If you’ve asked “How long should a blog be?”, you need to re-think your approach.
There are some questions for which answers are easily misinterpreted. “How long should a blog be?” is one such question, but it is asked time and time again.
You could Google it now and find hundreds of different answers. However, there has been some very direct advice from Google recently.
Google Search Central advice
John Mueller is a Search Advocate for Google Search Central. He’s a man that is worth listening to.
Before we get to what he’s said, I think it is worthwhile looking at why this question keeps getting asked.
Mythical word counts in SEO
For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard people saying that Google prefers articles of a certain length. You’ll often read that to be 500 words, or 1,200 words, or 1,500 to 2,500 words. Getting a definitive answer is difficult, and that should make you think very carefully.
The reality is that most of these answers are incorrect. However, the intent of what they’re trying to say can sometimes be worth contemplating. The way the answer is written is critical. Ultimately, there is no correct answer in terms of a number of words.
John Mueller was asked a question on LinkedIn about external links within blog articles. If you work in SEO or run a WordPress based site using SEO tools such as Yoast or AIOSEO, you’ll know why this question was asked.
They asked if placing external and internal links in articles of, say, 1,000 words, was beneficial. Furthermore, they asked if 2-3 external links and 1-3 internal links per 1,000 words was about right. They also asked if putting too many links in the article could harm their search results.
Yoast, AIOSEO and other SEO tools
They were asking because a lot of plugins and tools (along with people in the industry) give guidance when you’re writing a blog post or publishing a new website page. They give your page a “score” that is from their own list of best practices for SEO.
I have nothing whatsoever against these tools. They can be very useful and stop you missing elements that are important to SEO, but, in my opinion, they are widely misunderstood in respect of how they should be used.
I’ve spoken to many people who do their utmost to get a score of 100/100 from the ratings some of these plugins use. All they’ve succeeded in doing is creating pages or posts that read like gibberish.
Use SEO tools sensibly, don’t be driven by them
Attempting to get above a specific percentage of passive phrases, or have all your sentences with fewer than 20 words, is far too mechanical and doesn’t make for an easy reading experience.
The same goes for the addiction with external links. Mueller answered the question by saying that Google do not count links. It was within his answer that he also said they don’t count words. Did anyone really need to be told that?
He once again communicated what Google have been saying for some time now:
“Nobody at Google counts the links or the words on your blog posts, and even if they did, I’d still recommend writing for your audience.“
The blog posts that reference word count and quote parameters shouldn’t be telling you that you must achieve X number of words. What they should do is say that blogs within those parameters of words “appear” to have performed better in Google SERPS. There is a big difference.
So, how long should a blog be?
If your blog is 492 words, or 4,569 words, and that is what is necessary to communicate your subject with your audience – publish it. Yes, you should test the performance of one blog against another, but not to see what word count worked. You should be doing it to see what content your audience wants and reacts most favourably to.
Forget trying to hit a specific word count
Incidentally, if you read the above paragraph and think that 492 words isn’t sufficient content, you need to think about the high quality and original content comments Google have given. Word count is not a factor. It is still possible to have high value content with 492 words or fewer. If it gets your message across to your audience, don’t stuff it out to 600, 700 or more words just because you’ve read it should be longer.
External links have got to add reader value
The same applies to external, and indeed internal, links. Mueller is saying not to put links in blogs and on pages unless they serve a useful purpose to your readers. None of this is new. It is reiterating the Google mantra on writing high quality and original content that your audience will get value from, not writing content purely for SEO purposes.
Is Google saying to ignore SEO?
There is no recommendation from Google to ignore SEO. If you don’t use appropriate page titles, descriptions, etc., you’re not going to get the visibility you want. Mueller is simply telling you to stop thinking about word and link counts and concentrate on the quality of content – because that is what you are going to be judged on.
The type of question that received the response from John Mueller wasn’t without merit. If you’ve been told to do X, Y or Z for years and you can’t see what it is doing for you, ask the question.
That said, I’m really not sure how much more emphasis Google needs to place on writing for your audience before people start to listen. Writing content isn’t easy, and writing high quality and original content is very difficult indeed.
I recently blogged about the fact that Google issues plenty of guidance on the type of content it wants.
If you’ve found this blog useful, please let me know in the comments. I also try to respond to comments or questions, so please feel free to ask in the comments section.
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