Companies that blog receives 55% more visitors to their website than those that don’t. They also receive 97% more links to their website.

It’s clear that blogging is a vital part of SEO, but to get all the benefits it offers, you have to get it right. Not all blogs are created equal and when it comes to blogging for SEO one of the most important – and debated factors – is length.

So, how long should a blog post be? If you are wondering the answer to this question, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn about blog post length, what search engines like, and other blogging information that can ensure your site is an SEO success.

Does Length Really Matter?

The short answer is "yes." Blog post length is important because it correlates to better rankings in all the big-name search engines (i.e., Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.). While this correlation has been present for years, in 2019, there’s best practice evidence that shows longer posts are becoming more important for a higher ranking.

For Google blog posts, the average word count for the top-10 listed blogs has increased. In 2017, it was just 1,140. Now, it’s 1,285.

The algorithms used by Google (and other search engines) ranks the highest-quality content at the top of the page because it wants to provide the best results possible. The logical conclusion has been made that longer content is more thorough, which means it’s more likely to be useful to the target audience.

While length matters, it’s not the only factor to consider. Keep reading to learn more about content length, SEO, and how to optimize your blogs to achieve the top spots in Google search.

Factors That Can Impact the Length of Your Content

If you are trying to determine the proper length for your content, there are several factors that will impact the result. Learn about these factors here.

Search Intent

If you speak to SEO experts, each one will have a different opinion regarding the right length for your content. Some will say that 300 to 500 words are best, while others may say that 2,000 is the minimum word count for any blog.

To determine how long your content needs to be, you need to find out what’s considered typical for your industry. Also, consider what fulfills the intent of the user’s search query.

For example, does the intent behind your keyword require you to write long-form content to fully answer it? If so, write a long-form post.

However, you may answer the query better with images. If that’s the situation, optimize your images for SEO and reduce the total words on your page.

A good way to figure out your searcher’s intent is by searching for keywords. The word you are searching may differ significantly from how Google spiders interpret it.

You can perform a SERP analysis to see if Google has found the content valuable for the selected keywords. If Google puts a value on a blog, look at the content. Using a SERP analysis can help you learn a lot about what content will succeed in search results for a specific keyword.

Quality vs. Quantity

While the length of your content matters, and is something you need to consider, the quality of your content can’t be ignored. There are many who try so hard to reach a specific word count, they don’t think about what they are writing. This leads to unrelated “fluff” that offers no value to the end-user.

The end goal of any content is to provide the information a user wants. If it can be said in 300 words, great; however, if 2,500 words are needed, that’s fine too. Remember, the ultimate goal is to meet the needs of the end-user.

When creating content, make sure you are consistent and innovative. By creating valuable and unique content, you have the chance to build trust, brand awareness, authority, and a rapport each time someone lands on your page.

Remember, your writing style will impact the length of your content, too. Some blogs need to be short and to the point. Others are more interactive and conversational, resulting in the content being longer.

Target Audience

As mentioned above, who you are targeting impacts the content you create.

Similar to any quality web content, you need to have a goal. Get to know your target audience. These are the people who will search for and read the content you create.

It’s also necessary to think about a person’s level of intent. Are they looking for basic discovery information? Do they want to buy something with as few clicks as possible?

The content you create needs to reflect your end-user and the different stages of user intent.

Quality content is mapped out before it’s created. It needs to connect your websites and business’s goals and the content you publish and the goals of users.

It’s More Than Words

Remember, your content’s quality goes beyond what you write. The best content connects everything using respectable writing, research, and a focus on the user’s intent.

Even if you have an amazing video to post, you need to add well-written content that explains what the video is about. Also, any additional resources that can improve the content and help the user more.

As a content strategist, your ultimate goal is to provide the best information, in the right format, on the proper platform.

There’s some content that is easier to read and digest when written. However, other content is better suited to visual consumption, which is when video and images are necessary. In some situations, audio files are the best media option.

Writing What You Need

A sound bit of advice when creating content for your website is to write as much as you need, but no more. The word count of your content should represent how long it takes you to make your point.

If you “fluff up” a page to reach a certain, arbitrary word count requirement, your readers will know. Not only that, but Google, will too.

Shorter copy can still rant. There’s no point in adding more content “just in case.” As mentioned above, you need to focus on answering the search query.

When creating content, think about the following to determine if more words are needed:

• Did you say everything you could?
• Did you overcome all possible objections?
• Have you showcased your service or product?
• Is the usage of your key phrase seamless?
• Does your copy encourage readers to take the next step?
• Have you connected with your reader?

If you can answer “yes,” your job is done. It’s that simple.

Make the Form Match Your Word Count and Content

There’s not a single winning formation when it comes to your webpage layout. When discussing content form, it includes:

• Total word count
• Meta and title tags
• Content structure
• HTML tags
• Piece tone

If you know what your content is trying to communicate and the search the content satisfies (discussed above), you can start to develop your page’s form around the content. If you have a technical article about stock trades, dive into the facts immediately.

If you have an entertaining listicle, you’re catering to an audience that’s more forgiving if you have a slow start.

Google has made it clear: Write for users, rather than search engines. This is still some of the best advice regarding content, word count, and creating an amazing website.

When are Short Blog Posts Best?

The “ideal range” of words for a blog is confusing. While this is true, there’s a right time for short content, and a right time for long content.

Some benefits offered by creating shorter content include:

• Create it with ease more often
• It’s easier to read
• More content results in a larger footprint

Short content is typically thought of as between 300 and 500 words.

Shorter content is easier to create frequently. For many, being able to write a 1,000 (or more) word post each week isn’t possible. By focusing on shorter content, you are more likely to create a content creation schedule you can stick to.

Another benefit of shorter content is that it’s typically easier to read. Long-form content can compromise quality, which will hurt SEO and defeat why your content is created, to begin with.

If your strength isn’t writing, it’s a good idea to focus on creating more reader-friendly, short content pieces. When you post shorter content, you also get to post more, and focus on more topics.

Rather than focusing your time on creating a perfect post on one area of focus for your business, you can develop quick, short posts on several topics that are relevant. This helps you offer more to your readers.

While the benefits listed here are compelling, shorter content has also been proven more effective to sell a service or product or to get your readers to take a desired action.

Potential Drawbacks of Short Content

Just like anything else, there are also drawbacks of short content. These include:

• Search engines can’t discern context as easily
• Fewer ranking opportunities
• No opportunity to speak to readers on their level

While this is true, there are some instances when short posts are best.

When are Long-Form Blog Posts Best?

There’s a good reason that long posts get so much attention. When it comes to SEO, longer is better.

Some of the specific benefits of longer blog posts include:

• Readers stick around longer
• Search engines understand the intent and context

Longer content has better SEO performance because it provides search engines with more information about the post’s content. While content is still king – context is queen.

Longer content is more likely to be shared via social media, too. It’s also more likely to be linked to by other blogs, which improves SEO further.

Potential Drawbacks of Long-Form Blog Posts

Some of the potential negatives of long-form blog posts include:

• Inability to keep readers engaged
• Stronger writers needed to product content

While long-form content offers many benefits, there are also drawbacks. One main issue that bloggers have when writing long-form posts is keeping people engaged.

The average person reads only 25% of blog posts, which means they aren’t paying attention to all the content in a longer post. While this is true, you shouldn’t give up on using long-form content.

You can find success by using visuals such as GIFs, charts, infographics, and photos, which can help to hook your reader’s attention and keep them engaged until the end.

A downfall of long-form content for many is that you have to have strong writing skills. If writing isn’t your forte, you may have to find someone to create the long content for you.

How Long Should a Blog Post Be? It Depends

As you can see from the information here, when trying to figure out the answer to, “how long should a blog post be,” it really depends. There are several factors that impact how long your blog should be.

While some conclude that longer is always better, that’s not the case. As a result, take the information here and use it to find a “sweet spot” for your content and your audience.

If you help or information to ensure you get the perfect content for your site every time, contact us. We are content pros and can help ensure your news and goals are achieved.

Over 50% of website traffic comes from search engines.

Yet, 65% of clicks happen on the first five search results. With hundreds of thousands of searches happening every second, the top five is where you want to be.

In a perfect world, your business appears in the first spot on Google. Furthermore, it shows up there for all relevant searches. You get thousands of new visitors a week and your revenue is through the roof!

But, this isn't a perfect world.

Ranking well in search engines is hard. And the SEO world is so advanced that even the ones who run it don't fully understand how it works.

So, what do you do?

You can help yourself by optimizing your content to rank well in search engines. There's a right way and a wrong way to do that.

There's actually a kind of wrong way do it, too. But don't worry. By the end of this article, you'll understand the difference between black, white, and grey hat SEO techniques.

What is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is optimizing your content to appear on the first page of Google. Let's look at an example.

Pretend you're interested in learning how to train your cat. So, you turn to Google hoping to find the information you need.

You search for "how to train your cat". Magically, the results appear and you click on the first one. It has everything you need to know.

You buy a training kit and you're off teaching your cat how to high-five, sit, and follow other commands.

Now, flip that example upside down.

You're the company selling cat training kits to excited cat parents. These customers are what keep your business flourishing.

It makes sense that you want to reach them when they search for related terms on Google, right? Right. And you want to appear first because you know that the number one spot has a 34% click-through rate.

The process of getting your website to rank number one is the essence of SEO.

How Do Search Engines Decide Who Ranks Where? And no, it's not Magic

Google uses at least 200 metrics to determine what order to display results. Search engines are always looking for ways to make their algorithms more human. As they do this, they become more complex and harder to understand.

Even Google doesn't know 100% how it works.

That's why people spend their entire careers studying and experimenting with SEO. There's so much to know and it changes by the minute. But, there are some ranking factors known to affect where you appear in search results.

The Top 9 Ranking Factors

Although nobody knows the most important metrics, there are many factors that have proven to make a difference.

1. Actively Publishing Content

Google favors websites that are continuously updated. This means you should be creating and delivering content regularly. It can also be beneficial to update old articles that may not be performing well.

2. High-Quality Content

The length of your content matters. But, it only matters if you're providing valuable information to your audience. Adding "fluff" to your articles for the sake of making them longer can actually hurt your rankings.

The average length of a top ten article has at least 2,000 words. But each of those words is valuable. They're there for a reason.

Google values sites that go all in and produce the best content.

3. Mobile-First Design

More people use their phone to search. Before 2016, Google only crawled the desktop version of your site. Once they realized that most people aren't using desktops, they changed how they index websites.

In 2016, Google rolled out an update that began indexing mobile websites to create a better mobile user experience.

Google prefers websites that are mobile responsive and are easy to use across all devices.

4. Page Speed

The internet is a world of instant gratification. The age of learning from encyclopedias and other in-print media is over. Because of that, people expect things to happen almost instantaneously.

Even one second makes a difference. That one second can cause conversion rates to drop by over 20%.

Sites that load in 3 seconds or less are best for the mobile user experience.

5. Backlinks

Backlinks are a signal of authority and popularity. The more people are talking about your website, the more Google trusts you as a source of high-quality information.

6. Site Security

Google wants its users to have a safe browsing experience. If your site isn't secured by an SSL license, you probably won't appear in search results.

7. User Experience

Have you ever clicked on an article only to find the text way too small to read on your phone? You immediately hit the back button, right?

Dwell time, bounce rate, and other technical metrics measure user experience. Make sure your site is easy to use and navigate no matter how someone accesses it.

8. Relevancy and Optimized Content

Search engines use keywords and semantic keywords to learn what an article is about. You can help Google get a clear picture by using relevant keywords throughout your articles and pages.

9. Social Signals

Anytime someone shares an article on social media, it passes along a signal. This signal tells Google that the post was good enough to share.

Google cares about showing the best articles first. Creating content that gets shared on social media can boost your website in search engine results.

So, How do You Get Your Website in that Coveted #1 Spot?

Moving up the ranks takes time. So, let's talk about black, white, and grey hat SEO techniques you can use to help speed up that process.

Black, White, and Grey? Here's What Hats have to do with SEO

"Hats" are philosophical views and opinions. What color hat you wear depends on how you approach search engine optimization. Wearing the wrong hat could actually hurt your search engine rankings.

Ouch.

What is White Hat SEO?

White hat techniques are acceptable by a search engine's policy and guidelines. They're considered "best practices" in the SEO world.

The goal isn't to trick the algorithm.

Using white hat SEO tactics can benefit your business long after you've stopped putting in work to rank on the first page. It also helps you avoid being penalized (or banned) by Google.

As humans, no one is perfect. Most people want to wear a white hat but actually, end up wearing one that's almost white.

Common White Hat Techniques

You can confidently use these white hat techniques without getting a slap on the wrist.

Relevant Keywords

If you offer composite manufacturing, you don't want to appear when someone searches for sheet metal fabrication. Google doesn't want that either.

Google needs to know what your pages and articles are about. Using the right keywords helps them make sure you appear when someone searches for something relevant to your business.

Proper Keyword Placement

It's common practice to place keywords in your H1 tag, meta description, image alt tags, subheadings, and throughout your content.

As Google becomes more human, it's able to figure out the overall idea of a specific article. So, using semantically similar keywords is beneficial, as well.

Creating Quality Content

Search engines know that a page with a handful of words isn't going to be valuable. They're interested in articles that go above and beyond explaining topics in-depth.

You can help yourself rank higher by writing long-form, valuable, and entertaining articles.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is developing a content plan aimed at attracting the right people. Usually, it means creating content around a group of keywords you know your audience uses.

Going back to the cat training example, a proud cat parent might also be interested in cat food. So, you write a series of articles around cat food targetting different keywords.

Content marketing creates a big picture for your blog.

Optimize Page Speed

Things like image size, website coding, Javascript, and CSS affect how quickly a page loads. You can reduce image sizes or deliver smaller images on mobile devices. Additionally, you can optimize your Java and CSS codes to reduce the overall file size.

Use Pingdom to see how fast your site loads.

Web Design for the Mobile Experience

As you know, Google values sites that perform well on mobile devices. Using a theme that is responsive can help ensure your site looks great across all platforms.

What is Black Hat SEO?

Black hat techniques fall outside of a search engine's policy and guidelines. They're tactics used to trick the system and artificially increase rankings.

While black hat tricks aren't illegal, they can expose you to harsh penalties and algorithm changes. As Google realizes how people are tricking the system, they create an update that "fixes" the problem.

Because of that, black hat tactics are not sustainable for long term growth. And, you could be banned from Google forever for using them.

It's risky but it's a risk a lot of businesses are willing to take.

Common Black Hat Techniques

Use the following black hat techniques at your own risk (although you probably shouldn't).

Keyword Stuffing

Long ago, content creators realized that using a keyword more often meant higher rankings. So, people began repeating the keyword over and over again. It wasn't uncommon to have that keyword repeated 20-30 times in a row.

Google learned that this created an awful user experience. Now, keyword stuffing is against the rules.

Invisible Keywords

Knowing that Google didn't like repetitive keywords, people started adding them where no one could see them. They'd make paragraphs of repeating keywords the same color as the background.

Once Google realized what was causing artificial rankings, they banned the practice.

Unrelated Keywords

To make their content appear more often, people used keywords that were irrelevant. They would include it multiple times in all the right places hoping to make their articles show up for unrelated searches.

Again, once Google realized what was going on, they put an end to it.

Buying Backlinks

There are websites out there that allow you to pay for backlinks. Not all links are created equal. Most of these sites are considered low-quality or SPAM.

Receiving a backlink from a site Google thinks is SPAM can hurt your rankings. All in all, buying backlinks isn't a good practice. Work on getting them organically by creating great content.

Doorway Pages

Doorway pages work by ranking for certain search phrases yet sending users to a different page. They're considered bad for the user experience. They often lead to multiple versions of the same page appearing in search results.

What is Grey Hat SEO?

There isn't a fine line between black and white hat SEO. That blurry line in the middle? That's where the grey hat comes in.

Grey hat techniques aren't fully defined. They don't technically fall inside or outside of a search engine's guidelines. These may get you penalized in the future but have a much lower risk.

Building backlinks is the most common form of grey hat SEO.

According to Google, doing things to attract backlinks to your site is against the rules. Yet, it's deemed as an acceptable thing to do because attaining backlinks naturally takes too much time.

Most businesses end up wearing a grey hat.

Common Grey Hat Techniques

Clickbait Titles

These are titles that promise something but fail to deliver. You likely see them all the time, particularly in the news and entertainment industry. Tabloids are notorious for clickbait titles.

These may get someone to visit your site but once they realize you lied to them, they won't stay long.

Link Building Schemes

Guest posting, guest posting networks, and influencer outreach are examples of link building schemes. They're used to generate high-quality backlinks to your site but in an "artificial" way.

Backlink Trading

Trading backlinks is a specific link building scheme. Trading happens when you agree to give someone a backlink and they give you one in return. This might be seen as a way of inorganically building backlinks.

White Hat vs Black Hat vs Grey Hat SEO

Black, white, and grey SEO techniques each come with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Most businesses hope to wear a white hat. But most of them end up wearing an almost white (or a grey) one, instead. These practices are less risky than their black hat counterpart.

The type of optimization you're comfortable with depends on what you're willing to risk. Getting banned from Google can be a permanent roadblock for your business.

Is it worth it? Probably not.

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