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Does Article Length Matter For SEO?

by Emoney
18 replies
For example, take an article that is 450 words in length with about
the same kind of content that packs lets say the targeted keyword
like 4 times.

Versus an article that is 900 words in length and packs the same keyword
8 times.

Is the longer article better for seo?
#article #length #matter #seo
  • Profile picture of the author reynald2790
    I think longer article is not so important in SEO because the shorter the article is better if the idea is there. Because I've noticed longer article don't make sense at all. If ever you make an article short just make it sure that it gives sense on the topic. The longer the article is the more your article cannot be understand by the readers. Just straight it to the point don't give more nonsense ideas or not related to the topic.
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  • Profile picture of the author GreatBiz
    There are no strict rules or penalties on the length of article. It is more about whether your article is informative, useful and provides the necessary information to readers. But to improve readability, it is good to have 400 to 500 words so that you do not bore your readers to death and clicking away. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of even writing it in the first place.
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  • Profile picture of the author milan
    Yes it definitely does matter.

    Whether that's directly or indirectly - it doesn't matter. Indirectly: if the article is not long enough it's hard to put enough related words and keywords (and make it natural).

    Here is a rule of thumb: do a search on the phrase you're targeting, and see how long are the articles of your competition. Obviously, there are other things you would want to emulate, like, the number and strength of backlinks, but you can also do the articles about the same length. If it works for them - it will work for you. If you really want to be better than them after you reach the top 10 - you test the different article length as well.

    Testing is important because from my experience for some phrases long articles do better, for some short do better. It's most probably indirectly, not because of the article length per se.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fraser
      Everything in Limit can be more useful.if you think you can use long articles and posting it then it will make great effect then you are wrong.it's not lke that.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndyBlackSEO
    I would say a focused articles that is 400 - 500 words is probably better than a 900 word articles. In fact I wouldn't even worry about article length. Just write good content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anomaly1974
    When people start walking in to bookstores and saying "I want a book that is 182 pages long" or searching "I need an article that is 503 words in length" I will worry about word count. Write the articles well, write them naturally and provide valuable information for your readers and you will get where you want and need to be.

    Write keyword spam and you may get a lot of traffic but you will not get many people coming back. If you try to stuff ten long tailed keywords into an article it does not matter how long it is, you are going to turn off your readers and they will not come back. If they do not trust the content on your pages, they will not trust your products. If you want to place better on certain keywords, try writing more quality articles using the same keyword phrases and soon you will see progress on the SERP.

    Just my two cents
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  • Profile picture of the author milan
    The title of this thread is "Does Article Length Matter For SEO?". I agree that the content quality is what one should think about first. But machines are not intelligent.
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    • Profile picture of the author Martin Avis
      Article length, or more accurately web page length is an important on-page SEO factor.

      Generally speaking, the broader your niche, the longer your articles will need to be to stand out. And conversely, the narrower a niche you are targeting, the fewer words the SEs will deem necessary for you to be an authority.

      Every niche has its own dynamic and you should get to know what is expected (and what ranks) for whatever niche you happen to be working in.

      For example, for the keyword 'debt' the average wordcount of a top-ten Google listing page is 1391, whereas the narrower keyphrase 'credit card debt' comes in at 1134, and the even tighter 'UK student debt' works out at 798. Individual pages vary from the average, but the trend is clear.

      Note that this is not article length - it is the average of the total wordcount on the top ranked pages.

      Every niche is unique and the kind of 'one-size-fits-all' advice that is so often regurgitated is not particularly helpful.

      How do I know this? I use a special tool.


      Martin
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  • Profile picture of the author solardave
    I'm really new at AM but here is what happened with one of my first ezine articles.It is around 300 words.I didn't think it was all that great.out of curiosity I googled my name and up came my article on page one. I don't know if this means anything or not. All the advice I get says 300-500 words.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sandor Verebi
      Hi Emoney,

      According to my experience the useful lenght may be 350-450 word's. Depending your niche, topic and style. The essence is: it need to be closely reasoned, long enough to make clear your topic, give enough info to the reader for clicking the call to action link, and short enough not to bore your reader.

      So, if you have 900 word's article split it into two parts, ensuring that every part need be a stand alone message, have independent logical message with separated headline, keyword and such. You don't need to overcrowd your article with keywords. In general: it's enough if you put your keyword in every 100 words once.

      Anyway, please take into consideration Milan's advice, too.

      Good luck,

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  • Profile picture of the author maggytyger
    I would stick to 300-500 words. I agree with AndyBlackSeo focus on writing good content. When you are done then look at the word count. If it is under 300 I would add more. Keep in mind the longer the article the more likely the reader will not finish it.
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    • Profile picture of the author yesacpow
      I have articles that barely go over the 250 word count mark and still rank high in the search engines. I also have articles over 5 hundred words that ranks high. So my opinion is the keyword placement in the articles and you should not try and stuff too much keyword in the article as they will not appear natural.
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    • Profile picture of the author HomeBasedBusinessPLR
      In my opinion it's more about keyword density rather than the actual number. So for instance a 450 word article with 4 VS. a 900 word with 8 is actually the same thing.

      But I would never bother with a 900 word article. I keep it to no less than 300 and more more than 500.
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  • Profile picture of the author grumpyb
    Have you ever thought that the 500 word standard article migh be dangerous to SEO ?
    Most writers seem to focus on 500 word artilces
    Surely ther is a possibilty that if all the artilces you post are 500 words that this might not look natural.
    I use articles from 200 words to a 1500 words and mix them on pages
    I think it is much more natural than having reams of batches of 500 word articles.
    I also think that links should not be set at a % but random Some 1000 + articles have 1 link some 500 word articles have 3
    Like some one else said you do not go in to a Book Store and ask for a 100 page book
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  • Profile picture of the author The Hypothesis
    Article length is one minimal factor that you should worry about. There's so many other on-site, off-site factors that should be more of your concern. If you have everything else in order, and you still can't rank well, then maybe tweak the article to have at minimum 250 words (or enough to get your topical point across).
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  • Profile picture of the author Samuel Lee
    Some great points, and I'd agree that shorter article length is always the better alternative, as it tends to get people's attention quicker and offer less of an opportunity to "cram" keywords into it. As HomeBased said, keyword density is important, but don't extend the length of your article purely for keyword or extended information purposes. Keeping it straight it to the point and between 300-500 words, tends to be very effective! Hope this assists!
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