietly determines two of the biggest factors in whether a blog succeeds: how findable it is, and how sustainable it is for you personally to keep writing. Too broad, and you’re invisible in a sea of competition. Too narrow, and you burn out looking for new things to say. The right size sits wherever those two pressures balance for your specific interests and knowledge — which is exactly why this isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula, and why checking in on it periodically, rather than deciding once and never revisiting it, tends to serve a growing blog better over time.
Where to go from here
For more on choosing a niche from scratch, see our guide to picking a blog niche. And if you want a structured way to keep building either way, the free 90-Day Income Momentum Checklist walks through the first steps day by day.