Best word count for affiliate blog articles?

[JRFisher]

Hi BHW

I am currently writing articles for my Affiliate blog, and I am worried about the length/word count of my content.

I understand that more content/higher word count is good for SEO, but also know that the quality of the content from the view of both Google and viewers is important, and having an article that is too long can lead to wordy, hard to read content and can result in high bounce rates.

For the keyword I am currently targeting, the top 20 results word count varies a lot, from articles with 500-1000 words to articles with up to 3500 words.

It is fairly easy to write 1000 words of really high-quality SEO focused content, however for the keyword writing more than 2000, and especially up to 3000 words means I would have to write about more less keyword focuses content, and content that is more loosely related to what people are really looking for.

So, my question is, should I write fewer words but keep it super focuses and high-quality content that easily answers the questions/gives the information users are looking for, or write super long articles with as much content as possible, which would overall be lower quality and be less user-friendly.

Also to consider: I am just starting out my website, so have very few articles, should I focus on just getting articles published with fewer words and then add more content to them in the future? I feel that I am spending way too much time trying to write the perfect super article and it means I am not publishing much overall.

 

[Roger Marquez]

For the keyword I am currently targeting, the top 20 results word count varies a lot, from articles with 500-1000 words to articles with up to 3500 words.

My rule of thumb when conducting a competitive analysis of the SERP for any particular keyword is to go beyond what the top 3 results are showing.

If they are ranking with 1.5k word articles i make sure mine is at least 2k+ and so on.

I also take notice of the layout and design of the article in regards to the graphic elements use on them.

should I focus on just getting articles published with fewer words and then add more content to them in the future?

No, i don´t publish anything with less than 1k words.

I feel that I am spending way too much time trying to write the perfect super article and it means I am not publishing much overall.

There isn´t any perfect article.

The worst article is the one you don´t publish.

I am in the same position as you.

I considered myself to be a perfectionist and this has caused me a lot.

Something that has helped me a lot is to build a checklist in regards to how you want your content to be layout.

Meaning, word count, graphical elements, etc.

And also make sure to include an On-Page SEO checklist.

So, before you publish the article, you need to go through it every time and, if everything checks out, HIT THAT PUBLISH BUTTON BRO!

Also, try to regularly upload new and fresh content. Something like a couple of articles a week.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

 

[Mr Positive]

1500 - 3000 words is good add faq Schema too that’ll also help

 

[JRFisher]

My rule of thumb when conducting a competitive analysis of the SERP for any particular keyword is to go beyond what the top 3 results are showing.

If they are ranking with 1.5k word articles i make sure mine is at least 2k+ and so on.

I also take notice of the layout and design of the article in regards to the graphic elements use on them.

No, i don´t publish anything with less than 1k words.

There isn´t any perfect article.

The worst article is the one you don´t publish.

I am in the same position as you.

I considered myself to be a perfectionist and this has caused me a lot.

Something that has helped me a lot is to build a checklist in regards to how you want your content to be layout.

Meaning, word count, graphical elements, etc.

And also make sure to include an On-Page SEO checklist.

So, before you publish the article, you need to go through it every time and, if everything checks out, HIT THAT PUBLISH BUTTON BRO!

Also, try to regularly upload new and fresh content. Something like a couple of articles a week.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

Thanks for the advice, do you know any free tools that can help with writing well-optimized SEO content, I know how to write high-quality content, but writing content that is good in the eyes of Google and optimized to rank quickly is completely new to me. Content is my final hurdle (and a huge one) for my blog, I feel I have a good understanding of everything else (well-optimized website, SILO structure, keyword research, etc...)

 

[JRFisher]

Thanks for the advice, do you know any free tools that can help with writing well-optimized SEO content, I know how to write high-quality content, but writing content that is good in the eyes of Google and optimized to rank quickly is completely new to me. Content is my final hurdle (and a huge one) for my blog, I feel I have a good understanding of everything else (well-optimized website, SILO structure, keyword research, etc...)

How many of the top SERP results would you analyze? You mentioned you'd write more than the top 3, but would you also look at how the top 5, top 10, or even top 20 are doing?

 

[Roger Marquez]

Thanks for the advice

You´re welcome!

do you know any free tools that can help with writing well-optimized SEO content, I know how to write high-quality content, but writing content that is good in the eyes of Google and optimized to rank quickly is completely new to me. Content is my final hurdle (and a huge one) for my blog, I feel I have a good understanding of everything else (well-optimized website, SILO structure, keyword research, etc...)

The best free app is the Hemingway Editor App. It uses the Flesch-Kincaid readability score. Make sure to aim for at least 70+.

After that, your best bet is to write in a better casual but nor informal style.

I always mentalize as if i was on a real-life conversation with a next-door neighbor or my friend from college.

But remember, try NOT to make it to informal.

One thing that will help you with this is including bucket brigades and transition words.

Those will greatly help you to make your content more engaging.

As a rule of thumb?

• The intro is probably the most important aspect of your article (besides your headline) - If you can´t engage the reader in by this point they won't have any reason to continue reading. So, i strongly advise you to read and learn as much as possible about how to hook the reader with a killer intro. In my short experience and for what I´ve heard and read, the best way to do this is to tell a story readers might relate to and, for this, the best way to do it is by building a "persona" based on your audience interests, desires, problems, etc., and focus your intro based on these variables.
• Never write paragraphs longer than 2 lines - Keep them short and concise.
• Always write in an active voice instead of passive - I´ve watched lots of videos on youtube about this because this is something i am struggling too and this is the one i liked to best.
• Use sub-headings, bolded/italic/highlighted phrases, and graphic elements to break down the content and avoid offering a long and boring wall of text - Remember, readers, like to just scroll down fast down the article the first time so, adding these will help them get an idea what the article is about and, if they find it interesting, they will read it from the beginning.
• Make sure to structure your articles BEFORE you even start writing - I´ve found the best way to do it is by writing your sub-headings first and then write your articles from there. This will help you keep a "flow" to the content instead of jumping from one idea to the other. This will confuse your reader and it will make your point harder to understand.
• Always end with an irresistible CTA in your conclusions.

How many of the top SERP results would you analyze? You mentioned you'd write more than the top 3, but would you also look at how the top 5, top 10

I always take into account the top 10 SERP results.

I am currently doing a shit ton of keyword difficulty analysis or competitor analysis for my journey and, to make things easier for me I´ve developed a checklist where i go over 10+ variables.

Stuff like...

• The very first thing i evaluate is whether or not the top 10 SERP result satisfies the user´s search intent. Ahrefs has a feature called SERP POSITION HISTORY that shows a graph that displays the volatility of the results for the top 5 pages. Is the graph shows a high volatile results this tells me Google isn´t quite clear about what are the best results that satisfy the user´s search intent but if on the contrary, you see nothing but straight lines on top, you must be confident the current rankings satisfies Google so you shouldn't steer away from what others are currently doing.
• Monthly search volume and KD score from any SEO tool
• Metrics from a few Google search operators besides the total number of results ("main keyword", allintitle: main keyword and allinurl: main keyword).
• I also calculate the keyword golden ratio (or KGR) for each keyword.
• If there are duplicated domains (different articles for the same topic coming from the same domain)
• Using MozBar i export to a CSV the DA, PA, and Links and make an average for the top 10 results.
• Besides that, i always take into account the number of sites currently ranking in the top 10 results that have less than 10, 5, 3 and 0 links.
• I also take notice of the total number of links and referring domains for the top 5 results.
• I also take notice of some variables for the top 10 results in regards to: # of websites with <10 PA, # of eCommerce stores or marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, etc), # of social media pages (Pinterest, YouTube, etc.), # of Web 2.0s sites, # of Q&A pages (Quora, Reddit, Yahoo Answers, etc), # of Article submission sites (eHow, Enzine, etc), # of SERP features (Ads, People Also Ask, etc).

Then i take a moment to digest all this data and make sure to select the best possible keyword for my business and write as many articles as possible from it.

I don´t go writing from one topic to another unless i have an already established website with some authority and relevance on the topic.

Since i am getting started, i need to build this first and the best way to do it is to take a sub-niche/topic and build 10 to 15 articles about it.

This will help me get as much reputation, authority and relevance on the topic in the eyes of Google and, also, it will make ranking for other related articles a lot easier.

or even top 20 are doing?

No need to go beyond the top 10.

In fact, i heavily focus more on the top 5 and 3.

Why?

Because the vast majority of all the organic traffic is concentrated in the top 5 results.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

 

[rafark]

Don't do 500 if your competitors have more content. If your competitors have an average of 1.5k, then do 1.5 - 2k.

 

[VinodChaudhary]

@Roger Marquez gave such a nice detailed information here. I appreciate.

My answer to the original question is... focus on value addition, have your own unique point of view (see things from your own viewpoint), provide complete the information (end-to-end) about products in their respective dedicated page, and get the users engaged on the pages.

I know it is very difficult to write quality content for affiliate products because everything we can write about a product is already written by the original manufacturer. Still, there is always room for improvement. Try to find that room and then write the content.

The length of content... forget about it; just add more and more value. Once you start producing content with this mind-set, soon you'll find yourself full of information to write and your content will start going longer. Yes, longer content seems with more respect by Google but it should have its own worth, else it's just a time waste in churning the same content again and again.

 

[onlinemarketer12]

Above 1000 words and different articles should have different word count.

 

[blackbeans]

Given the fact that Google released the E-A-T update, to be safe I suggest you go for 1500 to 2500 per "answer" article, 3000 to 4000 words for staple/list articles and over 5000 words for AUTHORITY articles

 

[alexa_s]

IMO google can extract data from an article and knows what points are being shared in it. If it's too general or contains the same points/knowledge as already ranking articles, it doesn't matter if the article is 10k words, it won't rank well without some mighty PBNs and even then google will take it's time ranking and indexing it. So t's not the length imo.

 

[Seo Licious]

1000 words are the best for affiliate articles.

 

[xoxokuroro]

2500 words is really good. or make it above it

 

[Mia Jane]

1500 to 2000 is good. And the content should be informative which makes user engaged.

 

[Arnold Panday]

Check the average of the top 20 results and write at least 500 to 1000 words more.
However focus on the right quality of the content. Use the keyword wisely in your article.
Also make use of LSI words in your article.

 

[Ice Geek]

Many bloggers prefer to stick to short articles, generally, it's between 500 to 750 words.

 

[Deleted member 657006]

my teachers always said double lol .

if there 500 your 1000
if there 5.000 your 10.000

but remember this is quality not quantity.

but even backlinks stick with same rules , if on there web 2.0 articles are

500 your 1000
5.000 your 10.000

same rules .

same with backlink stats all stats must beat there MUST.

 

[Turbo SEO]

For affiliate articles 1000-1500 will be good one..

 

[SkullCrusher]

1000 to 2000 words will be the best for affiliate content.

 

[BilBozA]

Just take a look at the top 5 results and make sure your content has more word count than theirs, then you look at other things that are missing, like h1, h2, h3, optimization and backlinks.

Also make sure your content is unique, I've noticed most reviews online have duplicate content from the vendor website or resources they provide.