Finding the Sweet Spot: Crafting SEO Texts that Strike the Right Balance Between Length and Impact
Are you struggling to decide on the ideal length for your SEO text? It's a common question that plagues many content writers. Sometimes, the words flow effortlessly and you end up with long-form content that answers the reader's query and provides an excellent user experience. However, you might struggle to produce a text of similar length on other days. The big question remains: which is better for SEO, long or short-form content? This dilemma has been around since content writers first started creating content to rank high on search engines. You might think that analyzing the length of pages that are already ranking would solve the problem, but it's not that simple. For instance, if you search for "new ways to customize your jeans," you'll find that the top-ranking page has only 435 words, while a search for "where should I buy jeans?" reveals a top-ranking page with approximately 2,500 words. The key to creating SEO-optimized content isn't about adhering to a specific length; it's about focusing on the user's intent. The length of your content should depend on the subject matter, not a predetermined formula. For example, a text about growing tomatoes will not have the same length as one that delves into Obama's biography. In this article, we'll explore some tips and considerations to help you strike the perfect balance between length and impact when crafting your SEO text. ### What Does Google Think About Blog Post Length? In the sixth episode of the SEO Mythbusting season 2 series, Google's Developer Advocate Martin Splitt and Path Interactive's SEO Director Lily Ray dive into the age-old question: is more content always better for SEO? While many companies and SEO professionals swear by the mantra of writing lengthy texts to improve their search rankings, the truth is more complex. Martin and Lily reveal that the length of your content should depend on the topic you are covering. For example, a news site would benefit from comprehensive coverage of current events. Still, a product-specific website may only need a limited amount of content to accurately represent the product. In this insightful discussion, Martin and Lily offer expert advice on how to optimize your content length for SEO and provide valuable insights into Google's perspective on the matter. **Is Word Count a Ranking Factor?** The answer is no. According to Martin, you’d be capable of saying what the user needs to know by using 50, 100, or even 2000 words. The point is not the number of words you use, but if the text you write would answer the searcher’s query. In addition, he also answered a question that many content writers might have had. What if I search for the keyword I want to rank for and the texts on top are long? Should I worry about writing something longer? The answer is “it depends”, the fact that they've produced long texts doesn’t exactly mean that you have the obligation of creating something of the same length. The searcher's question is what you should focus on. Content that ranks will have as many topics as necessary to tell the user what he needs to know. It doesn’t matter if it will be a long or short text. ### Does Google tell me if there’s too much content or if it’s underperforming? Google doesn't tell you if your content will perform well. However, there is a way to inspect its performance once it's published. The Google Search Console's Performance Report is an important tool that offers insights into how your site is performing in search results. By using the Performance Report, you can examine the impressions your site is receiving. If you notice a lot of impressions but a few clicks, then you should take a look at what you've written and make many changes. On the other hand, if you observe a high click-through rate and users performing desired actions on your website, then you can be confident that you're doing a great job. ### Search the pages that are ranking high When it comes to creating content that performs well in search engine rankings, analyzing the competition is important. Before you begin writing, take a look at the top-ranking posts for your target keyword and note the length of their content. While you don't necessarily need to match their word count, it's worth considering what users are looking for when they search for that term. However, keep in mind that a shorter, high-quality post can sometimes outperform longer ones that don't provide the information users are seeking. Don't feel obligated to pad your content with unnecessary information just to match your competitors' lengths. That being said, if the top-ranking pages are dominated by long-form content, take the time to review their topics and strategies to see what they're doing right. This can provide valuable insights into how to structure and present your content to effectively answer users' queries and boost your search engine rankings. ### Here is a list of what you should worry about when writing a text There are several things to consider when writing a text to rank on Google. Here are a few key factors: **User intent:** Make sure your content aligns with the user's intent behind their search. Understand what they are looking for and craft your content to answer their questions or provide the information they seek. **Keyword research:** Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords and phrases that people are searching for concerning your topic. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your content, including in your headings and subheadings. **Content quality:** Create high-quality, informative, and engaging content that provides value to your readers. Aim to answer their questions and provide useful information, and avoid keyword stuffing or creating content solely for ranking. **Content length:** While there is no rule for how long your content should be, it's important to provide enough detail and information to fully address the topic. Sometimes long content may perform better, but it's more important to provide value than to focus on word count. **Readability:** You should make sure that your content is easy to read and understand. Use clear headings and subheadings, short paragraphs, and simple language to make your content accessible to your audience. **Technical optimization:** Pay attention to technical SEO factors, such as meta descriptions, title tags, and page load speed, to ensure that your content is optimized for search engines. By considering these factors and creating high-quality, informative content that meets the needs of your target audience, you can increase your chances of ranking well on Google. **Here is a rhyme to help you remember later what we’ve talked about:** Listen up, marketing folks, let me tell you something neat, When it comes to SEO texts, length is quite the feat. Too short, and you’ll miss the mark, not enough to be seen, Too long, and you’ll bore your reader, and they’ll click away, clean. But remember, quality over quantity is key, my friends, So, make sure your content is top-notch, and on Google, it ascends. So, write away, my marketing crew, and have some SEO fun, Just remember to keep it snappy, and your work will be done. ### Final Thoughts Lastly, when it comes to creating content for SEO, the length of the text is not the only thing that matters. High-quality and relevant content that meets the user's search intent is what you should focus on as well. While analyzing the length of a competitor's content can be helpful, it should not be the only tactic you will use. Additionally, inspecting the performance of your content using tools like Google Search Console can help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your content to better meet the needs of your target audience. By following these tips and keeping the user's search intent in mind, you can create content that not only ranks well on Google but also provides value to your audience. Our content writing agency has SEO specialists who can help your company develop a personalized and efficient strategy, effectively reaching your target audience. In addition, with our services, you can focus on what matters: adding value to your customers and expanding your business. So, if you don’t want to waste your time, and aim to produce good-quality content to attract more organic traffic to your website, leave your contact email with us so we can reach out and help you achieve your goals in a strategic, targeted, and successful way.
Feb 28, 2023
What is SEO? Discover how to improve your Google ranking and attract more customers!
If you have a website, blog, or online store, you know how important it is to appear on the first page of Google search results. After all, most users rarely go beyond the first page of results. And that's where SEO comes in - the key to the success of your online business. With SEO, you can optimize your site to appear at the top of search results, attracting more organic traffic and increasing the visibility of your business. But how exactly does SEO work? What are the essential techniques to optimize your site and improve your Google ranking? In this post, we'll explore everything you need to know about SEO, so you can master this strategy and take your business to the next level. So, if you want to get more traffic and attract more potential customers, keep reading and discover the power of SEO! ### What is SEO and how does it work? The acronym SEO (Search Engine Optimization) stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is a set of techniques used to optimize the content of a website/blog to improve its positioning in search results, increasing its organic traffic and bringing more visibility to the site/blog on search engines. Within this technique, there are two main areas: SEO On-page and SEO Off-page. SEO On-page involves optimizing the content of the site/blog, while SEO Off-page involves creating backlinks, which are links that connect pages, whether they are from the same site or from other sites belonging to different individuals or companies, with the aim of promoting the site/blog across various platforms. The proper functioning of SEO is based on search engine algorithms, as these are responsible for determining the ranking of each page in search results, which is extremely important, as data shows that 70% of people who use Google do not go beyond the first page of results. The main criteria used are keywords, quality of content, site structure, loading speed, among others, which will be broken down, as it is the combination of these factors that determines the ranking of each page. This post will help you understand the basics of search engines and SEO, explaining how this tool effectively works and what will make your site/blog rank better and attract high-quality organic traffic. **Understand now in a relaxed way, and if it helps you, print it out or write it on a post-it:** With SEO in place, you'll have a pace, To increase your website's base, In search results, you'll be top-notch, Making it easy for folks to watch. If your biz is not in sight, Your content will stay out of sight, Less traffic and conversions too, SEO makes it easy to find you. Though it takes time and continuous grind, SEO brings in leads of the highest kind, Long-lasting results, a significant edge, Against competitors, it's hard to pledge. ### Why are SEO techniques important? The importance of applying SEO techniques is directly linked to the use of search engines by the general population. This is because most people use search engines to find information, services, and products on the internet, using keywords so that the search engine can find what is being questioned/researched by the user. Considering this, with SEO, you have the possibility to increase the visibility of your site in search results when people search for topics that you write about or provide services in, making it easier and simpler for people to find you. And this can completely change your online game, as applying these techniques makes you more easily found, allowing your content to reach more people organically, meaning your content reaches people who are searching for the topic, making your lead very qualified. It's important to understand that if your business doesn't appear in the top search results, it's less likely that people will find or access your content, resulting in less organic traffic and conversions. One of the goals of applying SEO techniques is to make it easier and faster for people to find you. Although it's not an easy process and requires continuous effort to improve your content in the long term, it's a highly valuable source of organic traffic, bringing in highly qualified leads and long-lasting results, with a significant advantage over your "competitors" who are not as well positioned in search engines. Therefore, investing (time/resources) in an SEO strategy can be one of the best decisions you can make to increase the success of your business. ### What are On-page SEO techniques? Here are some of the top On-page SEO techniques that you should consider when creating your content to rank well in search engines: **Keywords:** It is crucial to identify relevant keywords for your website, blog, and business and include them in your content. You can use tools like the Google Keyword Planner to help you find relevant and high-searched keywords. **Quality Content:** Creating content that provides value to your users, is original, high-quality, and relevant to the keywords you are targeting. Tip: Provide something innovative compared to your competitors. **Titles and Meta Descriptions:** Always ensure that your titles and meta descriptions include your keywords and are attractive. **Images:** Using keywords in image tags is essential, as well as optimizing the size and resolution of the images you use, including to improve website loading speed, to provide a fluid and better user experience. **URLs:** Creating customized URLs that include the keywords you used and targeted. **Headers:** Use headers (H1, H2, H3) in your content to highlight the hierarchy of your content and include relevant keywords in each of them. Highlighting brings a sense of organization to the topics, which can facilitate your users' comprehension. **Content Structure:** Organize your content into sections with subheadings and short and clear paragraphs to make it easier to read and more understandable for users. **Loading Speed:** Ensure that your site always loads quickly by improving image size, using a reliable hosting provider, and eliminating unnecessary scripts. **Internal Links:** Always add internal links in your content to guide users through your site and increase the authority of your site, making it easier for users to navigate your website/blog and offering more high-quality content. **Title Tags:** Use title tags to define the hierarchy of your content and include relevant keywords whenever possible as this will improve your website's search engine ranking. ### What are Off-page SEO techniques? Here are some of the top Off-page SEO techniques that you should consider when creating your content to be well ranked on search engines: **Create high-quality backlinks:** Obtaining links from relevant and high-authority sites that redirect to your site will help increase your site's authority and consequently be better ranked, as search engines understand that your content is relevant and authoritative on the topic. **Participate in social media:** Using social media to promote your content and increase its visibility can be a great off-page technique, allowing more people to access your content. **Use of guest posting:** Publishing content on other relevant sites to obtain backlinks and increase your authority can be an excellent option, as it allows you to publish content on other sites besides your own, and they are typically experts in certain niches who write about the topic addressed, meaning that the search engine understands that you may be a greater authority on the subject, which is excellent. **Participate in forums and communities:** Participating in relevant online forums and communities to increase your authority and promote your content is also a great tool to bring more visibility, as you can answer questions and provide quality content to the users of these forums and communities. ### Solving people's top doubts about SEO Here are some of the top doubts people have about SEO with their respective answers to make it easier to understand and apply: **How long can it take for SEO techniques to yield results?** The time it takes to see results from SEO can vary greatly depending on the competition in your niche, the quality of the content produced, and the correct application of SEO techniques. Considering all these aspects, even if you follow all the rules, it can take a few months or even more than a year to see significant results. However, remember that SEO is a long-term result, as once well-ranked, continuing to apply the techniques tends to maintain a privileged position and attract new visitors to your content/site. But remember that SEO is an ongoing effort that requires patience and persistence. **Can I apply SEO techniques on my own?** Yes, you can apply SEO techniques on your own, but it can be a challenging and time-consuming task, as it requires paying close attention to all the details to apply them successfully. If you have no experience in applying SEO techniques, it's best to focus on what's really important for the main development of your product or service and outsource this task to a specialized agency, as this can certainly help you get faster and more effective results. Additionally, an agency can help you identify opportunities and improvements that you may not be able to perceive on your own. **Is SEO expensive?** The cost of applying SEO techniques can vary depending on your niche, competition, and the SEO techniques you intend to use. Some elements of SEO, such as content creation, can be done internally, while others, such as creating backlinks, which is one of the most important, may require investment in tools or services. **What is Black Hat SEO?** Black Hat SEO refers to techniques that aim to deceive search engines to achieve a higher ranking. This can include practices such as keyword stuffing, duplicate content creation, and buying backlinks. Black Hat SEO is considered unethical and can lead to search engine penalties, so we do not use or recommend its use. **What is the difference between SEO and SEM?** SEO and SEM are very different strategies, although they can complement each other. While SEO focuses on improving your site's organic search results positioning, without paying for sponsorships, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) involves using paid ads on search engines to attract more traffic to your site, for example, Google Ads. **What are backlinks?** Backlinks are links from other sites that point to your site. They are essential because they help signal to search engines that your content is relevant and valuable. However, not all backlinks are equal, as backlinks from relevant and high-quality sites are more valuable than backlinks from less relevant or low-quality sites. So be aware that one high-quality backlink can be worth a thousand bad backlinks. ### Final Thoughts As mentioned earlier in this post, SEO is a mandatory strategy if you want your website to be visible and attract organic traffic using specific techniques. Although it may seem complex at first, with a little study and dedication, you can effectively apply SEO techniques and achieve long-lasting results that really work and can help your business grow. SEO is not an easy and straightforward technique, but rather a continuous process that requires constant monitoring and updating to achieve better and better results. Therefore, seeking the help of a specialized content writing and SEO agency can be an excellent option to ensure that your website is always optimized and attracts more qualified visitors, and also helps you prospect objectives and metrics that you may not be able to achieve alone. Our content writing agency has SEO specialists who can help your company develop a personalized and efficient strategy, effectively reaching your target audience. In addition, with our services, you can focus on what really matters: adding value to your customers and expanding your business. So, if you don't want to waste any more time or ranking on search engines, and want to attract more organic traffic to your website, leave your contact email with us so we can reach out and help you achieve your goals in a strategic, targeted, and successful way.
Feb 24, 2023