How long should your blog post really be?
Will 500 words be long enough for a blog post or do I always have to push past a thousand words to get into Google’s good side?
This is a very popular question among newer bloggers and if I had found a post like I’m about to write, I would’ve been in blog heaven.
You live, you learn, and you get to share your experience.
So rather than trying to be a little brat and calling you lucky, I’ll just be thankful that I get to teach you a thing or two about the wonderful business you have got yourself into.
Quit Worrying About What Google Thinks
As an online marketer we are constantly worried about what big daddy Google will do with the hard work we publish on the net.
I’m sure we all want to give them the bird but that will only throw us on their naughty list and we will lose rankings like it’s cool.
Well, it’s not
As a blogger, you need to NOT worry about what Google thinks and get back to the basics.
Worry about writing for your audience and keep it that way.
Forever.
When dealing with SEO, just make sure you at least have a basic checklist and you should be good to go.
Do keep these key factors in mind when you find that awesome blog post of 1500 words nowhere to be found in the SERPS.
Your Niche is Definitely a Factor
Depending on what your niche is can help you determine how long your blog post should be.
For example, the niche I’m in (helping writers/bloggers) usually requires me to knock out longer articles and not because of the competition, but because the stuff I talk about just takes a lot of explaining.
If I was running a blog that talked about kids toys, I’m sure a 700 word post will do just fine.
If you’re using Yoast, you’ll see that they give you a higher score if your post is at least 300 words long, but I will never recommend you post a 300 word article.
However, I always use 700 as my magic number, as it will have a bigger impact on not only getting ranked, but also keeping that rank.
Although I recommend more, it’s going to take other factors on how long an actual blog post should be.
How Old is Your Website?
If your site is not even a month old, rankings should be the last thing you check.
If your site still has the “hello world” post on it, you really need to get to work.
Would you trust a site that’s a month old?
Probably not, even if the content was amazing and super beneficial to the online world.
So if your site is under 6 months old I wouldn’t worry about getting any rankings just yet.
You should be working your butt off and building out your site to become the authority and most especially the “go to” for the wonderful people on the internet.
Who’s Your Competition?
Of course everyone that enters the world of making money online naturally drift to the niche of “how to make money online” simply because they were introduced to this by some guru or scam.
The gurus that have been scamming everyone for the past 10+ years are on page 1 and as much as I’ve followed them, I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone looking to make this a career.
Good thing that’s not what we’re here to talk about though and we can save that for another post.
Again, your niche will be different and hopefully you didn’t enter the “make money from home” niche either.
As far as competition is concerned, always look at who you’re up against.
If your niche is very targeted, chances are that you don’t have that much competition and you should move up the ranks fairly easily.
Are Every Post 1,000 Words?
I hope not.
You HAVE to mix things up.
One post will be 1500 words and the next one will be either more or less, but not the same.
I know we all want (or think we want) the longest posts possible if we want a chance to get ranked, but we need to change the way we think.
I’m not saying go out there and start publishing 500 word posts because that is a great way to not get ranked.
Try to push paste the 1k mark, but if it only takes you 700 words to get your point across, then that’s all you need to use.
Google’s a lot smarter than you think so don’t think that repeating something you just said is going to make a difference.
Actually, it will and most likely give your post a negative rating and ultimately making you lose the chance of getting ranked.
Your Content Sucks
If you’re on this article, chances are that your site is fairly new and that is fine as we all have to start somewhere and starting is the biggest step anyone could take as far as careers are concerned.
As a newb to the online world, I can promise you that my content was beyond horrible and I could barely hit the 1k mark, but that did not stop me.
I’m sure there are many of you out there that can relate, but what sucks is the fact that almost everyone that encounters that problem ends up quitting.
“I can’t write a thousand word article”
“I don’t have enough stuff to talk about”
“My content is not good enough”
There are so many things that bloggers try to work around and it is something you need to avoid and flat out ignore.
Just like anything in life, it is going to take practice and a lot of it to make it in the online world especially if you want to make money blogging.
So what if your content isn’t the best.
Finish that post and blog on.
So what if you can’t get past the 1k mark.
Finish that post and blog on.
I have gone through this in my career and if I had stopped, I would’ve probably never seen the real potential the internet has to offer.
If you ever feel like quitting, dig deep and blog on.
That’s about the best piece of advice I can give you, so use it and I can promise you that you will become another successful blogger online.
So How Long Should a Blog Post Be?
The length of your blog post should be as long as it takes to provide the information your readers are looking for.
Nothing more and nothing less.
If you have already gotten your point across and you stop at 700 words, so be it, even if I recommend you try to push past a thousand words.
If it’s at 1500 words and you’re still going, then keep going.
When things start to get unnatural due to you trying to be Google’s little puppet, your readers will see it, stop paying attention to you, and then your master (Google) will soon pick up on it too.
If you were to write every post at a thousand words, wouldn’t that be obvious?
Mix things up, understand the age of your site and forget about what Google thinks.
Sometimes.
In the end, you will know how long your blog post needs to be.
Not Google and not your readers.
This post just hit 1300 words and this site is not the newest, so we shall see where this ranks even if my “blogging” category is not well populated.
I’m not trying to please Google and I want to give you nothing but the right information and that’s exactly what I did.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have learned a thing or two on how long your blog post should really be.
I’m sure there are many things to add, but if you use this as a solid base for your articles, I can promise you that your post will rank accordingly.
Happy blogging!
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