‘The longer the better’ may sound like a line from a Carry On film, but there is a commonly held belief that longer articles are better for SEO than short ones. But is this actually true? And what are the main factors that do influence page ranking?
Longer articles have historically been favoured based on the assumption that a higher word count had a direct link to the levels of authority/credence of a piece, together with its level of engagement. In 2013, Google implemented what it called an “In-depth” label, which it applied to content of between 2,000 and 5,000 words. This was still, however, not a direct part of the criteria used for page ranking.
Google has continued to develop its ranking algorithm, and there are now believed to be in excess of 200 factors taken into account. The majority of these fall into the categories of ‘On-page’, ‘Site’ and ‘Off-page’.
‘On-page’ factors refer to the way your page is optimized. Your ranking can be affected positively by:
• Placing your keyword at the start of the title tag
• Including your keyword in the meta description tag
• Using your keywords sensibly – placing them well
• Updating your content regularly
• Linking to authoritative pages.
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‘Site’ factors that can impact positively on your search ranking include:
• Including a sitemap
• Having a trustworthy and well-established domain
• Making sure your site is accessible from all devices
‘Off-page’ factors (those outside of the site) that can boost your ranking include:
• Having high-quality linking to your site
• Having lots of domains linking to your site
• Having a diverse range of link types to your site.
If you would like to boost your organisation’s Google ranking, why not look at using one of the many professional Businesses including ryco marketing who provide services such as Belfast SEO. In conclusion, word count should not be something that you worry about when writing. There are many more important factors that are taken into account by search engines like Google, and quality is still the number one ranking factor. If you cannot write an engaging, and informative article/post, you won’t obtain a high ranking. An arbitrary word count target has no benefit, and you will often find shorter articles ranked above longer ones on the same topic.
