How many words should a post have?
I just made my longer post at my website: 2991 words, and that made me think.
What is the proper length of a blog post?
I'm usually OK with more than 1500 words, and happy when I'm over 2000 but I guess that's because of the influence of other people's articles I've read on this topic which say:
- Google loves long posts.
- Long posts give you more chances to spread long-tail keywords which will help you rank better.
The thing is that I've read people confessing to be afraid of writing long posts in case the reader won't go through all the content or may get tired in the process and leave for good.
From my personal experience, I have to say that if the topic is worth it and the content is easy to read, I don't mind log posts, I even enjoy them and ask for more!
I've read posts of successful bloggers which nearly have more words than some pocket books, so I guess that it actually works out pretty well.
What do you guys think about this?
Does size matter here? ;)
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Thanks Pablo! I guess we're very visual and that kind of things help us maintain the interest on the screen ;)
I write to keep my audience interested on the topic. If it seems the post is going to be a long winded one then I throw some images in to hold their attention. I guess that practice makes perfect and one day I will be able to write a long post and still keep it interesting. Garland
That makes complete sense, Garland.
We write to keep our public interested and to engage with them so that should be the main objective of our posts.
Thanks for commenting!
Israel.
I don't bother counting or keeping track. Personally if a blog is too long I lose interest and most people these days have no time.
I write until I'm finished with the information needed. First I list a couple of keywords, have some images etc..having a plan for each blog.
Then I write it out. Keep in mind, there are plenty of keywords in the content throughout that we don't realize and Google ranks them. As long as there is a keyword in the title, within the first two paragraphs and depending on how long the blog is, one or two more because as I mentioned, there are keywords we aren't aware of. Google does not like content plastered with keywords, just write naturally and don't worry about how many words there are.
If there is a ton on information, just make two blogs out of it. Some blogs can be 500 words because that is all that's needed, adding a couple of extra images helps for the lack of content.
That's some good advice Patsy.
It's very important what you say about other keywords you won't even notice. I usually pick one main keyword for the title and first paragraph and maybe at the end, and then also several secondary keywords to rank for those as well.
Thank you very much for the comment!
Israel.
You are welcome Israel.
Sometimes we post a blog here and get something in the answer we never new, like how google ranks other keywords in our posts we weren't aware of.
I always learn new things and write a blog about them to share with everyone :)
Long posts are good, but you can vary it. There's nothing wrong with writing some shorter posts here and there. You can write short posts for related keywords and then internal link back to your main post.
If you are going to write VERY long posts, I highly recommend you create a clickable table of contents at the beginning. Take a look at any Wikipedia article to see what I mean. How to Create a Clickable Table of Contents
That's a very useful resource, Marcus! Thanks!
I've actually seen it on some post and wondered if I shoud use it. I'll take a close look at that.
Short posts linked to a main one is also a very good point!
Thanks a lot for the ideas!
Cheers!
Israel.
First of all, you are going to get a lot of mixed answers here haha.
I think it all comes down to the subject of the article. For example if you were writing a post about 'Is Chicago In The USA?' then it doesn't need to be 1000+ words. But if you were writing about 'the history of Chicago' then it should be over 1000+ words easy.
Typically my niche sites are about 1200-1500 words and for my make money niche its usually more as I go into more depth. I also look at the competition for that keyword to see not only how many words it has, but how much detail it has gone into so that I can improve on it. The longest I have written is about 5000 words on purpose trying to rank for a heap of related keywords :p
You're right, Josh, the question at the end was kinda tricky ;)
That makes sense. The topic is what is going to give you a hint in the end I guess. Checking the competition is also a good idea.
Thanks for your feedback on this, my friend!
Have a great day!
Israel.
Totally. I guess you couldn't say an aproximate number in general, since there's different kinds of content, and some may require a deeper analisis than others.
Thanks Paul!
Israel.
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I usually put the amount of words it takes to get the information across to my readers.
If my post is short but sweet and I know my readers will gain some knowledge from it, it will work for me.
Anything over 500 words honestly is great!
That's my personal opinion :)
You made a good point there, Jaime.
I guess sometimes I get distracted by searching perfection and ranking, when the main thing I should focus on is to help my readers with relevant info.
Thanks for commenting!
Cheers!
Israel.