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What Is The Best Length For A Blog Post? — 16 Comments

  1. Thank you John, this post helped me a lot. I have some articles that are only about 500 words long and some that are about or over 1000. I agree with you that you have to keep your target audience in mind, and then there are things you write about that are just redundant if you try to exceed a certain amount of words. Your article reassured me that I don’t have the 1000 words or over as long as I get my point across to my audience.

    • Thanks for your comment Michaela. The most important thing is to write naturally. Your reader will feel it if you force yourself to fill the page and will quickly get off if nothing makes sense. Google knows that too as the length of time a reader stays on a page is indicative of how interested web users are in your content, the longer they stay the better for your ranking.

      I wish you the very best for your writing efforts.

      John ツ

  2. This is something I struggled with quite a bit when I started my blogging journey. I soon discovered that the longer blog posts were getting more hits in google analytics, and promptly went back and edited my other ones for length. I think 1000 or over is the golden ticket. Thanks for an interesting post

    • Thanks very much for your comment on the subject Penelope. I am glad that you agree with me, as not everyone does. I also battled at the beginning and could hardly come up with something of over 500 words and someone suggested that in future I should make the effort of passing the thousand word mark and from time to time, adjust some of the older articles, and yes, it becomes easier and easier with time.

      If you have any questions please feel free to ask them here, and also we would be pleased to learn from your experience.

      Best wishes,

      John ツ

  3. How do you feel that the movement toward mobile has changed the appropriate length of an article? I’ve read in a few places (like Brian Dean’s website) that with mobile becoming more prevalent that shorter articles are actually starting to rank higher because they are easier to read on a phone. Have you run into this?

    • Thanks for visiting my website and for your question Craig. Your suggestion does make sense, and we have to take that into consideration, but right now it is not yet the norm. One thing to remember though is that shorter articles can also rank higher that some long articles. So, personally, at the moment I write for both length depending on the subject. What the search engines are mostly interested in is the quality of the content. What is most important to remember is not to stretch the copy to reach the thousand mark by writing unnecessary information.

      I have also written an article about a month ago that discusses this matter very well, it is titled “How To Reduce Information Overload“.

      I look forward to seeing you here again soon Craig, and if you have any questions, please do ask them here so that we can all benefit.

      John ツ

  4. You’ve made me feel better about the shorter posts on my own blog, thank you! My blog is centered around researching a topic, and the more I dig into my topic, I imagine I will be adding information to different posts. But for the time being, 1,000 words feels horribly awkward. Its good to know that its also a trait of me being a newbie blogger. Its great to know that it may get easier to stretch those posts just a bit longer.

    • Thanks for your comment Debbie. As you will continue writing articles you will see that you are getting better at it and soon 1,000 words will not seem that difficult. You will even surprise yourself sooner than your think. The main thing is that your content is written with the reader in view, it must make sense and be easy to read. Then at every article you write, make it a goal to reach always a few words more.

      Here is a great blog post that was written by Sonia JB which will clarify a few things: “How to write an article that gets ranked“.

      Enjoy it.

      John ツ

  5. Thank you John, this helps me very much and it is a topic I have had questions over. I have always heard that it is better to write over 1000 words, but I never knew how bad it was if I didn’t quite get enough on some articles.

    I will definitely keep these points in mind and will bookmark this page for future reference.

    Thanks again for the information!

    Dalton

    • Thanks for your comment Dalton. Yes, although there are different opinions on the subject of how many words an article should be, the way I proceed is to get over the 1,000 word article naturally, as it comes to me, then increase if at all possible, by all means keeping the reader in mind.

      It can happen that on certain topics I don’t find the words, in this case I don’t force it, I stop right there even if it is less than 1,000 words.

      I wish you the very best.

      John ツ

  6. Great tips here. Some bloggers are starting to get caught up in the idea that a long article leads to higher rankings in the search engines. That is just not necessarily the case.

    You have debunked that myth here. I believe your target audience and the subject of your article are key in deciding the length. You do not wan to lose your audience by writing just to be writing.

    I think the key is to get the information to your audience in the most effective way possible and that does not always equate to a very long article. Thanks for sharing. Love your blog!

    • Thanks for being a regular reader of my articles Nate. When I write an article I use the well known rule #1: “write as if you were talking to a friend seating in front of you at a table”. If it was the case, you wouldn’t want to keep talking for hours and bore your friend to death, right? Or see him or her go away, leaving you talking by yourself. In writing a blog post it is just the same, the goal is to keep your reader interested, and not to go away.

      In fact, just the other day, I was reading a very interesting blog post by Sonia JB: “How to write an article that gets ranked” and apart from other interesting tips that she kindly shares, she has her own view on what is a good length for an article.

      I would like to invite the readers of this article to share their personal view and experience on the subject, so feel free to do so below this comment.

      Best wishes Nate, and I look forward to your future very useful comments.

      John ツ

  7. Usually I never bothered much regarding the length of the posts in blogs. This post has brought some insight in me that the length of article also matters much.

    • Thanks for your comment Tessy. I have been marketing online since 2001 and a few months ago I have joined Wealthy Affiliate as a free member and followed their free training where one can buil, host and monetise 2 websites for free that will rapidly rank first page on the search engines, thanks to the excellent SEO training. I see that you are using blogspot (as I used to before I came across Wealthy Affiliate) to promote your various affiliate programs. That’s fine but you would do much better with a website created on Siterubix (owned by Wealthy Affiliate). You should really give it a try and see for yourself.

      Let me know if you have any questions.

      John ツ

  8. Very interesting post. I used to target 1000 words. Now I’m aiming for higher. And it’s really important to have our audience in mind.

    It means we have to find a way to keep our readers committed to the end. This post has really served as an eye-opener. Thank you very much.

    • Thanks for your comment Laurine. That’s right, you must constantly keep the readers in mind, feed them with all the information they expect, and stop before they get bored. A thousand words is a good measure and Google likes to have that and more if possible. That doesn’t mean that longer content will rank better, your readers are the judges.

      It seems to be an impossible task to produce that many words, but with practice we can easily get there. I am a Premium Member at Wealthy Affiliate Academy and it is where thousands of people have become very successful business owners over the 15 years or so of their existence. So I can highly recommend them to anyone.

      I look forward to seeing you again soon on this blog Laurine, as I have a very interesting article coming soon. I am sure that you will love it.

      Best wishes,

      John ツ

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