Lengthy Content or To-the-Point Content? Who will win?

BEFORE YOU READ: I apologize T-T, I’m half asleep right now as I’m typing this. You asked if long or short form content is better but instead, I read the question wrong and replied with a different answer on the bottom. The majority of answers will tell you that long form content is better because you can rank for more keywords.

(half asleep me read it as “how to write long form content.” But I’ll leave the useless answer below anyway just in case it helps anyone out there)

There are certain response articles that I’ve been writing lately that doesn’t require much information. It’s rather a simple yes or no response post.

But the more I write these response posts, the easier I figured out to make it long form and informative.

Quick type up on how I add information to my articles:
  • Introduction
  • Adding statistics because people love statistics (I think and hope, lol)
  • Give a little summary of what will be in the article
  • Explain why this answer might help readers
  • What the answer is to the response
  • Why is it that answer to the response
  • Sprinkle tips and advice (I use box quotes) related to the article to not make it sound boring
  • Add a little summary towards the end with simplified answer
  • Add LSI question keywords at the end
I’m no expert or anything but this really helps me a lot! Wishing you the best :)
 
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I think it is not only about the # of words that can rank an article, it has to do with the whole site, other topics covered, site authority... so for example if you are trying to rank “causes of heart attack” this is just and example, and your site is about fitness and this is the only article about heart then may be you need to put more words in there like 1500+ because you don’t have anything about heart anywhere on your fitness site and if sites with 500 words are ranking on top of you then may be they talked extensively about heart, blood vessels, body organs, blood pressure ... so their site is already tagged by google that it is a good source of info on heart and health. It is all subjective and you need to understand your competitors or sites on top of you and see if it’s worth it to spend time and money to outrank them.
 
Social God said:
BEFORE YOU READ: I apologize T-T, I’m half asleep right now as I’m typing this. You asked if long or short form content is better but instead, I read the question wrong and replied with a different answer on the bottom. The majority of answers will tell you that long form content is better because you can rank for more keywords.

(half asleep me read it as “how to write long form content.” But I’ll leave the useless answer below anyway just in case it helps anyone out there)

There are certain response articles that I’ve been writing lately that doesn’t require much information. It’s rather a simple yes or no response post.

But the more I write these response posts, the easier I figured out to make it long form and informative.

Quick type up on how I add information to my articles:
  • Introduction
  • Adding statistics because people love statistics (I think and hope, lol)
  • Give a little summary of what will be in the article
  • Explain why this answer might help readers
  • What the answer is to the response
  • Why is it that answer to the response
  • Sprinkle tips and advice (I use box quotes) related to the article to not make it sound boring
  • Add a little summary towards the end with simplified answer
  • Add LSI question keywords at the end
I’m no expert or anything but this really helps me a lot! Wishing you the best :)
Click to expand...
Thank you Social God for taking the time to share this info. No need to apologise as both your answers are useful for me.
And you're right about the "more words more keywords" part but I see many sites with short content doing fairly well than those with long content. That's why I wanted to know what the members thought of this scenario.
I always try to write 1500+ words articles, but now I've decided I'll write content that fulfills user intent. Writing long content that doesn't event rank feels like a complete waste of time and efforts and I've faced this many times.
Your recipe for the long post is amazing. I'll try implementing it in the next lengthy article (if I write one lol)

Again, thanks for answering.
 
AAW said:
I think it is not only about the # of words that can rank an article, it has to do with the whole site, other topics covered, site authority... so for example if you are trying to rank “causes of heart attack” this is just and example, and your site is about fitness and this is the only article about heart then may be you need to put more words in there like 1500+ because you don’t have anything about heart anywhere on your fitness site and if sites with 500 words are ranking on top of you then may be they talked extensively about heart, blood vessels, body organs, blood pressure ... so their site is already tagged by google that it is a good source of info on heart and health. It is all subjective and you need to understand your competitors or sites on top of you and see if it’s worth it to spend time and money to outrank them.
Click to expand...
Hello AAW
I agree with you on the site structure and content correlation part. But, this works on sites that are focused on a particular niche.
I have a tech blog and I write guides, review, and other stuff in that. So, I think that statement doesn't apply here in my case.
Thanks for your answer. Waiting to hear from you.
 
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Deepesh Sharma said:
Hello AAW
I agree with you on the site structure and content correlation part. But, this works on sites that are focused on a particular niche.
I have a tech blog and I write guides, review, and other stuff in that. So, I think that statement doesn't apply here in my case.
Thanks for your answer. Waiting to hear from you.
Click to expand...

not sure why it’s not related! Any niche is same, when writing about something, your site should be related to the kw you are trying to rank or should have some good content about the article you are trying to outrank your competitors. I mentioned heart attack as an example but again if you are writing about galaxy phone and your site is mostly about computer networking then this may be a problem but of your site did have reviews for galaxy 6, 7, ... and you are not reviewing galaxy 11 then your site is very specific.
I could be wrong but this is been my experience so far.
 
I am seeing more and more lengthy contents in top 10 results now a days even though they are not highly relevant to my searches. To the point content used to rank well before 2015.
 
It seems like google is really giving the priority to the quality articles now that are focused on what we search and that has a good relevance with the topic and keywords.
 
Before you start writing, see what kind of content is google is ranking for the keyphrase you wanna rank for. Create something better than that, but something relatable too.

If you can deep dive without BS, it's great....Avoid BS to the fullest

Google will even rank small content if it's perfect.
 
TheGeekOwl said:
Before you start writing, see what kind of content is google is ranking for the keyphrase you wanna rank for. Create something better than that, but something relatable too.

If you can deep dive without BS, it's great....Avoid BS to the fullest

Google will even rank small content if it's perfect.
Click to expand...
That's the issue with me. I can't figure out how to cover up a whole topic. Because you know, there always something that can be added in the content. And when i add stuff, the post becomes lengthy and maybe not related to the keyword.
I really need to set up some ground rules before diving into a topic.
 
What are you trying to do? Make a conversion or show expertise? I think that's what's important.

Also, what is the question? If it's "What is the capital of the United States", why would you write 1500 words on that?
 
lbhbochc said:
What are you trying to do? Make a conversion or show expertise? I think that's what's important.

Also, what is the question? If it's "What is the capital of the United States", why would you write 1500 words on that?
Click to expand...
No, it's not for conversions. It's more like informative articles.
And about the United States question, wouldn't it be weird if I just add a title "What is the capital of US" and write 2 words in the content?
Anyway, let's take app niche for an example. I always wonder what stuff would make the content to the point. Or am I just adding BS?
Intro, features, download, install, FAQs, conclusion
If I add these headings, then still it seems that majority of the content is offtopic. Coz the user only comes for the download link. What do you suggest for a niche like this?
 
There is a difference between covering a topic completely and filler rubbish.

If you are talking about an app and you cover;

What is xyz app
How to use xyz app
Where to buy xyz app
How to find more apps like xyz app
Benefits of using xyz app

etc, etc. I do not see this as filler content. This is covering a topic in depth, and satisfying all the users queries.
 
SEOzack said:
There is a difference between covering a topic completely and filler rubbish.

If you are talking about an app and you cover;

What is xyz app
How to use xyz app
Where to buy xyz app
How to find more apps like xyz app
Benefits of using xyz app

etc, etc. I do not see this as filler content. This is covering a topic in depth, and satisfying all the users queries.
Click to expand...
Xyz app is keyword stuffing, isn't it?
 
SEOzack said:
There is a difference between covering a topic completely and filler rubbish.

If you are talking about an app and you cover;

What is xyz app
How to use xyz app
Where to buy xyz app
How to find more apps like xyz app
Benefits of using xyz app

etc, etc. I do not see this as filler content. This is covering a topic in depth, and satisfying all the users queries.
Click to expand...

But what if the user only wants to download the app. Then, the content seems like a bit extra to me. Isn't it?

Thanks for the reply.
 
This question very contradicting.

just throwing an image and video to the article throws a spanner at all your examples.

images and video make a huge difference.

don't think you can answer such question unless seeing and knowing what the competition has done.

sorry everything matters

indexing based on lots of different obstacles

two articles same length don't mean same indexing height, one might just say something that buzzing know ...

SEO based on many triggers to be indexed

SEO optimised writing to beat your competition not as easy just writing a simple article at any lenth.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i prefer to the point content, just make sure it's cover the subject well enough. and explained clearly
Depending on the niche to the poitn content, with good coverage on th subject can go 1k words.
than make info article for it, and put backlinks
 
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