How to Determine the Best Content Length?

[KiwiBlogGuy]

Hi all. Noobish here. Re-entering the space. Two questions -

Content Length:

Let's say I want to write an article on "how much does a wedding cost".

Back in the day, I would open up page one of the serps, look at the top 5 results, and write content at least 10% longer than the longest in the top 5. At that time, most articles in the serps would be around the same length anyway.

Now, I see a lot more variance.

The article getting the snippet might be 400 words DA 30, 2nd ranking 600 words DA24, 3rd ranking 2,000 words DA40, 4th ranking 1,500 words DA 10.

In this situation - as a rule of thumb - how do I decide what content length to go for?

My previous approach would be to go for at least 2,200 words and and ensure I front load all the stuff that's in the two top ranking articles in my own article.

I could do that now, but I'm somewhat concerned Google actually WANTS the shorter articles and adding the extra less relevant content is somehow harmful (even though I've ensured the important stuff is up front).

Plus, if I was to go for 2,000 words, the final 1,000 words of the article is stuff I've already covered elsewhere on the website that I could just point the reader to if that's what they wanted.

Any thoughts?

Second question -

Internal Links

Any rules of thumb for internal links, specifically anchor text?

I know to avoid building my first external links by having an exact match "best wedding dresses" pointing to my post on the best wedding dresses.

But is this still harmful when done internally in a way that makes sense? For example, an article on how to save money on wedding dresses including an internal link to another article on the "best cheap wedding dresses", using "best cheap wedding dresses" as the anchor text.

 

[JOoa0ky]

Hi all. Noobish here. Re-entering the space. Two questions -

Content Length:

Let's say I want to write an article on "how much does a wedding cost".

Back in the day, I would open up page one of the serps, look at the top 5 results, and write content at least 10% longer than the longest in the top 5. At that time, most articles in the serps would be around the same length anyway.

Now, I see a lot more variance.

The article getting the snippet might be 400 words DA 30, 2nd ranking 600 words DA24, 3rd ranking 2,000 words DA40, 4th ranking 1,500 words DA 10.

In this situation - as a rule of thumb - how do I decide what content length to go for?

My previous approach would be to go for at least 2,200 words and and ensure I front load all the stuff that's in the two top ranking articles in my own article.

I could do that now, but I'm somewhat concerned Google actually WANTS the shorter articles and adding the extra less relevant content is somehow harmful (even though I've ensured the important stuff is up front).

Plus, if I was to go for 2,000 words, the final 1,000 words of the article is stuff I've already covered elsewhere on the website that I could just point the reader to if that's what they wanted.

Any thoughts?

Have you ever read books from Pulitzer prize winners?

Literally ever sentence packs serious fire power... they can all be standalone snippets.

Verbosity =/= better content

Strive for a complete idea that is presented in the most easily digestible way possible.

 

[KiwiBlogGuy]

Have you ever read books from Pulitzer prize winners?

Literally ever sentence packs serious fire power... they can all be standalone snippets.

Verbosity =/= better content

Strive for a complete idea that is presented in the most easily digestible way possible.

I appreciate the response but this really only shifts the goal posts for me, because the question then becomes what is the "complete idea".

The longer articles in my example are covering a number of things I would consider to fall under the "complete idea" that the 400-600 word articles ranking 1 and 2 aren't.

So a reasonable takeaway would be that Google doesn't think that extra content is necessary.

But elsewhere in my niche I see long-winded garbage (like second language English with made up facts and tons of fluff) ranking high and shorter more on point content ranking below it. For a lot of search terms it seems like people brute force their way to the top writing thousands of uneccesary words.

I already focus on making sure every sentence in my articles adds value.

Maybe working out length and exactly what to include/exclude is just a skill that will come with time.

 

[Ryuzaki]

@KiwiBlogGuy, what you want to think about is two things: 1) Does my content directly serve the intent of the query with sufficient depth and breadth, but no more and no less, and 2) rather than concern yourself with content length, concern yourself with "information density" and whether or not you're surfacing (for Google) new information not found elsewhere.

Regarding your anchor text question, for your own internal links you can do whatever you want. Google is lenient there and hasn't really crossed the line into telling us what we can or can't do there. You should play it safe though. Use a couple exact match anchors and then vary it up some, just like you would with external anchor texts. For external I'd recommend not using more than one exact match instance, though.

 

[Zoro]

Sorry to borrow the thread!

I always in of the article have.
RELATED:
XXXXX.COM/1XXX
XXXXX.COM/2XXX

And usually one outgoing link to like Amazon, named amazon with a link connected to it. Is that bad?

 

[JOoa0ky]

I appreciate the response but this really only shifts the goal posts for me, because the question then becomes what is the "complete idea".

The longer articles in my example are covering a number of things I would consider to fall under the "complete idea" that the 400-600 word articles ranking 1 and 2 aren't.

So a reasonable takeaway would be that Google doesn't think that extra content is necessary.

But elsewhere in my niche I see long-winded garbage (like second language English with made up facts and tons of fluff) ranking high and shorter more on point content ranking below it. For a lot of search terms it seems like people brute force their way to the top writing thousands of uneccesary words.

I already focus on making sure every sentence in my articles adds value.

Maybe working out length and exactly what to include/exclude is just a skill that will come with time.

Only advice I can give is to put yourself in the searcher's shoes. What are you looking for when you entered that search query. Simply write what you think would be helpful for them.

Seems like you're doing that but you're still being outranked... In that regard, you don't really know what google thinks of your content until at least 9-12 months later.

Unfortunately the ranking system isn't a pure meritocracy based on individual page content... The entire domain as a whole gets rated based on E-E-A-T... With enough content and time, you should be able to build up enough domain wide authority to outrank the bad content that is currently ahead of you.

As an example, for my first site there came a point in time where I knew what would rank if I wrote about it. There were certain topics that if I just hit publish, it would land on the first page within a week or so. Other topics, it didn't really happen...

Last week I added a new static page to that site. I hit publish by accident before I even finish writing it.... But it took me another hour and a half to finish it after that. I went to go manually request indexing in GSC and it was already indexed an an hour ago.

It makes me cry when I compare it to the new site that I'm currently working on full time... Pages stay unindexed for weeks if I don't manually request it.

Anyway, the point that I'm trying to get across is that there is a certain critical point or threshold that you need to cross. Once you do, the world will be opened for you. Its just that getting to that point is slower than a snail.

In this industry, you sort of need the mentality of a religious zealot where faith trumps all senses of reasoning. You must have faith in what you're creating and keep on publishing...

 

[KhairujjamanS]

I usually consider these two:
1. Top Competitors AVG
2. The length that is genuinely required to cover this topic properly.

Then I usually decide on a number between these two

 

[fatGPT]

I think the content length matters less and less these days. In my opinion, Google has almost nullified "Content length" as a ranking factor. In fact, here's a quote directly from the Google's Content help Guidelines.

"Are you writing to a particular word count because you've heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don't)."

The point is, don't even think about content length. Don't aim for a word count. Instead, try to change the way you see content. The way it is formatted. When you look at SERPs and all the results, try to see how each article can be helpful to the readers. What topics do they cover first and how that could benefit the reader?

For example, an article targeting the keyword "I am feeling sad" could be tackled in many different ways.

One approach could be to have the following points in this or

Reasons why you may be feeling sad. (a list of 5 reasons)
What to when you feel sad. (Another list of 5 things to do)
Learning to reduce the feeling of sadness in the future. (Another list of 5 things to do).
FAQs

But you can also format the article differently and include more value to the readers by doing something like,

Reasons why you may be feeling sad and what to do about it (A list of 5 reasons with actionable steps at the end of each reason).
Stories of people who were feeling sad from the web (or personal stories) and what they did, how it affected them.
Long term effects of staying sad for too long.
FAQs

Content is evolving. If you stick to the old methods of looking at word count, making simple listicles, referencing Wikipedia and hope to rank, you are not going to last long in this game. You gotta start thinking about it from a different angle. Make it easier for users to consume information. Present the information in a way that's better than everyone else. And continue to evolve with the world.

Hope that helps.