My Local Business Online

Jan Kearney - Your Local Business Online Marketing Consultant - call me 07847 554418

Jan Kearney – My Local Business Online

Helping you get your business found online by LOCAL people

  • Home
  • Problems I Solve
    • I need a website that works
    • I need more online visibility for my local business
    • I want to start video marketing
    • My WordPress site baffles me
  • Why I Do It
    • Privacy
  • Toolbox
  • Contact Me
You are here: Home / Blogging / What Is The Ideal Length Of A Blog Post?

What Is The Ideal Length Of A Blog Post?

January 20, 2013 by Jan Kearney

What is the ideal length of a blog post? That question has come up in its various forms this week.ideal length of a blog post?

  • How many words should I write?
  • How long should my blog article be?
  • Do I need to write at all!?

The short answer is, “As long as it needs to be.”

Not a very satisfying answer is it?

When I dig deeper, the real question behind the questions comes back to Google. How long does your blog post need to be to keep Google happy?

It’s not quite as simple as that.

Contents

  • Blog Post Length And Ranking
  • Quick Blogging Tips
  • There are no hard and fast blog rules
  • Related Posts

Blog Post Length And Ranking

There are studies that show longer content ranks well. This study by serpIQ found that top ranking pages have over 2,000 words.

But that’s not even half of the story. There are many factors that affect ranking, not least the number of links to the page and social mentions.

SEOMoz looked at their top posts and found that longer blog posts attract more links and social shares.

I know from my experience here on My Local Business Online, longer posts bring more traffic. They do get linked to more and also bring in visitors from long-tail searches. A long tail search is simply a search term that contains 3 or more words.

I have traffic coming here from whole questions typed into Google. While I may not use the exact phrase the searcher looks for, Google matches the search terms to words on the page. Blog posts are a great way of attracting long tail traffic. It often converts better too because it is much more focused.

Before you dash off to write your 2,000 word missive…

The length of a blog post is not as important as communicating with your audience. There’s little point in rambling on for 2,000 words if you can say it in 500!

There are many bloggers who don’t even think about Google when writing their posts. They have built up a following who read their blogs and buy their stuff with little, if any SEO.

We can’t all be Seth Godin or Jim Connolly  (both great blogs providing food for thought!). As small business bloggers we can learn from them and build our audience too.

Rather than asking, “How many words should I write?” Ask, “Is this the best way to get my message across to my target audience?”

Write for your readers and nod at Google.

Quick Blogging Tips

  • If you use a lot of images in your posts, write a short description for each. This not only helps Google understand what your post is about, but benefits your readers too
  • Remember to use image alt tags on all your images
  • If you post a video then also include a transcript or description of the video. Again, this helps Google understand your post and benefits your readers
  • Are you a local business blogger? Include your location in the title of your post where it is relevant
  • When writing a long blog post, make it skimable and easy to read. Include sub-titles, bullet points and short paragraphs to break up the walls of text.

There are no hard and fast blog rules

Really, there aren’t. It’s down to you to discover what works for your blog and your readers.

Over to you…

What’s the ideal length of a blog post? Do you prefer longer or shorter posts? What works for you?

For those who are interested, this post is 573 words long!

What Is The Ideal Length Of A Blog Post? by Jan Kearney

Related Posts

  • How to transfer ownership of Google Plus Pages
    How To Transfer Ownership Of Your Google Local Page [Video]

    Did you know you can transfer ownership of your Google Local Page?  One of the…

  • Should you use Google Ads as part of your online marketing?

    It's no secret that Google Ads are taking over the search results, slowly but surely. …

  • top 10 posts at My Local Business Online 2013
    The Best of My Local Business Online 2013

    Before I get to revealing my plans, mission and goals for 2014, I thought I'd…

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: blog, blogging for business, local business blogging, SEO

About Jan Kearney

I believe that every business, no matter how small or how local can use the power of the web to gain more customers. I offer no bull coaching and mentoring so small business owners can strategically put the web to work for their business. I've been called a "compass" and a "navigator" and probably a few more names that aren't suitable for a profile!
Connect with me on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest

Comments

  1. Nancy Kay says

    January 20, 2013 at 7:12 pm

    I used to write 700-950 word blog posts but now I am writing more concise blogs of about 400-600 words and breaking them into shorter paragraphs with key points in bold for easier skimming.
    I remember when I was in college working at the TV station as a TV News Reporter, our Journalism teachers used to tell us, “Your video better not be longer than 1 minute 30 seconds unless Jesus comes again!”

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 20, 2013 at 7:42 pm

      Hi Nancy, oddly longer content often does it’s job better than short bite size – it’s one to test. Personally, I tend to write in short bursts so most posts are in the 4-600 range too. Thanks for sharing your story 🙂

  2. Mark Michael says

    January 20, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    Personally I like to have a mix of all of the above. Short post and long, images and video. I never know who will click with what so having some of each covers all bases.

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 20, 2013 at 7:39 pm

      Hi Mark – I’m with you there! Variety is the spice of life 🙂 Thanks for popping in and commenting

  3. Chris Towndrow says

    January 20, 2013 at 7:54 pm

    Thanks for this. It’s the same with video – it needs to be long enough to tell the story well, but no longer.

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 21, 2013 at 1:25 am

      You hit the nail on the head, Chris. Thanks for popping in and commenting 🙂

  4. Debra Moser says

    January 20, 2013 at 9:36 pm

    Hi Jan great tips for blogging! Enjoy reading your blogs! Thanks for sharing. I tend to make sure I write 500-700 but 2000 words wowzers! What is an alt tag? I still don’t understand how to generate traffic to my blog posts as well. Should I be placing ads on my sites? I enjoy writing and amazed how there are bloggers out there making good money at it! Baffles me:)

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 21, 2013 at 2:20 am

      Hi Debra – I’m not a 2,000 word person either! If it will take me that long to explain something, I tend to do a video. Traffic generation is several blog posts! I’m currently working on a local blogging mini-course that covers that. Bonnie covered 5 great ways to build your audience in a guest post https://www.mylocalbusinessonline.co.uk/5-grow-your-audience/
      As for ads – it depends on you and your site. Some bloggers do make good money. Personally, this blog is here to help potential clients find me and get to know what I do rather than revenue from ads and affiliate links – but there are a few dotted about and money trickles in!

      Alt tags are the alternative text that sits behind the image. This shows when and image doesn’t load. Google can’t read images, so uses this text to understand what your image is about. In WordPress, when you upload an image, there’s extra boxes on the right hand side (in 3.5) or below (before 3.5) to add extra information. There’s more about alt tags in this post https://www.mylocalbusinessonline.co.uk/seo-image-alt-tag/

  5. Mike says

    January 20, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    The focus of my blog is to communicate with my audience. I used to try to make every blog post with seo. Now, I focus on my readers more than anything.

    I want engagement in the comments section! SEO is important and it’s good to have posts that are written with SEO in mind to help bring the search engines in. But your blog has to reflect your personality and engage your readers above anything else. You want people coming back! 🙂

    Awesome post, thank you!

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 21, 2013 at 2:49 am

      Hi Mike, yes, SEO is important. But like you say, there’s no need to think SEO with every blog post!
      Thanks for popping in and commenting 🙂

  6. Eleanor says

    January 21, 2013 at 1:52 am

    I really like the suggestion on Video and using a transcript for it in the post. Which is really easy to do if you script your video out before you do it. That last statement only clicked in my mind after reading your post, but has been told to me several times by my online teachers about scripting my videos.

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 21, 2013 at 2:48 am

      Hi Eleanor, yes your video script is a great way to include a transcript. It doesn’t need to be word for word perfect either! Thanks for popping in and your comment 🙂

  7. Debra Jason says

    January 21, 2013 at 2:06 am

    Content length is something that has been debated and tested in the world of direct marketing for years.
    When people say it “HAS TO BE SHORT” – I respond with “it should be as long as it needs to be to communicate the message effectively. As you’ve suggested, the same holds true for blog posts.
    Don’t write “fluff,” write because you have a powerful message to convey – and convey it well.
    Thanks. ~Debra

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 21, 2013 at 2:46 am

      Hi Debra, I agree with you. I used to get a few lines passed over to me to put on webpages because “people don’t scroll”. Often this is from businesses who insist on having giant slider images at the top of every page!
      Thanks for your insight 🙂

  8. Ginny Carter says

    January 21, 2013 at 10:21 am

    Useful thoughts, thanks. I’d often wondered what the description field is for when uploading images to WordPress – so now I’ll make more effort to fill it out!

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 22, 2013 at 3:51 pm

      Hi Ginny, it’s the alt text box you want 🙂

  9. Bonnie Gean says

    January 21, 2013 at 2:07 pm

    I don’t sit down to write with any specific word count in mind. I write until I’ve fulfilled the promise made in the introduction – that’s about it.

    Some posts can relay the information that needs saying in less than 500 words. Other articles take quite a bit more.

    You have to know who you’re writing for, what it is they need to know, and giving it to them in a fashion that’s easy to read and understand and hope you made a difference.

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 22, 2013 at 3:52 pm

      I’m with you, Bonnie. I write what I need to write these days. Hopefully I get my message across!

  10. Galina St George says

    January 21, 2013 at 11:07 pm

    Hi Jan,

    I love writing long posts, and for the first time I am feeling good about it. A few articles I have read have made me believe that short posts are best, since apparently they keep up the attention of the audience. The problem with me is when I start writing I find it difficult to stop, and end up with an essay.

    The research data in your post shows that longer posts attract better rankings in Google, which is great. I cannot agree with you more that it has to be great content, and engaging with the audience must be the focus of anything we write.

    Contrived posts which are only aimed at boosting Google rankings are very easy to spot, and Google has learned to recognise them too. But most of all, our readers are our best judges, and we should always keep them interested in what we write about. Your blog posts are a very good example of it. With an excellent collection of articles which has a massive following search engine rankings will teke care of themselves.

    Warm wishes,

    Galina

    • Jan Kearney says

      January 22, 2013 at 3:59 pm

      Hi Galina, in the local blog sector I see more and more “SEO posts”. I think it’s because they still work so well on a local scale. It’s only a matter of time before that changes!

      The thing with Google ranking, they can be great and still not bring leads or customers. People prefer human. Finding the balance of the bot and human writing can be challenging – which is why we should never rely on Google 🙂

  11. Rosie Slosek @1ManBandAccts says

    February 25, 2013 at 11:41 am

    I write short posts as longer ones often confuse more than illuminate for my subject matter (chocolate and accounts go together like bacon and a sandwich). It’s a bit different when it’s sales, marketing, social media etc.

    • Jan Kearney says

      February 25, 2013 at 12:08 pm

      Rosie, I’m veggie… bacon doesn’t go with anything! 🙂

Meet Jan Kearney

I believe that every business, no matter how small or how local can use the power of the web to gain more customers. I offer no bull coaching and mentoring so small business owners can strategically put the web to work for their business. I've been called a "compass" and a "navigator" and probably a few more names that aren't suitable for a profile!
Connect with me on Google+, Facebook, Pinterest or Discover More About My Local Business Online…

Also On The Blog…

7 Useful image optimisation tips for search and social media

7 Useful Image Optimisation Tips For Search And Social Media

A web page without an image is almost naked, missing something, a finishing touch. Basic image optimisation can transform your web pages, product … [Read More...]

50 Fabulously free stock photo sites to bling up your blog

50 Fabulously Free Stock Photo Sites To Bling Your Blog

Not all of us have photographic talent. Creating your own photo images for your website, social updates, blog or presentations is HARD.  When the … [Read More...]

Is your business website Google-worthy in 2016?

Is Your Business Website Google-Worthy In 2016?

Creating your own local business website is never an easy task, especially when the guidelines change regularly. As always online, the only thing you … [Read More...]

Jan Kearney
and My Local Business Online
Helps small business owners get to grips with the web and get found online.
2 Stanley Villas, Greenway Road, Runcorn, Cheshire
Phone: 07847 554418

You need to know

This website uses cookies. By continuing using the site, you are agreeing to the use of cookies. Info on the cookies used can be found in my privacy policy.

Jan Kearney is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.

More Info

  • Contact Me
  • About
  • Privacy

Copyright © 2021 · Epik on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in