How long should a blog post be: trends and tendencies in the Internet society

Does the post length matter?

People today are extremely interested in creating blog posts. The tendency started a few years ago, and now it has reached its peak. Today more and more Internet users create their blogs and post informative texts on their pages. Thus, the interest in basic blog post rules has risen. If you also take an interest in blog post writing and want to know what is an appropriate length for a post, continue reading.

The days of short posts have gone. Now we live in an era of long and informative content. You can forget about those 600-word posts. They are still present on the Internet but aren’t popular enough to use them regularly. Or can we accept the existence of the Gargantua posts phenomenon? These are the posts that take up to 10 minutes to read. Are they still with us?
So, there is a problem. What length is considered to be the best one to amuse the readers and not to get them bored? This is a complicated question, but let’s take a look at the average post length acceptable for different web platforms.

1. Moz and Buzzsumo

These two major web platforms intended for internet marketing worked together to come up with interesting statistics.

• If there was a material focused on fact-finding or some research activities, the 1000-word post was the most popular length. Such content has got better traffic and higher levels of shares than posts shorter than 1000 words.
• Most of the content posted on the platforms hardly reached the point of 1000 words. Thus, you will be surprised if you try to surpass this mark. You will perform great if you try to put into your blog publication, both deep meaning, and more words. This way, users will more likely draw their attention to your publication.
• However, if the post counts more than 2000 symbols, links will have lower rankings.

It was a deep study on the traffic, but here we have even more interesting cases. Let’s proceed with the next example.

2. Google

Several years ago, one of the most popular and most used keyword research tools conducted a study. More than 20 000 keywords were used to deliver approximate statistics, and the findings were impressive.

The survey showed that the average length of the most liked and shared posts published on Google was more than 2000 words. As you can see, Google appreciates it when you develop the ideas and dig deeper with the research. OK, but what’s next?

3. Backlinko

Backlinko also joined the trend and decided to check their search engine rankings. To be true, checking the rankings isn’t a trend or tendency. Every online platform has to conduct research and monitor the traffic. It helps to learn the behavior of the customer and build further strategy. So, Backlinko also performed a survey. They managed to process a million search results provided by Google. The result isn’t unique or impressive if compared with the previous findings. The average result was about 1,890 words. This relates to the content featured on the first Google page. If this information didn’t impress you, we could tell you even more.

4. Hubspot

When we asked Hubspot about the most appropriate post length, they follow Google’s suit. They said 2,250 words would be enough to draw the attention of users and still get high traffic.
But there is an obvious inconsistency. Posts with more than 2000 words drop off the traffic. In the meantime, such posts are better shared and backlinked. So, here you need to focus on your goals. If you need more shares and likes on social media, you have to think of more lengthy posts.

Now you can see that there is no set blog post length. Everything directly depends on your goal. But there is one important thing to remember. When creating content, you should mind its meaning as well. The word count won’t work for you if you post complete gibberish. So, together with the appropriate length, you have to ensure useful and client-oriented texts.

Let’s rock SEO: how long should a blog post be?

Here we deal with a slightly different case. If you want to follow general trends, you need relevant data. If you search for the two-year-old information, you will probably find obsolete facts. Modern technology and Internet trends, in particular, develop rapidly. If you want to be a trendsetter or join the community in time, you have to study this day’s data.
There are many trends that change monthly. If you need high rankings, you should monitor the trends and updates.

In short, you will have to create a post that will take approximately 7 minutes to read. This is what the research can tell us. But still, there is no exact information about the post length for SEO. To be true, you won’t find the most suitable length because with SEO that’s not about the length.

To come up with a successful post, you have to mind two crucial aspects:

• Figure out what your target audience needs
• Produce a post longer than that of your competitors
• But you should be careful when calculating the length. If they say that 2000 will be just fine, you have to surpass this mar and create at least a 2,100-word post.

The next stage: let’s move further

Now, you can think that everything is done. You know the approximate length of the post. But this information isn’t enough for a successful promotion. But, to be true, this is a fly in the ointment. To promote your blog and popularize it among users, you should go deeper. Superficial knowledge will make no difference if you don’t know the framework and why it is happening so.

Can you answer why longer posts have better rankings than shorter ones? The answer is easy. Bigger posts are useful for users. They are full of details and bring more value to everyone. Thus, people spend time reading your posts not because they surpass a 2,000-wordmark. They read the content and appreciate useful info.

Brand Awareness targeting: post length issue

Here we can’t go without the basics. To understand what is relevant for brand awareness and what is better to avoid, we need to dig deeper.

Brand Awareness: what is it?

First, you have to understand that brand awareness is what people associate your company or organization with.

• Toyota suggests reliable vehicles
• Mercedes offers luxury cars
• Jeep is focused on rugged vehicles

Now it’s your turn. How does your audience comprehend your brand? Is it positive? Do you like the associations they have? What can you do to achieve the desired picture of your brand? All these questions will help you see the drawbacks.

Brand Awareness and short-form content

When you aim for greater brand awareness, you can’t follow the same rules as business web pages have. You need to understand that users visit your blog to get some value. But they do it quickly. And most times, you will have a few seconds to draw their attention.

If you need to post a big and informative blog post aiming for greater brand awareness, you need to make some amendments. Convert some of your text content into pictures, infographics, photos, or colored statistics. It will give the reader valuable information but in a short and ease-to-consume format. Fortunately, this isn’t the only way to introduce lengthy content in a more abridged version.

Interactive content

Use videos to interact with the audience. The thing is that most users prefer videos to photos and text posts. In the video, you can show more details and give bright examples of the service or product. It works better for users. But here you still need to mind the content and think carefully about the details and a script. This is what your video will rely on. Video is a great idea also because you can fit in here a lot of words. More than any user would read with enthusiasm on their own.

Social media content

You can see such social media strategies all over the Internet. Many popular companies, such as Airbnb, GE, and IBM, use short-form content venues and master the art of unique storytelling. It helps them to develop their brand and promote it successfully.

Standard short-form posts

There are so many bad examples of short-form content on the Web. Unfortunately, people don’t always mind the content and share it with the users. But there are popular posts as well. They number less than five paragraphs, but still, take an interest in the audience.

But how can this happen? How can short blog posts grab the attention of the readers so easily? The answer is easy. You need to hit your target audience by introducing the following features:

• Unique and high-quality content
• The single topic for each post
• Striking infographics
• Headlines with a hook

Sales Enablement: how long a blog post should be?

Every post that you share with your users builds trust and authority. Users absorb the content and are ready to buy something from you. Remember what we said about the value of 2,000-word posts? They are full of details. So, if you need to sell something, you have as well adjusted your content to your key purpose.

Blog post length: what’s the conclusion?

If you want to write a good post to grab your audience’s attention, you have to produce useful content. That’s the secret. There is no one-size post length to fit every Internet platform. It will depend on your website, industry, topic, or main goal. But remember the most important rule: be it a website, a small blog, or a major online platform, you have to produce high-quality content.