{"id":27207,"date":"2023-01-03T10:51:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T10:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/03\/what-content-marketers-need-to-consider\/"},"modified":"2023-01-03T10:51:36","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T10:51:36","slug":"what-content-marketers-need-to-consider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2023\/01\/03\/what-content-marketers-need-to-consider\/","title":{"rendered":"What Content Marketers Need to Consider"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you\u2019ve ever written a blog post or online article, you\u2019ve asked the question before: How long should this be?<\/p>\n

In other words, what\u2019s the optimal length of web content for SEO purposes?<\/p>\n

Depending on the year and the source, you might hear the ideal word count for SEO is anywhere from 250 to more than 2,000 words per piece.<\/p>\n

Proponents of lower word counts will argue it\u2019s not the number of words but the quality of the information and the number of backlinks that matter most.<\/p>\n

Those who advocate for higher word counts claim that too few words will be scored as \u201cthin\u201d content by search engines and, thus, not rank as highly as more verbose counterparts.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the truth? Does word count really matter that much to search engines? And if so, what\u2019s the best length for pieces of content?<\/p>\n

According to Google\u2019s John Muelle<\/a>r, the fount from which so much search engine knowledge flows, the number of articles is not included in Google\u2019s quality scores.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cGo With 2,000 Words & An Optimized H1\u201d<\/h2>\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

It\u2019s Not Content-Length That Ranks An Article \u2013 But The Backlinks That Are Correlated With The Length<\/h2>\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

\"It\u2019sScreenshot from Ahrefs.com, September 2022<\/span>