How Long Should a Top Blog Post Be?
We researched what some SEO experts had to say... Their answers will improve your 2023 content strategy.
Andre Fernandez
18, Jan 2023Like this? Subscribe for only our best updates.
Finding the Perfect Length for Your Blog Posts: Insights From SEO Experts & Studies
Content marketing has become essential for businesses, with 84% having a dedicated content strategy.
Most companies rely on organic traffic and SEO to drive blog post engagement, making it crucial to optimize posts for search engine result pages.
To give you a better understanding of what works, experts have researched that burning question - what is the most effective blog post length according to your content marketing goals.
How long should long-form blog posts be to rank on search engine result pages?
According to Yoast, any posts 300 words and longer could rank on SERPs. However, SEO experts agree that ranking highly for competitive topics is harder with shorter post lengths.
From our own personal client testing we've concluded that the ideal blog post length is between 1500-2500 words. It should be noted that the length of a blog post will vary depending on the industry, niche, or subject matter.
A study by OrbitMedia also shows that blog posts have gotten progressively longer over time - currently now sitting at an average of 1,416 words long.
Both website visitors and search engines are beginning to favor longer form posts. In turn, more bloggers and content marketing departments are focusing on this style of content -- being at a minimum of 1000 words long.
SEO options to consider when writing your next article
1. Focus on search intent
Every SEO expert today will tell you that Search Intent is the most import factor when preparing your next article.
Considering this factor -- the ideal length in regards to SEO is then addressed by as many words as it takes to address the search intent, no more, no less.
2. Subject coverage
After meeting the criteria of search intent, the article must cover the subject matter in detail.
Experts note the comprehensive content with a high “Content Grade” significantly outperforms content that does not cover a topic in-depth.”
3. Competitor posts
If you’re still not sure how long your post should be for any given topic, then conduct a site audit on your competing articles to get a solid starting point.
Basically, if Google search ranks several articles in a similar style highly, they’re probably doing something the algorithm likes. It's important to note that if the high-ranking pages for a query have an average word count of 1500, writing a 3000-word article 'might' be overkill — and 'might' work against you.
4. SEO tools
SEO tools can help bloggers figure out a ballpark figure for their word count.
A great way to utilize these tools is to optimize your content by integrating relevant subtopics and keywords the tool suggests - This can help make your next article more comprehensive.
5. User-friendly post features
Some topics simply require short posts and keyword stuffing will only hurt your site’s reputation.
Make shorter posts eg. sub 1500 words more appealing to search engines By using user-friendly post features. These include:
- Screenshots and images
- Infographics
- Embedded videos
- Readability aids like bullet points
- Navigation tools like a table of content and back-to-top buttons
- Light and dark mode screen options.
Use AI Tools like Jasper to help write comprehensive long-form SEO articles
Writing high-quality long-form content can be hard! The best-performing posts on search engines are between 1500-2500 words long and consistently outputting that volume regularly can become tiring, especially with heavy keyword and competitor research.
Enter Jasper: An excellent AI writing assistant designed to make your content marketing life easier. Jasper has been trained by real-life expert copywriters and has over 52 templates for every content need.