3000 words are the new standard
This article should have been published on Halloween because based on the heading it can scare the living daylight out of every one of us who are struggling to write even 500 words.
But there is a valid reason for my assertion and I will explain. And if you read through (or scroll if you are lazy) I will also give you a tip on how to write such a long article.
Google RankBrain
Sounds scary - and it is. The Google RankBrain is the algorithm that measures how a user interacts with the search result. RankBrain has for the past months been the third most important factor for your ranking.
Predictions are that its importance will increase as Google wants you to present more in-depth content.
RankBrain measures how much time the user spends on the search result after clicking on it. That means that Google will follow the reader that click on the search result to the website, and check out how he interacts with it.
So if he leaves after a short time, your ranking drops. The time he spends on your page is called Dwell Time by Google and now the average Dwell Time for a top ten ranking is 3 minutes 10 seconds.
So if your article can be read through in 1 minute 10 seconds it will not matter how good it is or how good the keywords are. It will eventually be outranked by the longer article.
In-depth content wins
Google will assume that if a user spends a long time on your page, you are providing the quality results the reader wanted and that your page is liked. And your ranking will be boosted.
So in order to achieve this, you have to write brilliant in-depth articles that give all the answers on your topic. This is also why embedded videos in your article are good. That increases the Dwell Time significantly.
So, how can I write a 3000-word article?
Well, I assume that you know a bit about your topic and niche. So if you plan to write an article, you can find a way to break the topic into 5 or 6 subtopics.
Then you write a 5-600 word article about each subtopic and you merge them together into one brilliant in-depth article, and suddenly you have 2500 words or more.
Your layout and presentation will make a big difference in how the reader interacts, so you need to pay a lot of attention to how you present it all.
Here is an example
The Google info presented here is not something that I came up with by myself. Google changes their ways every now and then, and part of our job as online marketers is to keep updated. So I read a lot and do lots of research also outside of WA. And after a few years of doing so, I have found some reliable information from authority sources that are not trying to rip me off in the reading process.
So today I came across an article by Backlinko. Backlinko is an authority source on SEO, but he is also a player in the 'how to write better blogs' niche so beware. I will not post a link, you can easily find the post by yourself on his blog.
If you read the article, you will get plenty of SEO tips for the new year, but what you should really notice is how the article is presented.
Just like I stated above, the main topic of the article is divided into subtopics of 4-600 words and voila, you have an in-depth authority article. It is presented in a very graphic way, it's easy to read and when you are done you are not even aware that you have consumed 4000 words or more.
Should every article be 3000 words?
Most likely no. But I am not sure.
My own prediction in this is that not every article on your blog needs to be 3000 words. But the ones you want to rank for should. You should be able to fill your blog with shorter articles relevant to the main one and use internal linking to attract the visitors. And by using long tail keywords in the shorter articles they will ride shotgun with the ranking of your in-depth article giving your site a good overall rank.
Recent Comments
106
Well, this is certainly interesting and it always wonders me how Google really, so it seems, to have us on a String like a Puppet.
I do get what you saying in your post but, I also still, in regards to what Google wants, do think for myself.
You can be very informative to the point with a word count of 1000-1500 or can babble away and don't say much with a word count of 3000 and over.
In my opinion, it also really depends on your niche and what you like to communicate to your audience and how deep you have/want to go with your content.
I do agree that content is still King/Queen lol, but the amount of word count doesn't always reflect it.
My thought at this moment is when will Google increase the word count up to 10000? Impossible? I wouldn't be surprised in the near future.
Just my two cents. :)
Sylvia
Totally Agree with you Sylvia especially on regardless on how many words are used.
What is more important is how well your content is engaging the reader.
This can be done in many ways using images, keyword, layout etc.
I have written content a couple with just under a 1000 words and some just under 3000 at both are ranking well for a long time.
As as you stated this can also depend on the particular Niche as well
:)
Thanks, Andre for your insight on this topic, appreciated. How are you doing? Good to hear from you :)
I recommend at least 1800 to start , then let it season while watching its rank until max is reached, then add 500 words and fetch in Google console... rinse and repeat until you have a 3,000 word post. This way you get traction up to page one, and STAY there by adding content and fetching afterword! It works.
Come on now. I own 5 websites which I run from here - 3 of which are extremely popular and ranked extremely well (I don't even bother selling affiliate products off them - I make enough through Adsense!).
These 3 websites have hundreds of top ranking articles (i.e. position 1 or 2 on page one) which have a word count below 500.
There is no magic bullet for ranking your work - it can be 500 words, 1000 or 3000 - anything goes!
It's best to stop reading other's opinions and write, write and write some more.
All you need for a successful website is content, any length over 300 words.
SEO is disappearing up it's own behind these days - he said, she said...
The truth of the matter - nobody really knows.
I doubt even Google spends as much time thinking about this subject as we do (well some of us anyway).
I'm perfectly aware of Backlinko and the rest of 'that' crew...but you are paying a membership here for a reason.
All you need is content - the more the better - any length - this won't change.
I agree with Chris. From my own experience Google places more emphasis on the total number of posts/words your site has overall; the bigger your site becomes the more 'gravty' and pulling power your site has.
Your rankings don't depend on the number of words, but its your article vs your competitor's.
The worst thing you can do is torture yourself to death by trying to stretch something out to 3,000 words when it's only a 700 word topic. Some people click off quickly when they see if it's a long drawn out article anyway...
Thinking of user experience, most people want the answer they're looking for in an interesting, get-to-the-point sort of way (especially on mobile!)
A few months ago I asked Kyle about this. I asked him if it is better to write 10 posts at 3,000 words each or 30 posts at a 1000 - the answer is more of the shorter posts.
I sort of agree with you. I too have websites to that rank now, despite that they shouldn't according to what Google and others say and teach. And I agree that the best thing to do is to write.
But unless we are aware of what's coming - and this will come - our ranking, and thereby the foundation for our business.
It's not that long ago that the best thing to do for ranking was to stuff keywords in the meta-tags. That changes, so why shouldn't the rules that apply for ranking now change at some point.
The fact that I'm paying membership here does not exclude me from seeking information elsewhere and sometimes, if the sources are verified, believe in that information even if it differs from what is taught here.The training here is good, but we are a community of information seeking people that want to learn the business. We are not a cult.
All you need will always be content. But how it's presented to achieve the highest ranking may change.
Kyle's answer is correct. I am not arguing on that. For a starter site. But if you want to keep the ranking you have achieved with your shorter articles, you will have to complement them with longer articles.
Especially if time spent on a page will be a future factor in the ranking algorithm.
You simply will not spend as much time on a 1000 word page as you will on a 3000 word page.
Great way to look at it, Christopher.
Some write less and some write more, but only the ones who write create content.
Content is both King and Queen.
Thanks, Paul.
Excellent post, Jorn.
In the end, the cream always rises to the top.
I believe that every article need not be an essay, however, Google like everyone else is realizing, that on occasion, the swamp has to be drained.
If they don't regulate "quality" in some manner, shape, or form, someone will come along to do so.
Thanks, Paul.
Hmm.... Thanks for sharing this insight. Irregardless of what Gooogle wants, I plan to have a combination of short and long posts. Twitter, YouTube and social media clearly demonstrate that people like short snippets.
For the longer posts, I probably will not try to write them all in one sitting. For evergreen content, we can always go back and add more information as it becomes available.
At the end of the day, quality will always beat quantity.
to JHaugland
There appears to be a fundamental "error" in the basic premise about the time searchers spend on an article. I accept that it
has been calculated that the average length of time spent on one
website (or was it one article ?) is 3min 10sec....BUT that is the
AVERAGE. Meaning it could be that half stay for only 10 seconds
(Very realistic when people are so impatient and searching is not a fun activity)....So half at 10 second leaves the Average of the other half at 6 minutes. My (pure) guess is that at least 75% spend an average of only10 seconds so the balance of 25% spend more than 6 minutes. My own opinion is that a 3,000 word article, even
broken up into (say) 6 sub-articles, is WAAAAY too long to hold the reader's attention....however interesting the subject may be.
I close on a bet....that 3,000 words is waaaaay more than the TOTAL reading of anything over a month that "most" people do.
Kyle and Carson...please give us your very experienced opinions
please.
JeanLouis87
I think that the average spends 10 seconds to decide if your site contains the info they want. If it does they will read through your 3000 words.
Based on the vast amount of websites out there Google need to do something to pull the quality sites forward That will mean that some sites that rank well now will lose their ranking.
And you should not underestimate the reader. His attention span is short, but when you catch his attention, he is yours to keep.
Changes like this have happened before and they will happen again. There have been previous changes in ranking algorithms that made high ranked sites disappear totally from search results until they adjusted their SEO in compliance with Google's changes and from there re-built their rank.
The article will hold the reader's attention through 3000 words and even more if the article is well presented and gives the answer, and then some, to the reader's questions.
And Google will. with RankBrain and other AI find ways to track the reader's behavior in ways we can't even imagine now, and rank the article accordingly.
Although I tend to naturally be very wordy when writing, I have had it ingrained in me my whole career to keep what you write short and to the point, say what you have to say using as few words as possible or no one is going to read it. Because of that, I have developed an automatic tendency that I need to edit, edit, edit almost everything I write.
I am going to have to get very creative in finding a happy medium with "dragging things out" and keeping the reader engaged. It sounds like using a combination of "tactics" is what I will have to implement. The idea of subtopics makes total sense.
I am definitely going to hop over and read the article you reference.
Very interesting post, thank you.
Thanks for reading.
You should still write short and to the topic. But look into increasing the width of your topic to make the article more in-depth.
If you are dragging things out, the reader will leave.
I believe short and sweet has more impact - people just do not have time these days!
paul
Good Morning Jorn,
Now even if I find your
post interesting I cannot say it makes my Sunday. I do not think Google will ever be happy with me as when I have a good day the writing flows and suddenly I have 1500 words.
If that happens I think now that is nice, on days it does not go that well the posts tend to be shorter.
I think I will not try to squeeze out more words because I am afraid it will not look natural anymore.
On the other hand, I have no idea what I might think about it a year from now, perhaps time and practice will have made me into a long post writer.
Have a good Sunday, Taetske
Google will never be happy.
And just when we have gone beyond ourselves to satisfy them, they will come up with something new.
So all we can do is to do our best and try to keep up.
Sometimes when I don't have a lot to say, I write the date above as a heading, and continue another day with the date above. This works well for a book review, such as, "I'm half-way through with this book and it is such a page-turner. Then the next day write "I've finished the book and it's a must-read". That also shows how long it took me to read the book. Usually a week. For the reader to know this is also helpful.
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In one of my past life's I owned a nine-bedroom bed and breakfast in a highly competitive artsy area of Southwest Michigan. I was always trying to find ways to make my website rank near the top of these searches and one of these was time spent on website.
So I believe that this concept of dwell time is not necessarily all that new to Google rankings. As many of you know, Google is constantly re-designing their metrics of what it takes to rank on the top pages, so it does not surprise me at all that they are still doing this.
It was about twelve years ago that I was working on increasing my website rankings and I did employ this method where I could of keeping my viewers on my website for as long as I could. One of the strategies I used at that time was to explain (for instance) all of the things to do in the surrounding areas with pictures and descriptions of each without giving a reader an immediate link to click on to leave my website.
I did ultimately provide the links for viewers to leave my page and explore that particular interest, but I just did not do it in the actual page text as I wanted my readers to continue to stay on my website for as long as I could possibly keep them.
I hope this helps someone out in WA world.