A rough rule of thumb is: Blog posts should be around 1,500 words.
But the length of your blog really doesn’t matter.
We know, we know. It feels like all the suggestions tell you the absolute length Do Importantly, if you don’t reach at least 1,500 or 2,000 or 3,112.5 words, your SEO will suffer.
But the whole purpose of SEO is to match readers with content they care about. Your blog posts must provide value to your readers. It must solve a problem that your audience needs to solve.
Whether you use 500 words or 2,500 words, word count is not the most important factor.
Another downside to obsessing over word count is that if a blog post reaches 1,500 words, you can fall into the trap of thinking a blog post is great, or at least good enough. Even if it misses the mark completely.
Just because the post is the 1,500 words everyone thinks it should be, doesn’t mean people will like it and engage with it. Other elements are more important than the length of the piece.
In this article, we will discuss what these elements are.
The appropriate length of a blog post depends on…
We’ve identified four key factors that influence the ideal length of a blog post:
- Topic at hand
- You left a comment on the post
- who is your audience
- the value you want to provide
Let’s take a closer look at each factor.
theme
Some topics take longer to discuss than others.
Let’s say you run a food blog.
Recipe posts may require more words than blog news posts. Take popular food blogs as an example, Recipe tin to eat. Founder Nagi Maehashi is a professional home cook who writes about food for a living—with the help of her adorable sidekick, golden retriever Dozer, of course.
According to a quick Semrush traffic analysis we did, RecipeTin Eats got tens of millions The monthly views are as high as 81, and the authority rating is as high as 81.
Oh, and all that traffic? Over 35 million views in May alone? It’s all organic. This means that RecipeTin Eats is definitely an SEO focus.
But the word count for RecipeTin Eats posts is different. We analyzed the word count of several different posts. Recipe posts can range from 2,000 to over 3,300 words. For news posts, e.g. This recipe announcement postthe maximum word count is approximately 1,200.
Here are the key takeaways: No matter what your topic is, you just need your posts to be long enough to cover it thoroughly. If you do this, your target audience will find value in what you write.
your message
What you want to say to your readers is an important factor in choosing the length of your blog post. You need to say enough to convey your message to your readers in a clear and memorable way.
There are no hard and fast rules about which types of topics are suitable for long posts and which types are suitable for short posts. Reviews of books or gadgets may be shorter. An in-depth personal essay can give your readers an inside look at your journey with XYZ, and the essay may be longer.
Rely on your intuition. Ask yourself these two questions forward you write:
- What is my message?
- What points do I need to cover to get my message across?
Create a rough outline for your post before drafting. Use H2, H3 and YesH4 to organize how you share your post messages.
As you draft—or as you review your first draft—ask yourself this question:
- Can I remove some redundancy to make my message clearer?
Every word should add value. If you feel like you’re entering nonsense territory, control yourself.
The good news is: with some keyword research, you can find the topics your readers are searching for. This means that when you write about a topic that is also a frequently searched keyword, you are writing to an audience that cares about your topic. take a look at our 5 simple steps to conduct keyword research start.
your audience
When determining the length of your post, you must consider your audience. How long does a piece of work hold their attention? What makes an article irresistible to read?
although it may seem Just like young people have the shortest attention spans, but that’s not necessarily the case.
A Study in 2023 The study, completed by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Neurolandscape Center, found that among three groups of children (ages 7-13), young adults (ages 19-32), and older adults (ages 56-85), younger The human group has the longest attention span.
But it’s undeniable that today’s young people have more distractions than older people who don’t use social media and the ever-increasing number of apps.
This is why the key is not attention span. It understands which topics capture the attention of your target audience and which topics do not.
A group of 40+ gardeners might enjoy a 1,500 or 2,000 word post about making pickles, from planting cucumber seeds to harvesting, pickling and eating your first crunch. A 20-year-old who can’t garden probably won’t.
A bunch of 20-somethings might enjoy a 1,500 or 2,000 word post about the best fashion items from the 2000s that are supposed to be making a comeback. A man in his 40s who shudders at the thought of low-slung cropped trousers and trucker hats appearing on the streets again probably won’t do it.
Build your message around theme your Readers careyou’ll be in a good place.
the value you want to provide
Must contain content that readers find valuable all Your blog post. This will increase your blog traffic and engagement.
And it’s not always just words. Yes, these should provide value, but consider other ways to bring new insights or information to your readers. There are many ways to do this!
Here are some tips:
- Create original infographic: Use Canva to design infographics that break down complex data and make your information pop.
- Conduct original research: With tools like SurveyMonkey and Jotform, it’s now easier than ever to run your own surveys with tools. Present your findings in your work.
- Write a case study: Tell a story using examples drawn from your readers or target audience. This is especially important if you sell products or services. Case studies are a way to show how your product can improve the lives of others.
- Interview with experts: Discuss your topic or message with subject matter experts and incorporate their insights into your posts.
- Design interactive content: Make difficult tasks easier by engaging your readers with quizzes, calculators, or other free resources.
If you do solid keyword research to find a topic that your readers care about, and then provide new insights on that topic, you can write great posts regardless of length. Have a look These blog post templates Get inspiration on how to build your posts.
Loose guidelines regarding blog post length
OK Although word count is not the most important consideration, we will tell you what most literature says about the ideal length of a blog post: 1,500 to 2,000 words.
Basically, one should be able to read it in 7 minutes.
But remember, this is just a guideline. Consider other factors first: your topic, your message, your audience, and the value you want to provide.
If the article happens to be in the sweet spot of 1,500 to 2,000 words, that’s great. But don’t make it the final, most important benchmark. Remember, the appearance of your post is almost as important as the word count. If you were faced with a 1,500-word wall of text or a 3,000-word essay with short, easy-to-understand paragraphs, which would you rather read?
This is a well spaced blog for us, with more words each time.
So, to recap:
- There really is no ideal blog post length
- Your topic, message, audience and the value you want to convey should come first
- Word count is secondary, but generally speaking, you’ll see an ideal blog post length of 1,500-2,000 words
If the content matches what your audience wants to read, they will find it and connect with it.
