Regularly writing high-quality content is an effective way to increase your visibility in search engines. However, the length of your articles can also affect your rankings. So, you may be wondering: how long should a blog post be ?
By looking at some recent studies on search engine results, you can determine the ideal length for your blog posts. This knowledge can help you improve your overall search engine optimization (SEO) strategy .
In this post we will discuss the ideal length of blog posts for SEO, based on recent data. We will then offer some tips to help you break down long articles and make your content more engaging.
Let’s get started!
Table of contents hides
How long should a blog post be?
What research says about article length
How to write engaging posts with a high word count (4 tips)
- Focus on the search intent
- Prioritize quality over quantity
- Break the content down into digestible pieces
- Use images and other media
Conclusion
How long should a blog post be?
The length of a post is often determined by the topic or type of content you publish. For example, an in-depth article on digital marketing will naturally require more words than a quick update post. NDiversely, the length of a practice guide will depend on the number of methods or steps involved.
Your target audience also plays an important role in determining the length of a blog post. If your readers are looking for a quick solution to a WordPress-related problem , you will need your content to be short and to the point. On the other hand, if your audience is interested in comprehensive guides or tutorials, you’ll want to provide as much information as possible.
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It is also important to consider SEO. Yoast SEO, for example, recommends a minimum of 300 words for a regular post.
For core content (the main pages and posts you want to be viewed by all visitors), the minimum recommended word count is 900 words. If your posts are too short, search engines such as Google may see them as poor content . These are posts that provide little value to readers and are therefore ignored (or even penalized) by Google.
At the same time, if your posts are too long, they could have a negative impact on your user experience (UX) . Some visitors may be put off by long articles, especially if they cannot find the answer they are looking for in the first few paragraphs.
What research says about article length
Google regularly releases updates to its algorithm. These are designed to improve the quality and relevance of search results and normally target factors such as a site’s user experience. In addition, Google pays attention to the quality of your content.
In the past, Google favored long-form articles with a word count above 3,000 . However, some recent data suggest that the search engine is now prioritizing shorter content.
Backlinko recently analyzed 11.8 million Google search results and found that the average Google first page result contains 1,447 words . However, other sources recommend a higher word count.
According to HubSpot’s data, the ideal word count for a blog post is also slightly higher, around 2,250-2,500 words . HubSpot found that articles of this length had the most organic traffic and attracted the most backlinks.
On the other hand, Google has often said that word count is not a ranking factor. In an SEO Mythbusting video , Martin Splitt, a Google developer advocate, states that the goal should be to satisfy the user’s query intent, regardless of whether it requires 50 words or 2,000.
If the top results for a particular search query are about 2,000 words long, this suggests that it is the ideal word count to meet the user’s intent. Therefore, instead of setting a fixed word count for all your posts, you may want to allow some flexibility.
The length of your blog post will likely be determined by the nature of the article and the user intent you are trying to address. When writing new content, therefore, we suggest you check out the main competitors for your target keyword and aim to create something of similar length.
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How to write engaging posts with a high word count (4 tips)
As we have seen, high-yield posts often fall in the 1,500- to 2,500-word range. This suggests that long posts can help you drive more organic traffic to your website.
However, the length of your article is only one aspect to consider. Let’s take a look at some tips to help you produce better content for readers and search engines.
Focus on search intent
Prioritize quality over quantity
Break your content down into “digestible” pieces
Use images and other media
- Focus on search intent
As mentioned earlier, Google tries to show the most relevant content for a given search query. This means that in order for your content to perform well in search engine results pages (SERPs), it must meet the ‘search intent . This term refers to what users are trying to find when they type in a particular keyword or query:
For example, if you are targeting the search term ” how to create a website,” your post should ideally contain a step-by-step guide that walks readers through the entire process. This may require more words than the average post, but it may be necessary to fully meet the user’s intent.
Otherwise, if users want to know ” what is cloud hosting? “, you might answer that question with a shorter post. In this scenario, a brief overview or explanation may be sufficient to satisfy the user’s search intent.
- Prioritize quality over quantity
Google may not directly take length into account, but prioritize quality content. According to the Webmaster Instructions , pages should provide useful and accurate information and contain relevant keywords.
We have already reviewed the importance of addressing users’ intentions. However, there are other things you can do to make sure your articles meet Google’s quality standards. For example, you can:
- Make sure your posts provide value to your readers.
- Avoid black hat practices such as keyword stuffing and duplicate content.
- Include links to related posts on your blog and link to any relevant sources.
Backlinks are another indicator of a page’s quality. However, getting links from third-party websites can be a bit difficult, especially if you are not familiar with the blogs where you would like to post.
Therefore, you might consider guest posting on other blogs. For example, you could contribute an informative article that contains a link to a relevant post on your website. Ideally, you will publish your content on authoritative websites with large amounts of traffic.
Quality content can help you build authority and credibility in your niche. This can help you climb the rankings on Google and expand a loyal readership or customer base. Therefore, you may want to focus your efforts on your page content rather than word count.
- Break your content down into digestible chunks
If you are writing long posts, you may want to make sure your content is easy to read and follow. Large portions of text can easily discourage readers, especially if they are reading your post on a small screen. This can have a negative impact on your conversions and your SEO.
The trick is to break up your content into small, digestible sections. Let’s take a look at some effective ways to do this:
- Use shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs.
- Divide your content into multiple sections, using H2 headings for main topics and H3 – H6 for subtopics.
- Incorporate elements such as lists and quotes to add some variety to your content.
If you use the Block Editor , you can use the Separator or Cover block to create breaks between large sections:
These tips can be especially useful when writing cornerstone content. Cornerstone articles are generally longer and more detailed than regular posts. They also contain links that direct users to other posts and pages on your site.
Therefore, we recommend that you make sure these important articles are easy to follow. This will encourage visitors to read the entire post (or at least browse through it) and click on the links within.
If you use Yoast SEO, the plugin can give you some tips to improve the readability of your posts. For example, it will let you know if your sections or sentences are too long:
When writing in-depth articles, such as core content, do not limit yourself to word count. You should provide as much information as possible, using as many words as necessary. As long as they are also clearly structured, these pieces can help reduce bounce rates and increase engagement (including click-throughs).
- Use images and other media
When used properly, images can help make your content more interesting and engaging. You can also use them as separators between the main sections of your post.
Long-form articles may require more photos. However, including many media files can slow down your pages, which can result in a higher bounce rate. Therefore, we recommend compressing all the images you use in your articles.
Also, we recommend that you add alternative text to your images. This helps communicate the content of your pictures to users with screen readers and thus makes your website more accessible:
Alternative text also provides search engine crawlers with additional information about your content. This allows them to properly index your images, which can help improve the ranking of your posts.
In addition, you could incorporate a relevant video into your content. This can be especially effective if you are writing a long tutorial. For example, you can demonstrate the troubleshooting process in a short clip that accompanies written instructions.
As with images, videos can slow down your pages. So instead of uploading them directly to your website, you may want to embed videos in your post .
For example, you might upload your videos to your YouTube channel and then use the YouTube block to embed them in your articles:
A healthy mix of media and text can help improve the user experience. This can lead to better rankings for your long-form content..
Conclusion
Recent data show that the top results on Google’s first page tend to be long-form articles with word counts between 1,500 and 2,500 words.
However, Google has often said that it does not consider article length as a ranking factor. Rather, its focus is on the relevance and quality of the content. So the short answer to the question “how long should a blog post be” is as long as it needs to be .
In this post, we shared some tips for writing long-form articles that work well:
1.Focus on the user’s intent and respond in the best way possible.
2.Prioritize quality over quantity by providing valuable information to your readers.
3.Break your content down into digestible chunks to improve readability.
4.Use images and other media to make your longer posts more engaging.