Short articles vs long articles

[Chancer]

A few years ago everyone was saying it is better to have shorter and more focused content than contextually long and broad articles.
But nowadays i keep reading that 'google loves long articles', and everywhere i look there are 3000-5000 word articles...


People don't have the attention span to read that much, so why has this change occurred?


Thank you.
Sincerely,


C.

 

[Rob Whisonant]

Not sure where you got the attention span thing. When I am researching something (AKA almost buy mode) I read very long articles on what I am researching.

If I am goofing off (AKA not going to buy anything mode), I just skim and read short articles.

So tightly focused in-depth articles rank very well and make sales.

The choice is yours. Short vs Long. Do you want to entertain or sell?

Going to add this.

I can outrank other sites with a high quality focused long article fairly easily. Especially if they all have short articles.

Plus, it's a lot easier getting some good links to a long article.

 

[SEOPub]

When you are talking about ranking for one particular keyword, the length of the article doesn't matter.

I've outranked pages by using less than 300 words before.

The only advantage a longer article has is that you can usually incorporate more related topics into that same article and potentially rank for a lot of other related keywords.

What I would be mostly worried about is conversions, and impact of the length of the article is going to vary from niche to niche.

 

[Chancer]

Chancer

Ok, so basically people are "shotgunning" for multiple keywords and hope to one day rank for "the big one"...
That kind of answers what was to be my next question - why one of my pages ranks for everything except the intended KW. I guess google's algo now just prefers broadness and (not so) close synonyms.

But this raises a question for a serious marketer - how to compete in a highly monopolized niche if i cannot use long, dull and full-of-fluff articles?
(let's face it, virtually any 3000+ words long SERP1-10 article is chalk full of unnecessary data, fillers and writer's "feelings")
I need to make things short and to the point to increase conversions.
I suppose i could just add all the fluff below the relevant section as a 'longer explanation'.
Though the big G. would probably penalize me with the next rolling update.


But then again as the 300 word article you mentioned, i too have a <600 words article on one of my pages that ranks surprisingly well. I wrote it as an experiment a long time ago, forgot about it, and it recently started ranking higher.
So i wonder what the deal is with all this

 

[SEOPub]

SEOPub

You are probably focusing too much on content, especially content length. No matter what you do content-wise, links are still by far the #1 ranking factor.

So write what you feel you need on the page to get the conversions and then support the page with good links.

 

[kajoncic]

The only advantage a longer article has is that you can usually incorporate more related topics into that same article and potentially rank for a lot of other related keywords.

 

[ravva]

Yes, I am also thinking same here, Long content is more beneficial for websites.

 

[SClikes]

There many benefits having long and informative content ---
1. Get high online visibility to improve search engine ranking
2. Improve social media sharing
3. Log content help to boost conversion
4. Spending time on your website will increase

 

[willsonrobin]

As per My experience, If you are writing more relevant things in a short article for a particular topic, then it will be more beneficial in comparison of long articles with less relevancy. Quality of the content really matters.

 

[ireneg]

A few years ago everyone was saying it is better to have shorter and more focused content than contextually long and broad articles.
But nowadays i keep reading that 'google loves long articles', and everywhere i look there are 3000-5000 word articles...


People don't have the attention span to read that much, so why has this change occurred?


Thank you.
Sincerely,


C.

Yes that's right that google like long article but obviously unique, relevant, and updated. Words not fact.

 

[vishwa]

The length of the article depends on the topics and objectives of your content. Sometimes, You can clear the topic in 600 to 800 words and it will rank well in search engines. Something if you write long word content and unable to satisfy the readers than it would be boring to read the article.

 

[andynelson]

I think it was considered to have long tailed keywords.
The article must be 600-1200 words.

 

[EvaMPerkins]

Hi

If you're writing more important matters in a quick article for a certain issue, then it will likely soon be beneficial compared to long articles without significance. Quality of this information matters.

Have a nice work.

 

[MarkMiller]

Content length does matter these days, but it doesn't mean you can't rank on short articles, the only leverage you get is it had more chances to rank on other related keywords within your article, which will ultimately provides you more reach.

 

[susanburling]

I am totally confused after reading this thread replies, not really understand what should the ideal length of a webpage content.

 

[odysseus]

It is an interesting paradox.

Attention spans are generally falling... where there's no buyer's intent. Idle teens, millennial wantrepreneurs, various other tire-kickers, there are huge demographics that wander the Internet almost aimlessly, or not looking to spend any money at all.

At the same time, I believe it's actually a consequence of the rest of the people (not in those demographics) learning to recognize value faster, and completelly skip entire articles and videos when they smell only buzz and no meat. People are getting better at Internet-ing

But when people are spending $$$, they do at least some semi-serious research. That's when they appreciate long content.

So on average, longer content will prove a better ROI. Platforms and authors have no choice but to adapt, unless they are specifically targetting the younger, more ADHD-like generations.

 

[shoptechmedia]

The recent study shows that long articles trumps short articles.. it is usually in the range of 1000-2500 words where the most traffic is generated..

 

[rakesh7291]

The length of content doesn't matter. All you need to give a quality and valuable content to a user and you will get your result.

The only advantage of long article is you can rank on more keyword for that particular article.