Regularly writing high-quality content is an effective way to increase your visibility in search engines. However, the length of your articles can also impact 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’ll talk about the ideal blog post length for SEO, based on recent data. We’ll then offer you some tips to help you break down long articles and make your content more engaging.
Let’s begin!
How long should a blog post be?
The length of a post is often determined by the topic or type of content you post. For example, an in-depth article on digital marketing will naturally require a larger word count than a quick update post. Otherwise, the length of a how-to 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 fix to a WordPress-related problem, you’ll need your content to be short and to the point. However, if your audience is interested in comprehensive guides or tutorials, we recommend providing as much information as possible.
It is also important to take SEO into consideration. Yoast SEO, for example, recommends a minimum of 300 words for a normal post.
For core content (the main pages and posts that you want all visitors to see), the recommended minimum word count is 900 words. If your posts are too short, search engines like Google may view them as poor content . These are posts that give 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 negatively impact your user experience (UX). Some visitors may be put off by long articles, especially if they can’t find the answer they’re 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 the user experience of a site. Additionally, 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 suggests 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 data from HubSpot, the ideal word count for a blog post is even 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 video , Martin Splitt, a Google developer advocate, says that the goal should be to satisfy the intent of the user’s query, whether it requires 50 words or 2,000.
If the top results for a particular search query are around 2,000 words long, that suggests that’s the ideal word count to match user intent. So instead of setting a fixed word count for all your posts, you may want to allow for some flexibility.
The length of your blog post will likely be determined by the nature of the article and the user intent you’re trying to address. When writing new content, therefore, we suggest checking out the top competitors for your target keyword and aiming to create something of similar length.
How to Write Engaging Posts with a High Word Count (4 Tips)
As we’ve seen, high-performing posts often fall in the 1,500 – 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 look at some tips to help you produce better content for readers and search engines.
- Focus on search intent
- Prioritize quality over quantity
- Break the contents into “digestible” pieces
- Use images and other media
1. Focus on search intent
As mentioned above, Google tries to show the most relevant content for a given search query. This means that for your content to perform well on search engine results pages (SERPs), it must satisfy search intent . This term refers to what users are trying to find when they type a certain keyword or query:
For example, if you’re 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 a larger word count than the average post, but may be necessary to fully satisfy the user’s intent.
Otherwise, if users want to know ” what is cloud hosting? ”, you could answer this question with a shorter post. In this scenario, a brief overview or explanation may be sufficient to satisfy the user’s search intent.
2. Prioritize quality over quantity
Google may not directly take length into account, but instead prioritize quality content. According to the Webmaster Guidelines , pages should provide useful, accurate information and contain relevant keywords.
We’ve already looked at the importance of addressing user intent. 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 the quality of a page. However, getting links from third-party websites can be a little difficult, especially if you don’t know the blogs where you would like to post.
Therefore, you may want to consider guest posting on other blogs. For example, you might contribute an informative article that links 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 grow an audience of loyal readers or customers. Therefore, you may want to focus your efforts on the content of your pages rather than word count.
3. Break down the contents into digestible pieces
If you’re writing long posts, you’ll want to make sure your content is easy to read and follow. Large chunks of text can easily turn off readers, especially if they’re reading your post on a small screen. This can have a negative impact on your conversions and SEO.
The trick is to break your content into small, digestible sections. Let’s look at some effective ways to do this:
- Use shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs.
- Divide your content into multiple sections, using headings H2 for main topics and H3 – H6 for subtopics.
- Incorporate elements like 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 helpful when writing critical content. Cornerstone articles are typically longer and more detailed than regular posts. They also contain links that direct users to other posts and pages on your site.
Therefore, you’ll want to make sure these important articles are easy to follow. This will encourage visitors to read the entire post (or at least skim 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, don’t limit yourself to word count. You will need to provide as much information as possible, using as many words as necessary. As long as they’re also clearly structured, these pieces can help reduce bounce rates and increase engagement (including click-throughs).
4. Use images and other media
When used correctly, 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 items may require more photos. However, including a lot of media files can slow down your pages, which can result in a higher bounce rate . Therefore, it is recommended to compress all images you use in your articles.
Additionally, we recommend adding alternative text to your images. This helps communicate the contents of your photos to users with screen readers and therefore makes your website more accessible:
Alt text also provides search engine crawlers with additional information about your content. This allows them to index your images correctly, which can help improve the ranking of your posts.
Additionally, you could embed a relevant video into your content. This can be especially effective if you’re writing a long tutorial. For example, you can demonstrate the troubleshooting process in a short clip that accompanies the 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 the videos in your post.
For example, you could upload your videos to your YouTube channel and then use the YouTube block to insert them into your articles:
A healthy mix of media and text can help improve user experience. This can lead to better rankings for your long-form content.
Conclusion
Recent data shows that the top results on the first page of Google 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’ve shared some tips for writing long-form articles that work well:
- Focus on the user’s intent and respond as best you can.
- Prioritize quality over quantity by providing valuable information to your readers.
- Break content into digestible chunks to improve readability.
- Use images and other media to make your longer posts more engaging.
Good work!
