All Systems Go Marketing, a La Mesa California based content marketing service, would like to announce that they have published a new blog post on content quality and quantity. The new post is titled ‘Does Length Really Matter With Website Content?’ and primarily discusses the benefits and drawbacks of lengthier pieces of content.
Throughout the short but dynamic history of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), various opinions on the length of content and how to use keywords have come and gone. “SEO software that analyzes search results after providing word count information has already been available and was supposed to inform users of the importance of word count,” says the blog post. “After all, many people still think word count is important. This may be because various correlation studies through the years have revealed that Google tends to award high rankings to web pages of a certain length and that more links are acquired by longer pages.”
Correlation studies have not found any conclusive evidence that longer or shorter pieces of content, particularly on social media, are better in the long run, however. A 2012 study claimed that 1500 words is the optimal length, a number that would generally be considered too long today. This leaves the question of what the optimal length for content is.
The article turns to what Google says about length in search for the answer. “Google is one of the major (if not the biggest) players in the SEO industry, so whatever the heads of the organization say is pretty much the law in SEO circles,” the blog post says. “A recent tweet from Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller downplays the role of word count in better page rankings. Rather than presenting articles or content that ramble or go off-tangent just to reach a certain length or word count, content providers should instead focus on targeted content that visitors and users will find most relevant. Understanding what users are looking for when they type in a search and using these learnings to beef up your content will be appreciated by Google more than putting fluff and overextending explanations just to reach a certain word count.”
Various search engine optimization sites have page length as one of their default offerings in their auditing tools. These features can be deceiving as videos, audio files and pictures are not taken into account and one’s site may end up being flagged for having a low word count despite the abundance of content in the form other types of media. Some tools recommend that Google needs to see a thousand words every page, which is very challenging for sites that do not have a great deal of text. Most modern sites make extensive use of videos and images, so a thousand words per page is an unrealistic goal. The blog post states that the advice offered by online search engine optimization tools should be taken with a grain of salt.
The post also talks about two studies related to content length. The analysis of digital marketing tool Ahrefs in 2018 revealed that, of the 2 million websites they audited, the best ones were not necessarily the ones with the longest or shortest content but the ones with a median length of about 800 words. A 2016 Dean and BuzzSumo review of 912 million blog posts showed that sites with long-form content attract more backlinks. This means that if one aims for more visits, they should go for median length articles and, if they want more backlinks, they should go for long-form content.
“It seems what might be ranking the website is not so much the content length itself (though it for sure helps to be competitive with the Page 1 results), but firstly the amount of links the page received,” says the blog post. “Guides, skyscrapers, pillar pages and content hubs make the most interesting link targets, thus it is recommended to create the most conclusive, interesting and in-depth piece of content on the web and run an extensive outreach campaign for it. Making it sexy might not even need more words—but more targeting, better graphics or detailed results of market research.”
Digital marketers have become obsessed with clear cut rules in the industry, which may not always be applicable or effective. For more, read the blog post or reach out to Craig Wright of All Systems Go Marketing.
from Press Releases at https://www.pressadvantage.com/story/36417-content-marketing-service-publishes-new-blog-post