{"id":7386,"date":"2015-04-08T09:09:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T16:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dlvr.it?p=7386&preview_id=7386"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:18:19","slug":"blogging-and-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dlvrit.com\/blog\/blogging-and-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Truth About Short vs. Long Blog Posts: Does Size Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How long should your blog post be? The unsatisfying answer is:\u00a0it depends<\/em><\/strong>. Marketers and\u00a0bloggers find themselves divided on the issue. Some believe the longer, the better. Others believe short and to the point is the best way to go. At dlvr.it, my writing partner Bill Flitter<\/a> takes the latter approach. His posts are\u00a0succinct and consumed in less than 60-seconds. My posts tend to\u00a0land somewhere between the long and short end of the ideal blogging word count. I aim for 800-1,000 words, but my first draft usually comes in double that. One of the main reasons why such a divide exists is because both lengths work! It all depends on what you want your blog to accomplish. Ask yourself:<\/p>\n

Who is your audience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is their attention span?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why\u00a0Short Blogs Work (<500 Words)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

From a reader\u2019s standpoint, less is often best. Especially, if you get directly to the point. High-profile blogger, marketer, author and entrepreneur,\u00a0Seth Godin<\/a>, is an excellent example of someone who has proven with his blog, he can deliver real value. The majority of his blog posts are short, really short \u2013 less than 200 words in most cases. They match\u00a0his audience, his style, his message, and his approach. They work.<\/p>\n

\"Seth<\/a><\/p>\n

Food for thought\u00a0from Seth Godin:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Don\u2019t publish it unless it is good.<\/li>\n
  2. Less is actually more, and the length of your post has nothing at all to do with your impact or your status.<\/li>\n
  3. Writing twice as long doesn\u2019t increase communication, it usually decreases it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Consider these additional benefits of keeping your posts (or at least some of them) short:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. It makes you focus on\u00a0\u2018quality over quantity\u2019 <\/strong>by\u00a0avoiding filler content<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    2. It helps you\u00a0\u2018avoid silence\u2019 <\/strong>on social media by keeping your blog regularly updated, especially when you find yourself\u00a0strapped for time<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    3. It helps you to \u2018stay in touch\u2019 <\/strong>with your blog readers more often by showing them you care \u2013\u00a0sharing is caring<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    4. It provides something\u00a0\u2018quick and useful\u2019 <\/strong>for your readers to read and digest. Infographics<\/a>\u00a0are an excellent tool for providing useful, visual and sometimes entertaining content.<\/li>\n
    5. You don\u2019t have to worry about trying to\u00a0\u2018keep your readers attention\u2019 <\/strong>with short posts. They will finish the post before your audience has time to divert their attention.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Why Long\u00a0Blogs Work (>1000 Words)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

      On the other side of the fence, there are lots of bloggers that believe, the meatier the post, the better. Why is meatier better? One simple reason could be that it is good, no actually\u00a0great for SEO.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      From an older study still cited today, when\u00a0SerpIQ\u00a0analyzed high-ranking pages, they found more text correlates with high rankings. The image below shows the higher the Google SERP position<\/a>, the more content the page has. Notice that every one of these first page results has content exceeding 2,000 words.<\/p>\n

      \"Average<\/a><\/p>\n

      The SerpIQ data shows that:<\/p>\n