As long as there have been search engines and search engine optimization, there have inevitable and never-ending debates as to just what an ideal blog post length is for the best SEO results. The opinions have largely been divided into two sections. First, that believes the longer the content of the blog post, the better the chances of it being ranked higher by Google. Second, that believes it is all about the quality of the blog post and not its word count. But there is also a third that quietly goes about business, maintaining a fine balance between quality and length, believing that it all depends on what the blog is all about and what purpose it aims to serve for the target audience. In the part below, we throw light on all possible aspects of blog writing. You read; you decide.
Subject Matter vs. Searcher Intent
The process to whip up some cream would naturally be shorter than the process of how milk comes from the farm to your table. You can write about the former longer than it has to be but the chances are the searcher is just going to skim through, pun intended. Whereas if someone is doing a research paper on the latter, the longer and well-researched it is, the better it will rank because it is serving searcher’s intent. That being said, it doesn’t mean that a blog post, precise and to the point, about whipping up some cream wouldn’t rank as high.
Quality vs. Quantity
If you are going to write a long blog review on the new digital camera that just broke the market, make sure it has everything a camera user or a photography enthusiast is looking for. If you are going to write a very specific but short blog post that camera’s ISO capabilities, make sure to keep the content quality intact. It is in no way an either-or situation. It is, as we discussed about, writing to the merits of the subject matter while keeping the searcher’s intent in mind.
What Google Says?
What does Google have to say about the length of a blog post and whether or not word count is a ranking factor? In an SEO Myth Busting episode from the past Google’s Martin Splitt did confirm that a page’s word count is not considered a ranking factor. And the number of words is definitely not a measure of quality. Google’s John Mueller also confirmed the same in a tweet when he was asked by a fellow tweeter if he should de-index his website’s pages that have short content. Here is what John had to say:
“Word count is not indicative of quality. Some pages have a lot of words that say nothing. Some pages have very few words that are very important & relevant to queries. You know your content best (hopefully) and can decide whether it needs the details.”
I agree with you & Mihai :). Word count is not indicative of quality. Some pages have a lot of words that say nothing. Some pages have very few words that are very important & relevant to queries. You know your content best (hopefully) and can decide whether it needs the details.
— 🧀 John 🧀 (@JohnMu) July 24, 2018
Go Beyond Written Content
In order to be content to be considered of high quality, it needs to be more than just written content. Think quality pictures and videos that compliment the written content; use them in between the written content wherever necessary. However, even a great picture or video needs to have a perfectly written caption that is in sync with the rest of the content. You need to hand out the best information in the best presentable manner. That is how you capture a searcher and titillate his or her intent.
Conclusion
There is no short-form or long-form content. There is only quality content. And content that is not of superior quality will fail to rank irrespective of its length. You are already way off target if you are thinking about the length of the content rather than how best you present the related information in the best possible way.
