How Long Should A Blog Post Be for SEO (in 2024)

Source : How Long Should A Blog Post Be for SEO (in 2024)
Published On : September 13, 2024 at 06:56PM
By : Ankit Singla

How long should a blog post be?

In this post, I’ll show you an actual formula for the ideal blog post length. 

We’ll also cover a TON of important stats you should know about when deciding word count requirements. 

First, here is a quick answer to your burning question:

What is the Ideal Blog Post Length?

The straight answer is it depends, but it’s generally between 1,500 to 3,000 words. While longer articles tend to get more organic traffic overall, you need to consider several factors, like your industry, content type, target audience, and topic. 

---

Ideal Blog Post Length for Different Content Types

To help you decide the perfect blog post length for your piece, let’s start with the recommended word count for different content types. 

Content-Type	Recommended Length	Reason
Regular blog posts	1,000-2,500 words	Informational blog posts that target specific topics need to rank well by attracting more backlinks and social media shares.
Pillar pages	3,000+ words	Pillar pages cover a broad topic extensively. They require a higher word count to sufficiently explain subtopics and concepts.
“How-to” and “Ultimate” guides	1,500-2,500 words	How-to guides are just like regular blog posts, but they require more “meat” in the form of actionable instructions and valuable tips.
Case studies	500-1,500+ words	In the medical industry, the widely-accepted standard in terms of case study length is only between 500-1,500 words. This can be longer for more advanced topics as long as providing and interpreting data remains the top priority.
Press releases and announcements	300-400 words	According to The Guardian, press releases should be kept short at 300-400 words. These articles shouldn’t contain extra information that has nothing to do with your announcement.
News articles	600-1,000 words	Similar to press releases, news articles must also be concise and direct. However, there should be enough context to help readers understand your report.

There are also observable discrepancies in content lengths across industries. 

In a ClearVoice study involving over 100 million articles, there’s a strong preference for shorter content across the board.

For example, more than 60% of articles in the following niches are only 300-600 words: 

However, a considerable chunk of publishers in the literature, business, cybersecurity, parenting, mental health, and real estate industries lean towards articles between 600 and 3,000 words long. 

Keep in mind that the word count ranges above are just suggestions. Ideally, your content length falls within the recommended range, but it’s important to ensure every content section provides value to your audience. 

Your content’s final word count could be less or more than the recommended range. The priority is to ensure you meet your audience’s expectations and help accomplish their goals.

If you’re concerned about the SEO implications of word count, here’s something to consider: 

---

Is Word Count a Ranking Factor?

First of all, Google repeatedly stated that they don’t consider word count as a ranking factor. 

This is doubled down by the Google helpful content update, which rolled out in late 2022. 

According to the update, “helpful content” pertains to content that provides a satisfying experience to users. This doesn’t include unhelpful content that prioritizes search engines, such as unrelated content that targets trending keywords for the sake of gaining SEO traction. 

Content sections added for the sake of reaching a target word count—without providing useful, valuable information to readers—will also be tagged as unhelpful content.

That’s why shorter content is often better for tackling simple questions or problems. But for more advanced and in-depth topics, a higher word count is usually tied to higher search engine rankings. 

After all, if you focus on giving users complete, satisfying, and actionable answers to their questions, word count goes up naturally. 

TL;DR: Rather than thinking about word count, focus on writing quality content and providing helpful information that satisfies the searcher’s intent. 

---

How Come Longer Posts Get Better Rankings?

Although word count doesn’t directly affect search engine rankings, it has a profound effect on other SEO and user engagement factors, namely: 

• Longer articles lead to higher dwell time. Producing long-form, captivating content encourages readers to spend more time on your site. This, tracked simultaneously with “scroll depth,” lets you gauge your audience’s level of interest in your content. 
• Comprehensive posts help increase conversion rate. Long articles that address every question and uncertainty in the minds of potential leads can generate more conversions. You’ll have more legroom to explain the benefits, promote a special offer, touch on customer pain points, and more. 
• More in-depth articles provide more internal link opportunities. High-level articles that cover multiple, relevant subtopics let you add more internal links. This helps spread link equity or “link juice” throughout your blog, which can elevate the rankings of multiple pages. 

---

Do Longer Blog Posts Get More Backlinks?

Yes, longer articles tend to get more backlinks than short-form content. 

A study suggests that articles with 3,000 words and above get an average of four referring domains—twice as many as 1,000-word articles. 

Image Source: Backlinko.com

Backlink count, in turn, is a proven SEO factor—especially if the backlinks are from authoritative, high-traffic referring domains. 

Do Longer Blog Posts Get More Shares?

Longer content may also help you get more social media shares, but it depends on your industry. 

Data from HubSpot reveals that articles with 2,500 words and higher get the most social media shares. 

Image Source: HubSpot.com

A separate study, however, shows that word count doesn’t affect social shares in niches like engineering, eCommerce, insurance, and real estate. In fact, the data suggests that articles in these industries simply aren’t shareable no matter what. 

---

Do Longer Blog Posts Have Higher Quality?

Looking at the big picture, there’s a strong correlation between content length, quality, and engagement. 

The more you care about content quality, the longer you spend writing and polishing every piece. And the longer content development takes, the more words eventually get published. 

A study on blog posting frequency revealed that bloggers who spend 6+ hours on each content are more likely to report great results. The same goes for 36% of bloggers who publish posts with 3,000 words or more.

How to Really Optimize Posts for Search Engines

Rather than worrying about word count, here are other proven SEO tips you should focus on instead:

• Looking for viable long-tail keyword ideas. Find and target long-tail keywords with decent search traffic and a reasonable keyword difficulty rating. 
• Understand search intent. Analyze keyword search intent and understand whether your content should be informational, commercial, or transactional.
• Use a topic cluster strategy. Create a pillar page for the main topic and add internal links to more detailed posts that cover subtopics. 
• Build natural backlinks through guest posts. Naturally build backlinks by submitting guest posts to authoritative websites in your industry. 
• Promote your content like crazy. Maximize your content’s exposure on distribution channels like social media, content syndication sites, and forums to gain traffic and be visible to potential link sources.
• Publish original data and visualize them. Create link-worthy content by conducting your own research, case study, survey, or interview to obtain original data and visualize them using charts.

Remember, blog post length isn’t everything in a winning content strategy. But since a high word count is usually tied to comprehensive, valuable content, there are plenty of stats that establish content length as a measure of quality.

---

2023 Blog Post Length Statistics

Below are some of the top statistics regarding blog content length you should know in 2023: 

1. The average length of Google’s top 10 results is 1,447 words

A Backlinko study concluded that the average word count of Google first page results is roughly 1,447 words. This number is in line with the recommended word count ranges of regular blog posts and “how-to” guides. 

2.  Blog posts in 2023 are 55.4% longer than in 2014

Another study published by Orbit Media revealed that the average blog post length in 2023 is 1,427. This is 55.4% longer than the average word count in 2014 (808 words) and 11.7% longer than articles in 2020. 

3. Only 14% of bloggers commit to 2,000-3,000 words

Orbit Media’s research also shows that only 14% of bloggers regularly publish 2,000-3,000 words per article. On the contrary, 61% of all bloggers publish 500-1,500 words on a regular basis. 

4. There’s a strong correlation between word count and traffic in articles up to 2,000 words

Data from Ahrefs indicates a strong correlation between word count and traffic, but only up to 2,000 words. This correlation weakens and reverses in longer articles. 

5. Extremely long articles with 7,000 words get 1.5 times more shares and 4 times more traffic

A Semrush study involving 1.2 million articles with 300-7,000 words shows a strong connection between length, shares, and traffic. Based on the findings, posts with 7,000 words and higher generate 4 times more traffic and 1.5 times more shares than the average blog post. 

The key takeaway from these stats is, longer words let you increase the upper limit of your content’s traffic potential. But in the age of search intent, giving readers what they need should still be your top priority. 

---

Increasing Word Count the Right Way

If your goal is to give readers the best experience possible, follow the steps below to create long, meaty articles while providing a satisfying experience: 

1. Calculate a baseline word count target 

Get the average word count of the top 10 results for your target keyword. This is your baseline or initial target word count. 

Let’s say you want to create a post using the focus keyword “how to remove eye bags.”

The top 10 results consist of listicles and guides that help searchers accomplish their goals.

Note: If the top 10 results include videos from YouTube, just add “-youtube” to your search query. That should tell Google that you don’t want anything with the word “YouTube” on the SERP. 

The next step is to calculate the average word count for all these pages. 

Use a spreadsheet app like Google Sheets to list down the word count of each article and easily calculate the average. 

Enter the word count values under one column, then click on an empty cell and select ‘Average’ from the “Functions” menu. 

Lastly, select all of the word count values you added earlier. Press “Enter/Return” on your keyboard to get the average word count. 

2. Borrow subheading ideas from the top results 

To make sure you reach (and exceed) your target word count while creating helpful content, take inspiration from the top 10 Google results for your subheadings. 

Compile a list of all relevant subheadings that you consider adding to your post. From there, structure an outline that covers all or most of the subheading ideas in a logical order. 

A more efficient way to do this is with a powerful SEO writing assistant like Surfer. 

The Surfer Content Editor comes with everything you need to build a solid content structure. In addition to a target word count and keyword suggestions, it also provides outline ideas based on the top search results. 

3. Focus on reader retention 

After hitting your ideal word count, review if your draft is dense with valuable information. 

There are a handful of surefire strategies that will help you write longer posts without making them “fluffier.” Below are some of my go-to tactics:

• Add a Table of Contents. According to the 15-second rule, you only have 15 seconds to show visitors that you have what they need. Adding a table of contents ensures visitors know what to expect as soon as they land. 
• Embed YouTube videos. You don’t need to produce your own videos to use them on your blog and capture your audience’s attention. YouTube makes it easy to embed video content in your posts even if you don’t own them. 
• Publish related content. After publishing a post, plan a series of related posts that are relevant to the current topic (planning a topic cluster strategy is the best approach for this). Add a “You Might Also Like” list at the end or weave in “Related” blog post links while providing a bit of context.
• Create a “Frequently Asked Questions” section. To give readers a truly enriching experience, insert a FAQ section into your post and address every concern they might have regarding the topic. You can identify relevant questions by checking “People Also Ask” suggestions on Google, researching question-based keywords, and using suggestions from a tool like Surfer.
• Prepare your own checklist of content quality requirements. Build a checklist of requirements to ensure the quality of every single piece you create. For your reference, I’ve memorized over 100 content writing tips that I observe every time I write.

4. Ensure that the reader’s needs are met

Always remember that users can only have one out of three possible search intents: 

• Informational
• Transactional
• Navigational

Keep search intent in mind before, during, and after writing. I dug deep into search intent in this guide. 

For example, if your post’s title is “how to build a WordPress blog,” readers should be ready to create a fully working blog when they finish. 

If they’re doing research on a product, give them all the information they need to make a solid purchase decision.

Until you provide enough information to help readers achieve their goal, don’t dare write a conclusion yet.  

---

Frequently Asked Questions

---

Conclusion

Thanks for reading this post on the ideal blog post length. 

I hope you got what you’re looking for. But let’s not stop there. 

What else do you want to know about in the field of blogging? 

Let me know in the comments below!

For More Go to : Master Blogging