You may wonder what the ideal word count is to be able to reach your reader and compete for higher rankings on Google. Longer form content tends to read better and is highly scannable in a way that short form content is not.
Five hundred word blog posts are not enough because they do not give the reader enough information on the topic. Short blog posts do not stand a chance against the competition, as they do not get the reader’s attention. Short blog posts will not get you a regular audience.
Long form content will boost your Google ranking. If you want to find out why five hundred words for a blog post is not enough, check out this article.
Why Are 500 Words Not Enough?
A 500 to 800 word blog post used to be sufficient. These days, it is nearly impossible to rank high in search engines without going long form with your blog posts.
Research and experience help determine how well your blog posts perform, but ultimately, it is a matter of finding the “sweet spot” that satisfies the reader and provides enough information.
The following include the reasons why a 500 word blog post is not enough:
Short Blog Posts Do Not Give the Reader Enough Information
When you have a 500 word blog post, it typically does not give the reader enough information. This is especially true if the topic is meant to be informative. Some examples include:
- How to travel on a budget
- How to make a Starbucks worthy coffee beverage
- How to fit your workout in when there is not enough time
- The best way to teach your child how to read
The above are some sample ideas of wide-range blog topics that require a more in depth explanation than 500 words. You do not need to write a book.
However, you need to educate your readers enough that by the time they have finished the article, they feel like they could answer questions about the topic.
Short Blog Posts Do Not Allow Enough SEO Keywords
When you only write a 500 word blog post, it does not afford you the opportunity to get in enough SEO keywords.
If you are writing for a client who wants you to hit 40 keywords for a 500 word blog post, there is no way you will come anywhere near that goal without some major keyword stuffing.
Writing an optimized blog post takes a lot of skill and experience.
If you are only writing a 500 -word blog post, it will likely not achieve the level of ranking because there is not enough room to prove your worth as a writer and still hit all the keywords.
You also want the blog post to benefit your readers, and if it is too short, they may not get anything out of it except that you used a lot of the same words over and over.
Short Blog Posts Cannot Beat the Competition
When your blog posts are too short, you really cannot beat your competition because research has shown that longer form blog posts are where it’s at when it comes to search engine ranking.
A longer blog post o the same niche will simply generate more traffic. The reasons why long form blog posts get higher rankings:
- Long form content tends to last for years on the internet
- Long form content tends to generate more online shares
- Long form content increases user engagement
- You can automate it and spread it out in different formats
When you write a blog post that is at least 2000 words, it can go a long way. You can take your base piece of content and create a power point presentation or a webinar.
Longer blog posts increase the amount of time that the user spends reading the article, which means more time spent on the site.
The bottom line: longer blog posts are just rank higher than short form content.
Short Blog Posts Do Not Get Google Rankings
A long time ago, you had a chance to rank high in Google with a 500 word blog posts. Times have changed, and now long form content is king.
Short form content does not get easily ranked on Google. Your competitors may not just be writing long form content, they may also be going into in depth conversations on the topic.
With short form content, you do not have the luxury of doing this.
Short Posts Will Not Get You the Reader’s Full Attention
Short posts will not get the full attention of the reader, as they will not be enough to get them to follow your website and make them a permanent reader of your blog.
Your reader wants to be both entertained and informed, and short blog posts typically just provide short snippets of information without much too much “meat” involved.
How Can I Make Longer Blog Posts Easy to Read?
You not only want your readers to finish the entire article, you want to make it a pleasant experience for them so they do not go to another blog site to get the same information.
There are some ways you can make longer blog posts easy and enjoyable to read:
- Target Your Customer’s Needs- Find topics that grab your reader’s attention and create a post that addresses their needs and makes them want to read on.
- Break up the text- Create subheadings to help your reader’s to follow along and title each section clearly. Keep each section neat with no long bars of text that looks jumbled and disorganized
- Vary sentence and paragraph length- Do not just add words to meet the word count and definitely do not practice keyword stuffing. If simpler words can explain the topic, use them.
- Keep the action moving- there should not be unnecessary details creating clutter in your blog post. Get to the point and make it easy for the reader to follow.
- Use visual content – The more images and videos you utilize to break up the monotony, the better. Images will also compel the reader to share content and make the reader remember your blog.
Conclusion
Short 500 word blog posts are not enough because it does not allow you to go in depth about a topic, which makes it difficult to educate the reader. Longer form posts also get higher rankings, and they capture the attention of the reader.
