SEO

How Long Should a Blog Post Be?

Every content marketer must face the blank page when writing engaging, SEO-optimized website copy. You want to inform and inspire so you can attract traffic to your site and become an authority prized by search engines, and it all begins with posting quality content.

When starting this process, you’ll want to begin by deciding how long to make your blog posts.

The answer to this mystery is simple — you need to balance between ranking on search engines and audience engagement to find your ideal length. Thankfully, the experts have uncovered specific word counts so you can skip the trial-and-error process.

This guide will help walk you through the ideal blog post length for search engine optimization (SEO) and how to find the word count that best fits your content and audience.

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The perfect blog post length for SEO

SEO-optimized posts are typically between 1000-2500 words. Posts longer than this estimate are considered longform content. However, there’s no perfect length when it comes to creating blog posts for SEO.

Several factors, like the keyword you’re targeting and the existing search result landscape will influence the length of your content and how much information you include.

Word counts for types of blog content

Here are some general word count guidelines to follow when creating blog content.

• 300-600 words: This length can fit posts like a how-to article to solve a common problem in a single step. Typically, the length is too short for the average blog post because it does not have the depth to demonstrate authority on the topic.
• 600-800 words: These word counts are typical for highly factual information like encyclopedia entries, product descriptions and newspaper articles.
• 1300-1700 words: These blog posts typically answer a user’s question in the “What is…” format. At this point, users begin to share these posts because of their educational value.
• 1700-2100 words: This word count range works well for “How to …” articles that generate leads and organic traffic.
• 2300-2500 words: These blog posts fall within the ideal range for SEO and often use lists to provide an in-depth explanation of a subject.

Why is longform content helpful for SEO?

While shorter posts can still rank and drive results, there are several benefits of longform content for SEO.

Google has advanced algorithms for ranking content that can help you boost your business presence online. Longform content naturally promotes attaining several of these criteria for success.

Keywords and links

Google uses a tool called “Googlebot” to crawl all of the websites on the Internet and index them by topic. In a simplified explanation, the Googlebot algorithm acts as a librarian, cataloging and filing web pages by subject, website quality and many more ranking factors.

The longer the page, the easier it is for Google to determine the keywords and exact meaning of its content. The length also provides more opportunities to include internal links and link out to other authoritative websites.

The value of the in-depth content on a longform post also gives readers incentive to link back to your website, which gives your site more authority with Google. All of these practices for creating SEO-friendly websites become easier with a larger word count.

Dwell time

The longer someone remains on your webpage without returning to the search engine results page (SERP), the more Google rewards your content as interesting and relevant. This metric is a ranking signal for Google called dwell time. If the user spends less time reading on the page, Google may determine that your content was irrelevant to their question.

Longform content engages the reader by serving them a buffet of content on the topic they requested rather than one portion. That’s why so many articles don’t answer the main question at the top — the author wants you to read the whole thing or at least skim through to spend more time on the page.

Want professional help creating outstanding blog content?

Content marketing requires more than just creative talent to drive your web traffic. Key technical skills like selecting the right word count for SEO, keyword research, graphic design and more require savvy. Here at WebFX, we have professional blog writers who can help raise your rankings and generate leads.

Our team of specialists will bring over 25 years of hands-on experience in the digital marketing industry to your blog.

When you partner with WebFX, we study your company and create a comprehensive overview of how our blog services can fit into your marketing strategy. We’ve been doing this for decades and have earned more than 1000 testimonials from satisfied clients.

Ready to take the next step? The WebFX team is here to answer your questions and connect you with a free quote. You can reach out to us online now or speak with a specialist directly by phone at 888-601-5359.

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