It has been an ongoing discussion topic among SEO experts about the perfect word count of an article. Usually, many editors prefer 500-800 word counts as standard article’s size. There is the plethora of logic that endorses benefit of the short articles. Nevertheless, we are going to talk about long-form content and its benefits in this article.
The world is dynamic and so the tools that you use in SEO to attract readers or visitors on your website. Gone are the days when a short, crisp article was an assurance to entice the readers. The new age SEO demands long-form contents that can be the main highlight of your website. In this article, we are going to talk about:
- What are long articles
- Readers and writers point of view
- Benefits of long-form
- Comparison with short form articles
Long-Form Articles
To be honest, there is not a standard word count for long articles. It depends upon various factors. Writers for years are writing articles of 3000-5000 words or bigger word count.
Many times people love to read those. Sometimes a 500 words article does the magic.
According to various recent surveys done by SEO experts all around the world, there is a direct relation between the length of articles and the rankings and the position of those articles in Google search engine result pages (SERPs). Quartz has stopped publishing articles that have less 500-800 words.
Defining a long-form article is not easy. The word count for standard long articles varies from SEO to SEO. To generalize it, let us say, articles having more than 1000 words are the long-form articles.
Writer’s and Reader’s Point of View
An article has two specific components, the writers and the readers. As a writer, I prefer to write long-form contents. It gives me the satisfaction that I did justice with my article.
Many times, to make an article short and crisp, I have to leave or write various important points in a concise form.
Besides, keywords are an integral part of an article. It is a simple rule that higher the keywords, higher the ranking of the article in the SERPs. Yet, stuffing keywords definitely spoil the joy of reading. Long-form article does justice with both keywords and the pleasure of reading. It is easy to make infographic articles if the word count is large.
As a reader point of view, I love to read contents that are interesting and give me more information about the topics. It is always great to get everything in the same platter so that the readers do not need to surf here and there for a topic. The short and crisp article takes less time to read but they lack to please the hunger of getting more information at a time.
Benefits of Long-Form Content
Below are a few important benefits of longform content:
1. More Information about the Topic
As per Google SEO Guidelines, contents having useful information can have better chances of higher ratings. If your website is lacking visitors, the quality of the articles can have a major contribution to this.
So, how can you enhance the quality of your articles? The answer is not hard to guess. Make your article more informative. Add some facts and numbers. Include some graphics. The simple rule of the marketing is, glitters make a product easy to sell. To add these glitters, you need to write a long-form article for sure.
2. Keyword Placing is Easy
When I say, you can place more keywords in a long-form article; it does not mean the long-tail keywords. Keywords are significant for the ranking of an article in a search engine.
More keywords can enhance the chances of getting more times pop up in search engines.
You must remember that keywords must be relevant. Stuffing irrelevant keywords make your content week. A long-form article with relevant higher keywords is the guarantee of getting more readers and visitors to your website.
3. Backlinks and Organic Traffic Become Easy
Backlinks are the finest ways to raise the Google search ranking. When you get the backlinks of a popular website, your website can reach to the new audience and can get better organic traffic.
Brands are always looking for websites who can offer authoritative backlinks. When you write long articles, you can place backlinks to your articles in a more natural manner.
4. Credible and Valuable Article
The articles which give relevant data, info-graphics, and real facts are more valuable and have greater credibility. Such articles ensure more traffic to your website.
Also, these articles have the long lifespan and high sustainability as they provide greater values to the readers.
Comparison with Short-form Articles
If I say, short–form articles are not valuable I am talking nonsense or short articles cannot generate traffic this is absurd or short-form articles are not interesting I am delusional.
But, if I say, long-form articles are more credible, have higher values and better chances of higher rankings in search engine compare to short form articles, it has sense actually.
As one of the most famous bloggers, Neil Patel says, “More online visibility ensures more proof of your website authority and enhances more industry expertise.” Also, you are allowing more material for humane community assembling and rendezvous.
Delaney of Quartz suggests that long-form contents are a better performer on social media. He gave the famous V-shape performance curve to confirm his research.
SERPIQ did an analysis a few years back and found that the top search results have more than 20,000 keywords. It gave the theory of correlation between length of content and ranking in the SERPs.
Final Thoughts
Long-form contents are the new age SEO practice for your website. Many famous bloggers support the long-form of the article. It helps writers to write without a restriction of 500 to 800 words-counts. Readers get more information and words to please their reading appetite.
It is a win-win condition for both writers and readers. QuickSprout says that a long-form content generates more engagement, links, and conversion to your website.
