If you want your posts to rank in search, you may wonder what the ideal blog post length is. Sadly, that can be hard to answer.
For some topics, you only need to write a few hundred words. But for other topics, you should write a lot more to cover the subject.
Read on to learn what you should think about to help make each blog post a good length.
The Topic
One of the most significant things that can affect the ideal blog post length is the topic. Some topics have a lot more to them, so you need to write much more to provide enough value.
However, other topics are less in-depth. Writing a super long blog post is unnecessary, and it may even bore your readers.
The Competition
Another thing to keep in mind is how competitive your niche or specific topic is. If most of the existing blog posts are pretty short, you may be able to get away with that.
However, you can also aim to write a bit more. That way, search engines may see your blog post as more valuable and interesting. You may start to see that blog post reach the top of search results.
But if all of your competitors are writing long posts, you need to write long posts. It can be hard to compete with longer articles when your blogs are all 500 words or less.
The Needs
You should also consider how long a blog post needs to be. As I mentioned, some topics don’t have that much to them. You can get away with writing a shorter article.
It’s better to keep the article short and sweet than to extend it with fluff that provides no value. Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal reader to determine the ideal blog post length for your current topic.
The Audience
You may also need to keep your audience in mind. If you tend to attract busy moms, you might want to publish shorter posts. That way, your audience can read your blogs between things.
On the other hand, maybe you want to attract college students. They also have busy schedules. But they might have more free time on the weekends to read longer articles.
The Frequency
Next, you should consider how frequently you publish blog posts. If you try to publish something daily, you can get away with shorter articles.
However, if you only publish once a week or less, you should try to publish longer blog posts. That way, your audience will have more content to consume from you each week.
How to Write a Longer Blog Post
If you want to increase the average blog post length on your site, consider how you can write longer articles. You can do a few things, but I’d recommend the following.
Start With an Outline
Before I start writing a blog post, I make sure to create an outline. I might do this and start writing immediately. Or I may write the outline days or weeks before I write the post.
Either way, having an outline helps me stay on track. I can also use the outline to estimate how long the blog post will be. Ideally, each section I write is around 100 words or so.
Now, it can take a while to figure that out for yourself. But once you get an idea of how long your sections tend to be, an outline can be very useful.
Stick With What You Know
Another thing I’d suggest is that you write blog posts on topics you know. You can write about anything. However, the more you know about a topic, the easier it will be to outline and write the content.
When you know the topic, you won’t have to spend time researching it. That will give you more time to write and to publish good-quality posts on your blog.
If you’re still deciding on your blog niche, keep this in mind. That way, you can select a niche where you’ll be able to write dozens or even hundreds of blog posts.
Add FAQs
You can also add some frequently asked questions to the end of a blog post to extend the length. If you know a lot about the subject, you may know what people tend to ask.
Or you might remember questions you first had when you started learning about the topic. Add those questions to your blog post outline.
If you can’t think of any questions, search for your blog post topic on Google. Scroll until you see the People also ask section. Then, you can find a few ideas of questions or topics to cover.
Are Short Blog Posts Always Bad?
Short blog posts aren’t always bad, and they can be good sometimes. Depending on the topic, you may not have much to say.
It’s better to keep things short and to the point. Then, you can focus on providing value to your readers.
What’s the Ideal Blog Post Length for You?
The ideal blog post length can vary from a few hundred words to a few thousand words. It all depends on the topic, audience, and how competitive the topic or keyword is.
Be sure you keep all of that in mind. Then, you can write an outline that will help you reach your ideal word count.