Coming up with a blog topic that’s entertaining and informative can help you drive traffic to your site and cement your reputation as an authority in your space. But, if you find yourself wondering how long your blog post should be, you’re not alone.
So, is the length of your blog post even important?
The short answer is: absolutely. Blog article length can affect how long a visitor stays on your page and the likelihood they’ll engage with the content. It can also impact SEO, affecting your all-important visibility in search results.
Unfortunately, determining how much or how little you should write can be tricky. Posts that are too short can feel skimpy and may diminish your authority. A post that’s too long can lose a reader’s interest.
So, how do you determine how long a blog post should be? To make the job easier, let’s break down the factors that contribute to the ideal length of an article.
What Is the Ideal Length for a Blog Post?
Blog posts aren’t one-size-fits-all and typically range from about 300 words to upwards of 2,000 words, depending on the format and intent. In fact, the ideal article length can vary by industry, topic and what you aim to accomplish with your piece.
However, although you won’t find a definitive rule for blog post length, factors, such as the complexity and anticipated scope of the subject, can help you hone in on an appropriate word count range. So, let’s take a closer look at the contributing factors to blog post length.
Your Blog Topic and Its Expected Scope
The article’s topic and its anticipated scope should directly impact its length. While some posts are meant to give readers a brief overview of a topic, others take a deep dive and require more words to effectively explore the nuances of the subject. Your article’s length should reflect:
- The topic’s complexity
- Your approach to the topic
- The amount of information available on the subject
- How much information you wish to impart about the topic
- Your level of expertise in the field
Your Keyword Expectations
If you want your article to rank highly on Google for specific keywords, SEO software can help you determine an appropriate word count based on industry standards. Tools, such as Frase and SEMRush’s SEO Writing Assistant, can analyze Google’s top search results for your targeted keywords. These analytics provide valuable information, such as the length of these successful posts, which can help you better plot your own article.
The Top-Performing Posts on Your Website
The ideal blog article length can vary depending on your niche, so take a cue from your own blog or website. By examining top-performing posts, you can better understand what’s working, especially if you see a direct correlation between length and performance.
What the Competition is Writing
By looking at what others in the space are writing, you can often get a feel for how long a blog post should be. Check out articles that cover similar topics and approaches, and pay special attention to bloggers who have a solid reputation in your area.
Your Intended Audience
Always consider your audience when determining the length of a post. An article intended to provide information and insight to industry professionals should typically be longer than one intended to provide basic education or information to a consumer.
Using Competitor Analysis SEO to Determine the Ideal Blog Length
If your competitors consistently outrank you in search results, you need to know why. Competitor analysis SEO can offer insights into the market, including clues as to why you’re being outranked. This information an help you can design a strategy to improve your content and effectively compete in a crowded marketplace.
Through competitor analysis, you can determine:
- Your primary SEO competitors: Your SEO competitors are businesses that are using similar keywords or keyword phrases. These companies may not be the same as your real-world rivals. Even if they operate in a different geographic area or another industry altogether, they may be competing with you for the visibility that comes with high search rankings for these keywords.
- Your competitors’ top pages: Competitors’ pages that generate the most traffic or rank highest may surprise you and may provide important information about what potential customers are actually searching for.
- How your keywords stack up: Keyword difficulty represents the amount of effort it should take to rank on Google’s first page of search results for a given keyword or keyword phrase. It can be an important consideration when deciding what keywords to aim for and what keywords just aren’t worth it.
An effective competitor analysis SEO strategy can show you who you’re up against and how they’re faring in the market. Ultimately, this information can serve as a benchmark for choosing keywords and deciding on an ideal post length.
The Benefits of Long-Form Blog Posts
Although conventional wisdom suggests that today’s searchers have shorter attention spans, longer blog posts have recently fallen into favor for several main reasons:
- They often provide higher content value. Long-form blog posts can offer a reader more value than short-form posts, providing the key insights a visitor may be seeking and giving them all the information they need in one place.
- They can help a company demonstrate authority. These deeper dives can also help businesses cement their authority in a space, often giving potential customers the confidence to purchase products or services from the company.
- There’s less keyword stuffing. Shorter posts may lend themselves to unwanted keyword stuffing. In longer posts, writers have the room to weave keywords in effectively, enhancing SEO without sacrificing readability.
- They encourage dwell time:. Dwell time measures the time from when a visitor clicks through a search result to your page and when they leave and return to the search results. If visitors read most or all of a longer blog post, you’ll have a better dwell time, which could potentially result in a higher Google search ranking.
- They’re more likely to be shared on social media. Readers may be more likely to share longer-form content on social media, which improves visibility and may attract more visitors to your site.
However, although long blog posts have many benefits, it’s important to prioritize quality over quantity. That means keeping your articles free of fluff and filler. If you can adequately say something in 500 words rather than 2,000, you should do so. If you want to lengthen a blog post to reach your target range without sacrificing quality, consider taking a deeper dive into your chosen subject. By adding examples and insights, you can provide more value for your reader while encouraging them to stay on the page longer.
Are Blog-Writing Services Worthwhile?
When you outsource your blog content, you can take the worry out of blogging. Blog-writing services, such as Crowd Content, let companies acquire publish-ready, SEO-rich posts at the scale they need. These professionally written blogs can boost your website traffic, help you increase visibility and generate great new leads. With the right partner, you’ll be able to post world-class content regularly without the worry of managing a costly team of in-house writers. That may just give you the leg-up over the competition that your business needs.
