Relationship Between Content Length and SEO
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:18 am
There are many controversial issues that people interested in SEO disagree on. One of these issues is “how long should content be?” While some argue that the longer the content, the better it will rank, there are also many who oppose this idea. So, can only long content really have good positions? Or should we create content as long as possible in order to have good positions in the user queries we target? Let’s find answers to these questions together.
- Content Length and User Engagement
Nowadays, users who are curious about daily life, school, work or any subject can simply do a search on Google. As you know, users who make this search usually prefer to click on the pages at the top of the results they encounter. So what do they want to see on these pages?
In fact, what users want to see changes depending on the query they make. Sometimes they are looking for a single-sentence answer to their questions, while in other cases they want to get detailed information about a very broad topic. In this case, we need to analyze user intent well and have information about what our users want to see in job seekers database response to relevant queries. Otherwise, it will not be difficult to predict how users will react when we present them with 1000-word content that is looking for an answer to a small question on their mind. If the relevant content does not have a clickable table of contents or if users are not directed correctly, the relevant users will most likely think that they will not find what they are looking for on that page and will not want to spend time. However, in the opposite scenario, when the user wants to get detailed and satisfying information about a topic, they will not be satisfied with short or incomprehensive content and will not find the relevant content quality and reliable. Now, let's take a look at the research done on content length and its relationships with important metrics.
- Content Length and Position Relationship
As I mentioned in the introduction, one of the most common thoughts about content length is that the longest content ranks higher. But is it really necessary to always have very long content to rank higher? I can say that there is no absolute truth about this. In other words, the pages with the longest content may not rank higher for every user query.
For example, below you can find the web pages and content lengths listed for the query “heart attack symptoms”, which has a very high search volume and competition. We see that the most comprehensive content is ranked first for this user query. However, we also see that the other listed content is not ranked according to the same length hierarchy.
But I can say that the result in the example is not valid for every user query. So you don't always need to have 1000 words or more of content to rank at the top. In fact, I have seen many websites that have half as much content as their competitors for some queries, but still rank first.
For example, in the query “what is trademark registration”, the content of the page that ranks first consists of 587 words, while the content of the page that ranks second consists of 1153 words. This clearly shows us that we do not always have to write the longest content to rank at the top.
In my opinion, the most important point regarding content length is the scope and depth of the topic on which the content is created. In other words, when users who perform the query you are targeting want to obtain very detailed information about the topic, it would be logical to create authoritative and comprehensive content. In the opposite scenario, when users want to obtain shorter and more direct information, it would be right to produce content that is relatively shorter and clearer and responds to user requests. Otherwise, I can say that providing information that will bore users and will not provide any benefit just to increase the length of the content will be of no use. In addition, in such cases, some users who think they cannot find what they are looking for on the page will leave the relevant page.
- Relationship Between Content Length and Organic Traffic
According to the research conducted on the graph below, you can see how much organic traffic pages with a certain length of content get on average. When we examine the graph, we see that the average traffic increases steadily until it reaches the 2000 word band, with a few exceptions, but it decreases after 2000 words.
- Content Length and User Engagement
Nowadays, users who are curious about daily life, school, work or any subject can simply do a search on Google. As you know, users who make this search usually prefer to click on the pages at the top of the results they encounter. So what do they want to see on these pages?
In fact, what users want to see changes depending on the query they make. Sometimes they are looking for a single-sentence answer to their questions, while in other cases they want to get detailed information about a very broad topic. In this case, we need to analyze user intent well and have information about what our users want to see in job seekers database response to relevant queries. Otherwise, it will not be difficult to predict how users will react when we present them with 1000-word content that is looking for an answer to a small question on their mind. If the relevant content does not have a clickable table of contents or if users are not directed correctly, the relevant users will most likely think that they will not find what they are looking for on that page and will not want to spend time. However, in the opposite scenario, when the user wants to get detailed and satisfying information about a topic, they will not be satisfied with short or incomprehensive content and will not find the relevant content quality and reliable. Now, let's take a look at the research done on content length and its relationships with important metrics.
- Content Length and Position Relationship
As I mentioned in the introduction, one of the most common thoughts about content length is that the longest content ranks higher. But is it really necessary to always have very long content to rank higher? I can say that there is no absolute truth about this. In other words, the pages with the longest content may not rank higher for every user query.
For example, below you can find the web pages and content lengths listed for the query “heart attack symptoms”, which has a very high search volume and competition. We see that the most comprehensive content is ranked first for this user query. However, we also see that the other listed content is not ranked according to the same length hierarchy.
But I can say that the result in the example is not valid for every user query. So you don't always need to have 1000 words or more of content to rank at the top. In fact, I have seen many websites that have half as much content as their competitors for some queries, but still rank first.
For example, in the query “what is trademark registration”, the content of the page that ranks first consists of 587 words, while the content of the page that ranks second consists of 1153 words. This clearly shows us that we do not always have to write the longest content to rank at the top.
In my opinion, the most important point regarding content length is the scope and depth of the topic on which the content is created. In other words, when users who perform the query you are targeting want to obtain very detailed information about the topic, it would be logical to create authoritative and comprehensive content. In the opposite scenario, when users want to obtain shorter and more direct information, it would be right to produce content that is relatively shorter and clearer and responds to user requests. Otherwise, I can say that providing information that will bore users and will not provide any benefit just to increase the length of the content will be of no use. In addition, in such cases, some users who think they cannot find what they are looking for on the page will leave the relevant page.
- Relationship Between Content Length and Organic Traffic
According to the research conducted on the graph below, you can see how much organic traffic pages with a certain length of content get on average. When we examine the graph, we see that the average traffic increases steadily until it reaches the 2000 word band, with a few exceptions, but it decreases after 2000 words.