You’ve heard it a hundred times—content is king, and longer content is, well, even more of a king. However, that doesn’t mean it’s completely true. While most business owners and former SEO-experts would say that a 500-word piece would rank higher than a 200-word one, things have changed, and there are no longer such hard and fast rules.
Google Wants Results
The amount of content on your page matters less than the quality of the content on your page. Google tracks page visits and engagement within the site itself, so customers who click additional links on a page in your site will help to boost its ranking. If customers quickly close the page, which can be more likely with extraordinarily long content, it will decrease the search ranking.
It Should Match Your Audience
The length of your content should match your target audience. Are you trying to reach busy business executives with your product? Keep things short, snappy and results-driven. Are you hoping to get more subscriptions to your literary magazine? In this case, it might be okay to go longer, since your target audience is made up of those who enjoy longer, more thoughtful pieces.
Length is One Piece of the Puzzle
Most importantly, you should keep in mind that length is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to ranking web content. What matters?
- Quality
- Style/brand voice
- Frequency of postings
- Formatting
- Purpose
- Audience
- Publishing medium
Keywords Are the Real King
More than the length of your content, the real king on your website is the keyword usage. While longer content offers more opportunities for keyword use, shorter content written with SEO in mind can achieve the same results in a much smaller bite.