The average blog post length is 1350 – 1500 words. But, what’s the reason behind that range?

And should you always write longer blog posts? And should you stay away from writing the typical 500-word posts?

Different blog post lengths result in different outcomes. Different blog post lengths also take varying times to write [See how long it takes 2651 bloggers to write a blog post].

This article will cover all your questions & concerns relating to blog post length. Keep reading.

How long should a blog post be?

Average blog post length Uncovered [Case Study]

According to our case study, the average blog post length sits tightly between 1350 – 1500 words. 

How the average blog post length was found

We gathered the article lengths on the 1st search results page for 18 search queries. On each page, there were 5 to 10 search results. 

In total, we found the word count for 150+ search results pages [table below].

Yes, it looks like jargon until I put it on a table [See Below]

If we look at the trend line in this table, we can estimate the average blog post length to be 2500 to 4000. 

BUT

Certain data points are skewing the trendline. So, to get a more accurate result, I started removing outlier bars.

[Outlier bars are those that are quite taller or shorter than the approximate/ visible average] 

Before stabilizing the word count data

Stabilizing word count data [Removed 8000+ word bars]

Stabilizing word count data [Removed 4000+ word bars]

Got better, but there are still a couple of high bars. So, we need more chopping.

Stabilizing word count data [Removed 3000+ word bars]

Stabilizing word count data [Removed 2000+ word bars]

Now, it was visible that no skyscrapers were left, but some underground moles were present. Yes, those bars are under 1000. Chopped out. 

After stabilizing the word count data

Stopping here results in an average blog post length of 1500 words. I did one more chop to find a lower range for the length.

Stabilizing word count data [Removed 1600+ & under 1200 word bars] 

This results in a length of 1350 – 1400 words.

So, with this case study, we determined the average blog post length to be 1350 – 1500 words. 

The following case studies also found the average, and theirs was also within the above range:

However, looking at the initial graph, it’s obvious there are blog posts of all lengths ranking on page 1 of Google for their respective search queries. 

So, does the blog length matter? Yes, but not in the way you think. 

Does blog post length matter?

It’s not about the length of your blog post, but rather how helpful it is to your users. But, that also correlates with the length. 

If you write a detailed blog post that answers all questions of a reader, that’s a great post. It’s also most likely going to be a long post. 

On the other hand, imagine writing a detailed blog post about “how to tie your shoelaces“. Realistically, a post like that shouldn’t be over 500 words. Like the example below, which has 442 [This is on page 1 of search results]

So, the post length also depends on what the topic is. [Need 30+ ways to find topic ideas for your next blog post?]

If you write a 1350 – 1500 word article for a post on “how to tie your shoelaces“, your readers will throw their shoelaces at you [They’re not interested in a long answer]. There are sites that wrote 2620 words on it [Like the one below]

If you write a post on “How To Do SEO“, that’s 500 words long, that’s some sh*tty SEO you did in that post. Because page 1 results for that search query displays blog posts of over 2500+ words.

Google understands if you add BS to increase the length or don’t provide enough detail in your post. Remember, Google wants to answer their user’s questions & concerns, ASAP. 

For example, in this article, I could’ve started off with whether word count matters.

Instead, I gave you the average length of our case study determined, immediately. So, I answered your main questions ASAP.

Now, if you do write a good post with enough detail for the respective topic, you will get benefits as well. [Need a plan to build a list of blog post topics?]

Benefits of the right blog post length

Having the right blog post length also means you wrote about a topic with just enough detail for readers to understand the topic completely. 

It means the readers are happy. This will benefit you with more readers, comments, backlinks, & traffic.

Now, determining the right length of a blog post is topic & competition-dependent. But, It’s not about reaching a certain length. 

Think about your user, what their search query is, and their search intent [Make sure you get the search intent right]

If you can answer their query in 500 words better than your competition can in 5000 words, that is what Google wants. 

Long or short blog posts? Making a blogging strategy

Page 1 results of Google display blog posts of varying lengths, from 300 to 18000 word posts. 

So, you shouldn’t focus on finding the right length. Instead, you should write blog posts of all lengths. This means you should write all types of blog posts.[Need a quick reminder on the 13 different blog post types?]

Keep short posts for answering straightforward questions. Like “how to tie your shoelace“. 

Or very specific subtopic questions where there’s not much explanation needed. 

Users appreciate it when content is concise & not overly extra terrifically over the roof out of this world wordy [See what I did there]. 

Now, long posts should be used for vast topics that cover several topics. They can cover a lot more keywords and keyphrases [Want to perfect your methods for keyword research?]

Benefits of long blog posts

Long form blog posts take more time & effort to create, but they result in the following benefits:

More backlinks

Content with 7,000+ words gets more than 3x the number of shares & links.

Because, instead of creating such long blog posts themselves, blogs will just link to others with such articles [This is ONE of the 8 methods to build quality backlinks]

This way, they don’t write anything, & their users still have a good experience.

More time spent on your site 

More content takes longer to consume. Which will increase the user session duration.

It’s also great for search engine optimization. Because more content results in more naturally placed keywords.

Are longer blog posts guaranteed higher search ranking?

Longer blog posts ARE guaranteed higher search rankings. If they provide more helpful content to the users. Not because it’s filled with extra jargon that increases length.

From our case study, 90%+ of the bars chopped were longer than the average blog post determined. 

That means page 1 of Google has more long blog posts compared to short posts. 

Therefore, a blog post that is at average length or above is guaranteed a higher search ranking compared to short posts. 

Different blog post lengths have different results

As mentioned before, blog post length correlates with the topic. But it also depends on the type of post you’re creating. 

500 word blog posts

A 500 word blog post is the shortest post you’ll see ranking on average. Such posts usually answer a small & or specific question that doesn’t require much detail. 

1,000 word blog posts

A 1000 word article is a more common blog post length. 

Articles of these lengths are usually used as support articles & will link to a long post article or an article that is hard to rank on its own. 

So, if it’s part of a strategy, these are great to build SEO slowly. 

1,500 word blog posts

A 1500+ word blog post is the average length (From the case study). 

1500+ words provide good detail on a topic & are great to gain website traffic organically. 

1500+ words also give copywriters enough space to include

[Have you considered hiring a blog writing service to reduce your workload?]

2,500 word blog posts

A 2500+ word article is a long post that can cover an entire topic in great depth. 

Google finds such pieces of content as highly valuable because of the quantity [& QUALITY, 2500 words of rubbish is worse than a 100 word post] of content present. 

2500+ posts are great to build authority on certain topics, especially when you have a bunch of them. [Wondering how you dominate topical authority to outrank competition?]

Blog post lengths for different post types

Here are the differing blog post lengths for each blog post type [Are you aware of all 13 blog post types?]

How long should pillar pages be? 

A pillar page should be 3500+ words long. Pillar posts are the pages where you want readers to ultimately land. 

Pillar posts cover a huge topic & its subtopics. A pillar post along with supporting posts are part of a Topical Authority & Silo SEO model strategy. 

Such posts dominate SEO & can be used as headquarters for ON page, OFF page, & technical SEO.

Ideal listicle blog post length

The best length for a listicle blog post is 2500+ words. 

A listicle blog post is a list of something, whether it be products, services, or pieces of information. Listicles only get better with more points on the list.

The best length for a “What is” blog post

A “What is…” article should be at least 1300 to 2000 words long. These shouldn’t be too long as the query is a question. 

To provide value to your reader, you want to give the answer to the question ASAP without jargon in the middle. 

But, don’t give it to them immediately or else they’ll get their answer & will bounce off quickly [which is bad for SEO]. 

Therefore, having a 1300 word blog post [minimum] should be enough length to explain the topic.

This can be done by including subtopics or relevant topics that you can connect to their search query. 

Keep this in mind when drafting the outline for the article so it’s easier to build connections while writing [Need a blitz walkthrough to make a quick and powerful outline?]

Average SEO length for “How to” blog posts 

“How to” articles are between 1000 to 5000 words in length. Because “How to” queries can either be “How to ride a bike” or “How to learn Arabic”. 

The focus should be on providing a detailed enough answer for their search query. This can be done in 500 words or 5000 words.

The ideal length for lead generation blog posts

The ideal blog post length for lead generation is 2500+ words. Longer posts show your authority on a topic which builds credibility in the reader’s eye. 

It’s more likely users will convert into leads from longer posts covering their search query VS a short 500 post summarizing it & providing little value. 

How to make blog posts longer for SEO? 

Increasing blog post length to compete with competitors who rank for the same topic, won’t help.

If you can properly answer a question in depth, the length doesn’t matter. 

But, there are ways to increase blog post length that will only add more value

1. Add Jargon wherever possible. I’m joking, calm down.

How to find the right length for your blog post?

Here’s how to get a quick idea of what your blog post length should be on a certain topic via the following methods: 

1. Use SEMRush to help you find the right blog post length

SEMRush is a premium SEO toolkit used by 7+ million. They offer 50 SEO tools including an SEO content template [which will be used to find blog post lengths below]

2. Looking at Google search results

Install the free Surfer SEO extension. Then, type your keyword into Google search.

The extension will show the content length for each search result. For example, the search result below is a blog post with a length of 1617 words. 

FAQ