What is the Right Length For Content?

Just how does one determine the right length for content?

Well, it depends.... but the most important factor to consider is the "who" you are writing for. 🦉

The format you choose to answer something should meet the need of the user, and the length can vary dramatically based on the selected format.

A "blog post" is NOT the be-all and end-all of content formats you can create.

Yes, it's a great option, but so are Q&A forums (eg StackExchange). Sometimes the right answer to a question is NOT a 3k word article; it's a short & pity response.

Also useful: content hubs, and videos, and visual memes, and... you get my point.

Develop a POV on the correct format, then get the "competitive outlook."

Look at what the SERP's are showing for the query you are going after. What word counts (and formats!) are they using?

... how successful are they at doing so? What are they doing well; where are they dropping the ball?

Remember: being willing to do something new despite everyone else doing it another way, is often (not always) a recipe for standing out successfully.

Next, look at your own topic clusters for your keyword set. How clear (or fuzzy) are the lines of delineation? What sub-topics should be included, and which should be separate pages?

"One article to rule them all" absolutely works, but so does having pillar content that links out to different clusters.

"Length" Rule of Thumb: an in-depth question that is a big, juicy topic with many angles may be deserving of a hub. Instead of trying to answer that in one big, long blog post that's 20,000 words - think about breaking it up and grouping it by user intention. 🧐

Google's job is to provide answers. Our job as content creators is to provide the most meaningful answer to their user (which may be long.... or not). IT DEPENDS!

Thanks for tuning in!

To learn more about appropriate content length and much more, check out: https://thegray.company/blog/o-seo-o-e3-opinions-about-seo-content