Considerations for content length and SEO

When creating high quality SEO content for your website, there are a number of considerations to take into account. From the topic or content genre, to the style of the content itself, you will need to decide on a range of factors. But does word count matter for SEO content? And how long should your SEO content be, to be effective and secure a higher position on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)? Well, here at Pumpkin Web Design, we are Preston’s leading web design and web marketing professionals. We provide valuable web design, SEO, and marketing solutions to a range of clients, across the North West, including Southport and Wigan, as well as Manchester. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything you should know about the considerations for content length and SEO.

Does content length matter for SEO content?

Content length is not a deciding factor for any search engine algorithm currently. So in short, your content length shouldn’t matter. And you shouldn’t necessarily be trying to increase your content length to secure a higher ranking on the SERP. However, longer length articles can be more comprehensive, delivering more information for your potential customer or client, and improving the user experience. And this in turn can help to indicate that your content is authoritative and worth a higher ranking.

When should you consider producing longer content?

Longer content can be a great option for a range of circumstances, including:

• When discussing a complicated or in depth topic- if you are covering a serious topic that has many factors and different things to consider, it is important that your content is detailed enough to be “comprehensive”, one of the key terms for the Google ranking algorithm. However, content length alone wont be enough to secure this. Your content will also need to be detailed, informative, well structured and useful and relevant to your audience.
• Data driven articles- if you want to show your audience data about your service or product, you should probably ensure that you create a piece of content that is around 1000 to 2000 words long. This is because you will need to pair your data with sources, evidence and high quality writing to make sure it is an effective piece of content.

Can content be too long?

The simple answer to this is yes! Content that is written to hit a large word count can become repetitive, boring and dull for your website users. If you find that you’ve covered all of the main points, and delivered the message or information your consumers might need, you probably don’t need to add more. In every instance of ranking content online, it is the quality of the writing, and not the quantity that is important.

In addition, content that is overly long may use the keyword or key phrase too many times, which can in turn have a negative impact on the SEO.

For more information or advice about SEO content and content marketing that can really be effective for your company, get in touch with the experts here at Pumpkin Web Design today.