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Short vs. Long-form Content: How Long Should a Blog Post Be?

8/22/2016 by Elvis Michael 7 Comments

short vs. long-form content

Short Vs. Long-form Content: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

There seems to be a never-ending debate among many new and established bloggers regarding article length and their effectiveness. Should you keep your content short and leverage people’s decreasing attention span? Should you publish content that thoroughly covers any given subject to the point where it qualifies as a book?

Let’s look into the various benefits and drawbacks about short vs. long-form content.

Short-form Content Overview

Short content generally consists of 1,000 words or fewer, although the number is subjective.

Pros:
Shorter articles can compliment people’s busy lives. With an average attention span of only eight seconds as of 2015, you might want to keep some information short and sweet.

Mobile users are often on the go, so providing shorter articles may be their cup of tea. Especially if your content is filled with visuals, as they can really help tell a story.

Short pieces help you get to the point more effectively and it encourages you to leave out obvious details.

Cons:
Short content often scratches the surface of a much bigger subject, but doesn’t leave you quite satisfied. This largely depends on the subject matter, however, as sometimes “less is more.”

Recommended Uses:
Short-form content is great for news pieces, as nobody wants to read a 2,000-word post about a common incident.

This is great for general advice, such as a post on How to Defeat Procrastination. For certain straight-forward instructions, remaining concise beats the short vs. long-form content war.

Moreover, it is ideal for articles with casual storytelling and anecdotes, though this could apply to long-form pieces as well.

Shorter content works especially well for entertainment sites, especially those with listicles such as 10 YouTube Channels to Bing Watch.

Long-form Content Overview

article length benefits

Longer content often consists of 1,200 words or more. Many bloggers like to keep it under 2,000 words, with a “sweet spot” of roughly 1,700 in length. This, too, is pretty subjective.

Pros:
Longer content gives you the chance to fully explore the topic with everything a reader could possibly want to know.

It gives your brand greater authority, whether the added value is merely perceived or actual. Many people automatically perceive a long article as “useful” compared to a short one based on a similar topic.

A greater sense of authority often leads to more shares, backlinks, and mentions.

Longer content may naturally allow for more relevant keywords and authoritative links, which are said to help with SEO. As a result, a long article may inadvertently increase website traffic as detailed here.

Cons:
It’s often exhausting for bloggers, and sometimes overly long for readers. If audiences aren’t 100% interested in your niche, the short vs. long-form content debate will largely depend on your ability to draw their attention.

Recommended Uses:
Great for data-driven pieces that really get to the heart of the matter. Ideal if you wish to answer a question definitively.

Ideal for case studies, allowing you to discuss various testing procedures in detail.

Do you want your content to be a one-stop shop? Long-form is the way to go.

Short vs. Long-form Content: Verdict

In my opinion, you should adapt both short and long-form articles into your overall content strategy. The short ones are especially helpful when you don’t have anything truly substantial to back up with statistics and case studies, but still wish to explore a particular subject nonetheless.

Example:
Many professional bloggers publish one long article each week, with the occasional “round-up post” consisting of condensed content or link syndication.

Your content should ultimately adapt a good mix of relevancy and authority, which is something that both short and long pieces can do.

All in all, consider your main audience and the type of message you wish to deliver on a case by case basis. Nobody should permanently adapt one article type over the other.

What type of content do you like to create and how long are your pieces? Have you personally noticed greater results with either short or long-form content?

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Author: Elvis Michael

Elvis Michael is an avid blogger and e-trepreneur, endlessly exploring new ideas and effective ways to inspire.

Filed Under: Blogging Tips Tagged With: how long should articles be, long content benefits, short vs. long-form content

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Comments

  1. Nick Levinson says

    8/23/2016 at 2:50 pm

    What do you think of some of the blogging gurus advocating super long content in excess of 3000 words? Do you think from Google’s SERP perspective this makes any difference

    Reply
  2. Amy Morse says

    8/24/2016 at 5:03 am

    Am I being a bit thick or are there are no social sharing buttons on this article? (I’m using a PC) I’ve copied the URL to share it with my networks as I found this useful and know my cleints will too.

    Reply
    • Noemi Tasarra-Twigg says

      8/25/2016 at 1:36 am

      You’re right. Thank you for pointing that out.

      Reply
  3. Bican Valeriu says

    8/28/2016 at 7:19 pm

    From what I know, 300 is the minimum…however 1000+ I would recommend.

    Reply
    • Elvis Michael says

      8/29/2016 at 6:12 pm

      Agreed. 300 is generally the recommended minimum and it usually gives you more traffic thanks to the added keywords.

      In certain cases, however, I publish as little as 70 words when my only goal is to highlight a certain blogger on my own website. In the end, i think every bit helps 🙂

      Elvis

      Reply
  4. Nestor Paul says

    9/11/2016 at 12:46 am

    I would suggest that if you want to have a good result in google search. you guys aim more or less 1500 of words, that will help your blog rank well

    Reply
  5. Vick Strizheus says

    1/8/2017 at 11:52 am

    long content with low keyword density can be more helpful.

    Reply

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