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Article size and joining old articles together for SEO

by universeofmarketing
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi,

I have a blog that I created about 6 years ago. I haven’t done much with it since, but am going to crank it up again.

I had about 50 really high quality articles (like real content), each made up of several key segments.
So, I broke them down into 5 x 400 to 700 word articles. Posted them and then didn’t do much more.

I hear that these days, it’s better to have longer articles.

I was wondering:

1. Is it best to join them back together (to i.e. 3000 words on average) and post them again.

2. If so, should I remove the shorter versions, or is it ok to have the 1 big one + the 5 smaller ones (or is this duplicate)

3. Is it best to leave the smaller ones because they’ve been on there for so long (does google like the fact they’ve been there for 6 years?). (All in all, the site is getting about 250 visitors a month total from the articles. So not much, but something)

4. If I change them into the longer articles, should I do some sort of redirects from the old articles to new ones to let google know

Thanks for any ideas / advice, etc
#article #articles #joining #seo #size
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    You'll need a minimum of 87,000 words per page or it will never rank.
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  • Profile picture of the author lindseysan494
    Personally, I prefer having multiple pages versus just one page with a ton of content. That way I have more pages to get backlinks for and different titles to get ranked in Google. If you do merge them into one page, use a 301 redirect for the smaller ones that you took content from.
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  • Profile picture of the author jipolis7
    It's said that ideal article size would be 2250-2500 word count which has got significantly higher social shares and traffic than other lengths. It's no secret that in-depth content performs better in search engines.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sharpay
    Different visitors have different reading preferences. Keep your small segmented articles. They'll keep the attention of most people.

    The killer content, the stuff that really can go viral, is the long in-depth posts. So if you can compile all of those smaller articles (chapters) into one ultimate guide (book), that type of an article will get more shares and engagement.

    Just make sure the ultimate article isn't word for word the smaller articles pasted together. It's nice to rephrase content to communicate the same idea differently, that way it really gets it into peoples heads.
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  • Profile picture of the author prakashmalhotra
    The best way of posting content on your website is twice a week. If you are writing article or a blog, you need to know that it must be specific with the niche of your website or it must contain some info in the topic you are posting so that people can find it beneficial to read.

    Unless & until your content doesn't provide anything to the readers, no one will return back on your website in future. If you want to nurture your readers you need to serve them interesting content that they are looking for. It will prove effective for your business & could increase your business popularity & sales as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    Yes, it is true that long form content tends to to do better in search engines but that is not simply because there are more words on a page. Long form content tends to do better because it more comprehensive than other general pieces about the subject matter. Those more detailed, authoritative pieces not only have more LSI phrases that get indexed, which help them rank better, but they also tend to get more links because they are better than anything else out there.

    If combining articles into a more comprehensive piece turns it into a "best on the web" authoritative piece, by all means do it. If it doesn't do much more than add a bunch more disjointed concepts, leave it be.
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  • Profile picture of the author michaelkoehler92
    Yes currently longer articles tend to rank higher with a few backlinks besides a smaller article. I would suggest instead of removing the smaller articles and forming a bigger one you should rewrite the same article and add more content.
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  • Profile picture of the author James Clifton
    You are correct with your assumptions. Longer articles are indeed the way to go. They have much better conversion rates.
    If you keep the smaller ones, they will be seen as duplicates. You would have to delete the content and only keep the large articles or a better idea would be to rewrite the small articles, with the same information if you have the time (or budget).
    Only leave the short articles if you have rewritten them, otherwise I would suggest deleting them. Once Google has re-indexed your site with the same keywords you should be getting the same traffic very soon.
    It would be a good idea to just resubmit your site with it's new pages to google, but If you want to do redirects, make sure to use 301 HTTP status code. This is the recommended code for SEO and will insure that you retain at least 90% of your page's ranking power.
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