So, that\u2019s it, right? Case closed, the shortest article in the history of Search Engine Journal has confirmed that you don\u2019t need to worry about word counts.<\/p>\n
Not quite.<\/p>\n
Word count is not a direct SEO ranking factor<\/a>, but it\u2019s still something you need to keep in mind.<\/p>\n In the course of this piece, we\u2019re going to discuss why it matters, how the length of your pieces can both indirectly help and hurt your rankings, and give you some pointers for helping you write pieces that are the ideal length for your needs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s SEO advice in a nutshell.<\/p>\n But is it the best practice, common knowledge, or an urban myth?<\/p>\n As previously mentioned, there\u2019s no consensus on the perfect word count, but there is a general rule to follow: Generally speaking, long-form content tends to outperform shorter content<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Google\u2019s algorithm seeks to gauge search intent<\/a>, and longer pieces help give it a better idea of what your page\u2019s content is all about.<\/p>\n So, bigger is always going to be better, right? Not necessarily.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re just fleshing out articles by adding extra phrases, unnecessary adjectives, and adverbs or purposely taking a circuitous path to the point, you\u2019re going to turn off readers. And that will hurt your quality scores.<\/p>\n So, every article needs to be as long as it needs to be. Clear as mud, right? Don\u2019t worry. We\u2019ll explain further.<\/p>\n Yoast performed a study in 2022<\/a> that included information about the correlation between post length and SEO ranking. It determined that a minimum word count depends upon the page type.<\/p>\n As a general rule of thumb, Yoast suggests taxonomy pages (those used for classifying content and data) should be 250 or more words, regular posts and pages should be 300 or more, cornerstone content pages should land north of 900 words, and product pages require a measly 200+ words.<\/p>\n As you can see, that\u2019s a lot of variety.<\/p>\n Taxonomy and product pages tend to work fine with fewer words because they\u2019re highly specific. And users don\u2019t generally land on them directly from search results and instead dive into them from higher up the website.<\/p>\n For example, if you\u2019re shopping for a new set of kitchen knives, you\u2019re likely not searching for [Wusthof Performer 8\u201d Chef\u2019s Knife]. Instead, you\u2019re going to search for [Good Chef\u2019s Knife] and drill down from the Wusthof or retailer\u2019s general page.<\/p>\n On the end of the spectrum, longer content is usually more focused on providing useful information. This, in turn, tends to earn more backlinks.<\/p>\n A 2020 study by Ahrefs<\/a> analyzed around 900 million webpages and found a strong positive correlation between word count and the average number of referring domains.<\/p>\n In another 2020 study, Ahrefs found almost 91%<\/a> of all pages never get any organic traffic. And that seems to be predominantly because they do not have any backlinks:<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like 66.31% of pages don\u2019t have even a single backlink. And 26.29% of pages have links from less than three websites.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So, the impact of content length on rankings seems a two-step process rather than an \u201cif longer, then ranks better\u201d equation.<\/p>\n The path to ranking success looks like this:<\/p>\n It seems what might be ranking the website is not so much about the content length itself but more about the number of links the page received.<\/p>\n Guides, skyscrapers, pillar pages, and content hubs make the most interesting link targets. Thus, it is recommended to create the most conclusive, interesting, and in-depth piece of content on the web and run an extensive outreach campaign for it.<\/p>\n Making it sexy might not even need more words. Instead, it might just be a matter of more accurate targeting, better graphics, or detailed market research results.<\/p>\n Ahrefs\u2019 advice on content length:<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t shoot for a particular word count \u2014 just make sure you cover a topic in full. Whether that takes 500 words or 10,000, the key is that you are creating the best resource available for your target keyword.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In other words, your content should be as long as it needs to be to give search bots enough information to determine what it\u2019s about and long enough to satisfy user queries.<\/p>\n For many years, SEO professionals have been trying to write longer content, no matter the cost of usability. This led to fluffed-up super-long pieces instead of the word count that is relevant to your goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n It might have also inspired Google to push the featured snippets \u2013 and give answers instantly instead of providing a bad user experience with scroll marathons.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t so very long ago that a \u201chow to lower bounce rate\u201d query would return page one results that talk about the importance of bounce rate for 700 words before even revealing the first tip on how to decrease it.<\/p>\n But if we needed an introduction on bounce rate, we would have Googled it. These pieces clearly fail search intent.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Google has gotten smarter, and these types of returns are less common than they once were, but they should still serve as an invitation to rethink content creation and meet search intent.<\/p>\n I recommend turning your content structure upside down \u2013 and thus providing value to the user from the first second they arrive at your page.<\/p>\n Turn your SEO article into a newspaper article or executive summary:<\/p>\n Most important information first = Answer the question.<\/p>\n Start with the main message.<\/p>\n Then go into depth as the piece continues, and detailed-focused users continue reading.<\/p>\n Secondly, give users a clear path to convert and make the next clicks.<\/p>\n This matters for your business, revenue, and marketing goals, but also for the users who came to the website with a certain intention. Make it easy for them to find what they need.<\/p>\n This can include:<\/p>\n The main reason I would like you to think about satisfying search intent is content ontology and the hierarchy between keywords and articles.<\/p>\n This is something that Google has been considering as well, as thin pages<\/a>, duplicate content, and keyword cannibalization<\/a> can all now negatively affect your SEO results.<\/p>\n\u201cGo With 2,000 Words & An Optimized H1\u201d<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Not Content-Length That Ranks An Article \u2013 But The Backlinks That Are Correlated With The Length<\/h2>\n
![\"It\u2019s](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/word-count-seo-what-content-marketers-need-to-consider-via-sejournal-violaeva1.png\")
Screenshot from Ahrefs.com, September 2022<\/span><\/div>\n\n
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Answer Search Intent Effectively By Starting Your Article With The Most Important Information<\/h2>\n
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What Does It Take To Satisfy Search Intent?<\/h3>\n
![\"It](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/word-count-seo-what-content-marketers-need-to-consider-via-sejournal-violaeva1-1.png\")
Screenshot from Google search, September 2022<\/span><\/div>\n![\"What](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/word-count-seo-what-content-marketers-need-to-consider-via-sejournal-violaeva1-2.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n
![\"What](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/word-count-seo-what-content-marketers-need-to-consider-via-sejournal-violaeva1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFluffing Hurts The Content Ontology & Thus Your Keyword\/Topic Targeting<\/h2>\n
![\"keyword](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/word-count-seo-what-content-marketers-need-to-consider-via-sejournal-violaeva1-3.png\")
<\/p>\n