For most bloggers, the question “how long should a blog post be” is sometimes too complex to be given a direct answer.
After considering the structure of the post and the topic in question, some bloggers will say there is a particular length for different categories of blog posts. Although people’s attention span is shorter in the age we are now, that doesn’t necessarily mean your post should be short. The longer the length of the blog post, the better it is!
In this article, you will be shown the perfect length of a blog post and how to write for quality and not for quantity.
Table of Contents
The Perfect Length a Blog Post Should Have in 2021.
Having a particular length for your blog posts may depend on a number of factors, some of which you’ll see below.
1. The kind of audience that views your posts.
The length you use for a blog post should always revolve around the kind of audience you have. If you write shorter blog posts and you are able to keep the attention of your readers, then that is the length you should use for your posts.
2. The particular subject you are writing the post about.
When you are writing a blog post, the length most times depends entirely on the type of topic you are writing about. Some topics like “how to do” might require a longer post, while some might require a shorter write-up.
The Structure and Length of a Blog Post
There are different structures of writing a blog post; most of them are seen below.
- Listicles
A listicle is a type of article that has different forms of quotations, tips, and facts in it. It may be numbered or bulleted, but the perfect length of a listicle should be 2,300-2,600 words long.
- Pillar posts
These types of blog posts are lengthy, engaging, well-written, and useful posts that are filled with relevant resources and support the point the writer is making. A pillar post should be around 4000 words long.
- ‘How-to’ blog posts
These are the type of blog posts that give detailed information on how well you can do a particular thing. A ‘how-to’ blog post should be between 1700-2000 words long.
- ‘What is’ blog posts
These are the kind of blog posts that give answers to a question regarding a particular subject. They should be around 1,300-1,700 words long.
While keeping all these structures and types of blog posts in mind, you should note that the perfect length of a blog post is between 2,100-2,400 words; this is the ideal length required for SEO.
The Minimum length a Blog Post Should Be
Some say the longer the blog post the better the performance, but that does not necessarily mean you should make every single blog post you write 2000+ words long, the minimum length you can leave a blog post with should be at least 1000 words.
So long you can explain the topic very well with a shorter length of words; you should go ahead and do so.
Reasons You Should Write Longer Blog Posts
Writing long-form posts has its disadvantages and advantages, but we are going to be talking about its benefits here.
The longer you keep your content, the more you will have room to give extra points on the subject matter to your readers! It allows you to include more links in your posts. The more engaged the person reading your post is, the more time they will spend on the page!
While writing longer posts, you can give a better call-to-action to your readers, thereby giving them valuable information while reading through your posts. Longer blog posts are also good for SEO.
Why You Should Add Shorter Blog Posts
In recent times, the attention span of the majority of individuals is on a lower scale, so writing shorter posts has its merits and demerits.
Adding a shorter blog post will increase the reputation of your blog as being precise and straight to the point. When your readers see that you have valuable short posts, it will encourage them to visit your blog on an everyday basis.
If your short blog posts come with valuable and provocative questions, it can increase the number of comments on your blog, and this will be very helpful for SEO.
Best Ways to Write Long-form Posts
- When writing a long-form post, ensure that it has a high level of uniqueness and is free from plagiarism
- Writing valuable and long information alone cannot get you the traffic or viewers you need; to get better traffic, you need to learn ways to promote your blog posts
- Ensure that your blog posts are easy to read; when they are readable, your readers will not be discouraged by the length.
Quick Ways to Edit and Make Long-form Posts Shorter
For you to edit long write-ups, you should break them into readable and unique sections, but you have to do it in a way that will not discourage the reader from reading further.
More time and much more effort are required to write longer articles, so when breaking up these writings, it is important to keep the readers engaged by adding a call-to-action and relevant links to different parts of the article.
Another way of editing long-form posts is to add good quality images to the posts. Also, consider making the paragraphs shorter, because the shorter you make your paragraphs the more you create a better flow between you the writer, and the reader.
Below, you are going to see how long your post should be in the year 2021. But before that, there are a couple of factors that are more important than the length of a blog post on your blog.
The Factors that are more important than the blog post length are:
- The ranking of a blog is greatly impacted by keywords in subheadings
- The number of external domains linked to your post has far more significance than the length of your blog post
- Keeping your readers interested is all that matters in the long-run
- One of the most important things that help a blog post is having a targeted keyword
- People are more drawn to shorter posts than lengthy ones, though lengthy posts are better for SEO.
What is the Best Length of a Blog for SEO?
In the last ten years, the Google algorithm was said to prefer long-form content as opposed to shorter content; it has helped posts with over 1000 words do better in driving traffic.
At a minimum blog post of 1000+ words, you will prevent your blog from being considered thin content.
The ideal length of a blog post is not limited to all these statistics; it most times totally depends on your situation.
What are the Elements a Perfect Blog Post Possesses?
- Support your key points with examples and accurate data so as to make them clearer to the reader
- Use keywords at the subheadings, and also at the beginning and end of the post
- Ensure that you answer other questions related to the question that was asked – and not just only the main question
- Name your images this way – jpg with keywords, and use keywords in the alt text and description of the image
- Use bullet points and set the main points down into different headlines for easier understanding
- People are drawn to colors and infographics, so try using images and videos at the beginning of your post. You can also do that at the end of the post
- Use bold or bigger text when starting, use a hot take, a proactive question, or a promise to give the reader value if they read through the article
- Use a short URL so someone can easily share the post on different platforms or easily switch devices
- Have a target keyword
The best length of a blog post will actually be determined by your website; if your audience prefers your posts with shorter lengths to the ones that are longer, then that is the trend you have to follow.
If you want to determine these statistics use, the following steps:
- Use the organic search tool to find the top ten posts on your blog (for an MMO blog, the posts should be long-form)
- When trying to determine the length of the post, the webpage word counter should be the tool to use
- Whichever post has the most traffic, another post should be written with the same or similar length.
While you are doing this, ensure you focus on quality rather than quantity.
A look into a perfect blog post:
- Consider what other people need when searching for a topic around your blog niche, and find ways in fulfilling those needs
- In every blog post, try to introduce new concepts and ideas; sticking to the same thing for too long might bore your readers
- Use different media like images, videos, quizzes, and graphs to enhance the reading experience of your readers.
How to Get Additional Ideas and Points for Your Blog Post
- Use the “people ask” box under the search bar to your advantage; you can use this method for getting ideas by seeing what questions people are asking on a daily basis
- Try increasing the length of your post by using the LSI keyword.
Best Practices for Getting a Good Blog Post Length
- When trying to get the perfect length for your posts, ensure your average length coincides with that of your top ten blog posts
- Always determine the kind of distribution strategy you will implement before writing a blog post
- Make a keyword search before sitting down to write a blog post.
When you are not getting your blog post out through SEO, you need to figure out a way through which you can get at least 100 people to see your post. If you are not lucky enough for your visitors to revisit your blog, you need to do solid keyword research and also have an advertisement budget to promote your blog.
FAQ About a Post Length
What is the minimum length that I can make my blog post?
Shorter posts can be useful for getting more comments on a blog. Writing 1000-1500 words will be preferable if you are provocative with your questions. Although most professional websites don’t accept anything below 2000+ words, it really depends on the subject matter.
On Average, What is a Good Blog Post Length?
Google algorithm has a preference for long-form content; for some, 1000 words are acceptable, but the average length of a blog post should be pegged at 1200+ words.
When I am writing a 1000-word post, how many pages should I aim for?
Let’s assume you have a project that requires a certain number of words on a page, you would need a single-spaced or double-spaced format.
When Can I finish writing a 1000-word Post?
When you are doing research, it may take longer, but the average time it will take someone to write a 1000-word long post is about 60-80 minutes.
The time spent on your site by your readers is all that matters; so the fact that you write short or long blog posts will not determine whether you will have good audience retention. The only thing that will assure you of keeping the attention of your readers is if you write quality content that not only drives traffic or improves your blog but also gives value to your blog audience.
In Conclusion
Making posts shorter or longer doesn’t matter; what really matters is the quality of information you are giving to your readers. When you give great and quality content to your readers, he or she will be willing to read through your post regardless of the length.
You just have to figure out which is best for you as a writer, while also considering the interest of your readers; if people don’t read, then there is no point in writing.
Learn all about writing content and creating your own website here at Wealthy Affiliate, hosting and lessons, starting free.
If you still have a problem writing short or long blog posts, ensure to use the tips given in this article to the best of your advantage.
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LILY
I learned a lot of useful things while reading this article. I think that is one of the important things we need to consider when writing blogs. We should not forget the importance of SEO optimization. When we take all the useful tips from this article and adapt them to our niche, it will be a great article.
I wish you a lot of success in your further work.
Hi Jas, it is great to hear that some of these tips are ones that you can use to optimize your blogs and get the results that you want. Keep up the great work and keep learning, it is the only way to become a great success.
Hello Lily,
I have some posts on my website that are shorter in length (between 600-1000 words) but are still ranking. But most of my content has 1200-1500 words and I think this is should be the ideal length.
You have broken down the post categories really well. It makes it easier to structure the content length if you know the type of content you are writing. It also depends on the type of audience your posts are attracting. I also like to insert the table of contents in the beginning so that it gives an option for readers to select their choice of content they prefer reading first.
I really appreciate your effort in sharing this valuable knowledge on the length of a blog post.
Sounds like you have worked out the perfect length to suit your website and get results, Arif. I’m pleased that my article helped you to clarify that you were doing the right length.
Good day, I am pleased to meet you once again. We have joined wealthy affiliate to earn and make a good living with online business, but, it may somehow seem to be an unrealistic exercise until yielding fruitful results. I agree with you that we need to know the best length for the blog we post. Thank you so much for this important information you provided.
The quality and the length are what will be noticed by Google but it is the readers who will keep coming back when they get great value from what you write.
Hey Lily,
Wow, that’s a great article! I really like how you pointed out the different aspects that play a major role so that the post is not identified as thin content. I totally agree that 1000+ words are a minimum in order to get good rankings within the search engines. I also heard that 1500+ is the best option you can go for.
I think the more words you incorporate the more search engines are going to celebrate your content. Of course, structure and grammar have to be considered as well. Otherwise it won’t be that good to read and this again is going to affect your rankings. Thank your for this great post! I will definitely share it with my freinds.
All the best,
Sergej
I’ve been in many a debate about the right length of a blog but really as long as you are posting 2-5 articles a week, with 2 of them 2000+ words you will get the traffic you want and become recognized as an authority website sooner rather than later.
Very informative topic. I learned a lot myself from the article. I am guided in getting my audience’s response.
Though it may seem lengthy, I finished the article searching for more to learn. So you got your goal to engage me, being a blogger.
Great job! Thank you for guiding bloggers with the types of content and their ideal length. Though you are right in saying, quality first before quantity.
Keep guiding!
Hi Rose, thanks for your kind comment. It is definitely quality over quantity but you do need to work on getting at least 2 – 5 articles on your website every week.
This is a very helpful article on the length of blog posts. I had previously heard that a blog should have a minimum of 1500 words, but I didn’t realise that it would depend on the type of blog post you are writing. Most of my blogs are “how to” and “what is” blogs and I generally try and have at least 2000 words. So it is reassuring to see that for search engines my blogs are around the right length.
You are definitely on the right track and should be delighted. I’ve also just found out that you should have about 5 pillar posts between 4000 and 10,000 words that go in-depth into a subject on your website in the first 12 months