One of the most common questions that I’m asked regarding blog writing is “How long should a blog post be?” It’s a question that is tougher to answer than it initially seems. As with almost everything regarding writing, website content, blogging and SEO, there is no hard and fast answer that is applicable in 100% of cases. This is not an exact science. If you’re looking for an answer that works in 100% of cases, that answer would be “As long as it needs to be.” Of course, that isn’t a very concrete answer and it may not seem like very much help. But read on for more.
When it comes to blog posts and blog writing, you need to write enough that the post is interesting and informative and you need to ensure that your post contains relevant information. The length of these pieces varies greatly, depending on the subject you are writing about. In general, you should write as much as you need to fully explain your idea or your point and no more. If you can do this in 300 words, that’s good. There’s no need for more. Don’t try to stretch it. If it takes 2000 words, that’s fine too.
But how does the length of a blog post affect search engine rankings?
Again, there is no concrete answer. Google’s algorithms are only 100% known to Google, so there’s no way to tell exactly how much relevance Google places on any individual factor.
However, what we do know is that Google and other search engines know that unique and informative content is important. In fact, original articles, blogs and web content are more important than ever. Some people mistakenly believe that recent Google updates have made written content less important. This isn’t true. If your website was ranked lower by a recent Google update, it’s not because of well-written and original content. The type of content that is ranked lower by Google updates is almost exclusively poorly written content, spammy content, copied content, etc.
Original content is what Google loves. Quality content is important.
So what if you think it might be the quality of your content that is affecting your rankings? Panda was pretty tough on many types of content that Google deemed to be of poor quality.
“So if you are not ranking as highly as you were in the past, overall, it’s always a good idea to think about, OK, can I look at the quality of the content on my site? Is there stuff that’s derivative, or scraped, or duplicate, and just not as useful?”
Not surprisingly, Cutts said this is a type of content that doesn’t rank well, and it’s the quality content that will be higher up in the Google search rankings.
Posting original content on your own website is one of the best ways to grow traffic.
Now, back to length. When it comes to the length of a blog post, there is no set guideline from Google other than that it should be high-quality, interesting content. There is no definite limit for what length your blog post should be. You need to write a blog post that is informative, useful and well-written. Longer does not always equal better. After all, it is Google’s goal to help users find what they are looking for. No one is looking for poorly-written content that has no point, regardless of the length of the piece. Keeping this in mind, it’s obvious that Google won’t rank a poorly-written, spammy piece that is 1095 words more highly than a well-written piece that is 395 words.
So, in short, write well. Write posts that are interesting and informative. Write posts that visitors will want to read. Don’t obsess other length or keyword density or anything else. For more information how to write for the web and how to create content that both people and search engines will read, check out this post: Five Tips to Remember When Writing Online Content.
If you have any questions about writing for the web or how a blog post can help draw traffic to your website, please do not hesitate to contact us. With years of experience in creating original blog content that increases traffic, we’re glad to help.