Long Form Content Versus Short Form Content

75
10.9K followers
Updated

Are You Still Posting Short Content



Hi Folks

I saw quite a few members ask over the weekend how long should their posts be and was there an ideal. No there is not an ideal but once upon a time 3 or 5 hundred word articles used to be the norm. In fact, they were ideal for squeezing in all those related keywords. By that I mean one per article.

But these days whatever the audience you are targeting they want in-depth content. In-depth content rarely means short content folks.

Today, an article that’s less than 1000 words long won’t do too much for your SEO. No, not even if you're posting dozens each and every week.

What's the alternative?

Simple, publish longer articles.

A lot of studies and surveys have shown that long form content is by far the best and its also been proven time and time again that 2000+ words per article perform best.

Better yet, long form content has the best chance of becoming evergreen content, the kind that doesn’t “expire” after a month or so. Its the kind that people will revert back to.

The ideal long form content will detail every aspect of an issue. It will not give the reader any reason to bounce back to search results, because all the information is already there. As you may know, a low bounce rate and a long time spent on pages are two of the metrics Google uses to award websites a high rank.

Last, but not least, long form content gives you the chance to use all the variations of your main keyword/keyword phrase which ideally should be an LSI keyword.


However, you shouldn’t write long form articles just because you read it somewhere online. Write because you have something to say on the matter.

Don’t add crap to fill the page. Only add relevant information that’s not boring or repetitive. In other words: write naturally and conversationally; write the same way you would speak to a friend. (I actually published a blog on this a short time ago)

To Finish here are a couple of tools to find LSI Keywords.

Keyword Shitter

Take a look at this tool. Not only can you find LSI keywords with it, but you can also get some awesome long-tail keywords ideas. Bonus, you can download them.

And this one

LSI Graph

This is one I use a lot. It’s free and you can also download their WordPress plugin. You will get plenty of results to fuel your content strategy.

There you have it folks and of course anyone with their own opinion on how long an article should be can leave it in a comment below.

Have a great week and be successful.

Robert Allan




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Recent Comments

72

another very valuable and informative post I've bookmarked, thank you!

Another one bookmarked, you are racking my bologs up and that's great coz you wont run short on great tips and advice for when you need them.
Thank you for stopping by Marc.
Enjoy your Tuesday.
Robert

Thanks for sharing this Robert!

Happy to share my tips and advice Solly.
Now you know what's required for your content there's no excuse.
Have a good one.
Robert

Great picture:) Thanks for the information. I guess a mixture of long and short blogs will do good as long the visitor will find what he or she were looking for.

yes Nemira, as I said to Fran it always has to be based on user experience.
Thank you for reading and have a great day.
Robert

I think your last little illustration about long vs. short content is a good one. I find that some subjects really lend themselves to long posts, without adding any diarrhea of the mouth, and some just say it all in a short post. Mixing them is, I'm sure, a good idea.

Hello Fran and thank you for reading.
yes indeed a mixture of long and short is a good idea but it depends who you're writing for.
It always has to be based on user experience.
Glad you liked the graphic, took me a wee while to find a relevant one.
Enjoy your Tuesday.
Robert

That sure shits a lot of words! :-)

LSI Graph looks really neat and seems to come up with more 'intelligent' suggestions than KS, although it depends on the keywords. One 3-word term only got 10 results from KS. However, you only get 20 free searches per day and you would still need to run them through Jaxxy. Is that how you use it?

Ian

It certainly does Ian
Yes I use the tool to find keywords and I also try them out in Jaaxy and other tools for comparison.
It usually works out ok.
Thank you for dropping by.
Have an awesome Tuesday.
Robert

Ah! :-) Thanks, Robert.
That looks great. It does come up with a better variety than Jaxxy.
Ian

Happy to help if and when I can.
Now I'm off for the night.
Catch you another time perhaps.
Robert

💤
:-)

I'll try to write a quality content so I need it longer.

Yes indeed Jimmy.
Size does matter.
Enjoy your day.
Robert

Yes, Robert, longer and wider.

Onwards and upwards Jimmy.

Richard,
Thanks to Vicki, just found this and I have been targeting
at the least 1000 words or more time to up my game
thank you :)
Susan

Hi Susan
1,000 and upwards is good but don't drop below that unless you're posting on Social Media.
Enjoy your day.
Robert

Thanks for sharing Robert - valuable tips

Richard

Happy to pass on my tips and advice Richard.
Thank you for reading.
Have a good one.
Robert

Short content is where I am practicing 1100-1500 words?
I find it challenging to write this far and still keep it interesting.
Long content seems a bit of a stretch, but seems more appealing to me.
Thanks for such an informative post.

No probs Paul and thank you for stopping by and for your input.
Seems to me you are doing ok with your article length but I wouldn't drop below that number of words.
Enjoy your Monday and the days ahead.
Robert

This is so helpful Robert
Most of my content is up around the 1400- 1500 word count so I will try to add more to move above 2000 as I think evergreen is so great for long-term success
You are wonderful as always
Hope Mum is ok
Vicki

Hi Vicki, you just caught me.
Heading for a hot bath soon as I send this reply.
2,000 word articles are sure to get a good rank, depending of course if the content is good enough.
Have a good one Vicki.
Robert

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