Will Small Word Counts Really Hurt Your SEO?

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CardiffDesigns

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Hi all,

Hope you're having a good day.

I'm currently building a micro niche sports website and I'm writing articles every day on sporting events.

The only problem is that most of my articles end up being between 250-350 words in length.

Is this bad for SEO?

I feel like the quality of my content is really good and well written, but I'm finding it hard to make the content stretch to 500 words or more.

Do you guys have any advice on how to make my content longer without boring the reader?

Does it even matter? Will it really hurt my SEO if the majority of my articles aren't 500 words or more?

Any help is greatly appreciated! I know you guys will come through with some 1st class advice as I've learnt loads on here over the last few months. :)
 
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After posting this message, the next article I wrote naturally flowed to 640 words! Typical! Still, I wish they could all be like that.

I'm still looking for some advice on this if anyone has got any experience on the impact of Word Counts on SEO.
 
Yes, it does matter. I have been able to rank sites without any content but they disappeared after a while from the serps completely. On the other hand I have also site which was ranking #2 for some time, then I changed the article to reduce bounce rate and it jumped to #4. Now it's dancing between #3 - #4. I strongly believe it's because the second version of the article is shorter than the first one. Hope it helps.
 
Thanks a lot for your input, I really appreciate it!

Did you initially reduce Word Count to improve the user experience on your website?
 
I think the overall amount of content on your website as a whole is what matters most. If your average post is 300 words but you have 100,000 words of content on your site, you should be able to make that work. Longer posts are obviously better for seo but if it comes at a cost of writing a bunch of fluff and filler that your readers won't enjoy reading, I'd say keep doing what you're doing and let the material come naturally and concentrate on quality.
 
I write a ton of articles throughout the week and notice that it really matters on the subject. If I can push out 1,000 words and make a really great article, I obviously will. These articles are packed with LSI keywords and normally rank well. However, some content only warrants 300 words really. I think it is dependent on the niche and user experience. If you are writing good content and it is answering the visitor's question, that is all that matters. Keep fluff to a minimum and really focus on the user!
 
Just mix it up, instead of publishing 4x250 world articles publish one solid 1000 word article. It will not cost more but it will deffer since most of the low quality blog networks tend to create low quality, low word count rubbish. Be different.
 
I ran a case study earlier this year that showed 400+ words of unique content got higher rankings than a site with no content but good onsite SEO. The site with content ranked higher faster, and stayed there longer, even while receiving less link juice.
 
When you are writing articles for SEO purposes the best word count is 500-700 words per article.
 
Some people say the longer the better. I've seen "case studies" that show adding more and more content to a page over time will help it rank. I think of it likes a sales letter: don't hold anything back, but never make it longer than it should be. 400 words min. Then focus on links.
 
The reason you cannot write more might be you are not researching well enough for your niche/industry?
Just my guess. Maybe you can layout the information that you want to present in point form and elaborate them in a more details way.
 
In my opinion, it wouldn't hurt your SEO. Your website wouldn't be penalized for writing short content. However, writing longer articles with better quality content will definitely improve your SEO.
 
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