How Long Should Blog Posts Be For SEO?

We can all agree that blog posts are a key part of content marketing, but it’s not simply a case of writing a blog, uploading it and hoping for the best. With so much competition online, blog writing has become a fine science, and blogs that don’t fit the bill are quickly lost amongst a sea of other content. There are many factors to get right when you are writing blog posts, which means that there is also a lot that can go wrong. One of these is length and knowing how long is optimal for SEO.

Previously, digital marketers aimed for blogs to be between 400 and 500 words, knowing that this was long enough to cover some key points, but short enough to keep readers engaged. However, with Google’s regularly changing algorithm, this is no longer the case. Search engines are becoming increasingly interested in long form content, as this provides readers with more information and a more in depth look at a topic. This means that blog posts now need to be longer for SEO, but how long is too long?

How Long Should Blog Posts Be?

There is a lot of conflicting information online about how long blog posts should be for SEO, with some people claiming that ‘short and sweet’ is best, and others approaching things from a ‘more the merrier’ standpoint. At Profici, we are confident that it’s about finding the perfect balance. You want to inform and educate your audience, without overwhelming them with words. Though you don’t want your blog to be so short that it’s easily missed by search engines, you don’t want it to be so long that readers rarely make it to the end.

The general consensus is that you should aim for at least 1,000 words when you are writing a blog post for SEO, but ideally each post should be around 1,500 to 2,500 words. However, quality is important and it’s not just about the quantity of your post. A blog should cover all of the points of your topic without being overwhelming.

Of course, what works for some websites might not work for others, and finding the right post length is often a case of trial and error. Remember, though you are writing blog posts for SEO, you also need them to be interesting to readers. Rather than simply focusing on the length of your post, prioritise creating high quality and engaging content for your target audience. This will ensure that the content is well received by readers and search engines alike. While longer posts tend to perform better in search engine results, it is still important to keep your content concise and to the point, so that readers want to read to the end. Avoid adding unnecessary filler or repeating information, just because you want to reach a specific word count.

Will My Post Rank Well if it’s the Wrong Length?

There is still a chance that your post will rank well if it’s the wrong length, but this is by no means a guarantee, and it’s not a risk you should want to take. After all, you don’t want to put time and energy into writing a blog, only to find that it’s instantly lost online. Plenty of longer and shorter posts do well online, and the rules of ranking in Google are ever changing, so these rules are not yet perfectly understood. This means that there isn’t a ‘wrong’ length as such, and there also isn’t a perfect length. Some shorter blog posts do well, and some longer blog posts do well. However, length and comprehensiveness are key ranking factors.

To give your blog post the best chance of ranking well for SEO, aim for somewhere in the middle. This, as we have said, is around the 1,500 to 2,500 words mark. If pages are too short, they won’t contain all of the keywords and concepts that you need to rank. They will probably not be as useful or successful as competing pages. If pages are too long, they become difficult to navigate and have a higher bounce rate. They also tend to lack focus and are slow to load, which works against SEO.

Experiment with different post lengths and see what works best for your audience and goals. Whereas some target audiences respond well to long, detailed posts, others prefer blogs to be snappier and easier to digest. Over time, you may find that certain lengths of content tend to perform better than others, and then you can amend your content strategy accordingly.

What Should I Do if My Post is Too Short or Too Long?

If the post that you are drafting is outside of the recommended length range, consider widening or narrowing the focus. If it’s too short, it might be that you have been too specific with your subject or niche. You can solve this issue by making the content part of a longer, existing post. If it’s too long, it might be that you have tried to include too much, and you need to focus on the subject matter a little more. To get around this without having to delete some of your work, consider splitting the blog into multiple posts.

At Profici, we understand the time and energy that goes into creating long blog posts for SEO, and we know that not all businesses have the resources to handle things themselves. This is why we offer a wide range of digital marketing services, including content writing. Our expert team understands what makes a blog successful and they know that length is important, but this must go hand in hand with high quality, well researched and engaging content. To find out more about our content writing services, or any of our other digital marketing services, get in touch with our talented team.