Web content article length

[drakke]

If I am writing informational articles for websites low long should they be.

This is not copy about their products, services, about page etc. This is content articles like

1) 'What are the advantages and disadvantages of asphalt shingles vs cedar shingles'
2) 'Why clean your furnace fiilter and how often'

I was thinking 500 words but this article is about 600 words long at it seems a little short:

http://www.servicemagic.com/article....get.13634.html

So maybe I should make them 1000 words sice I want to provide usefull content as place it on other sites for backlink purposes.

[Stevie D]

The answer is "as long as they need to be". There is no magic number.

If you write articles that are longer than they need to be then you will put people off reading them, because they will be full of filler. People are more reluctant to read long articles on the web than in print.

If you write articles that are shorter than they need to be then you will be missing out on important points or explanations, so people are less likely to fully understand them.

Above all, remember that you are writing for people, not for search engines.

[r937]

"as simple as possible, but no simpler" -- albert einstein

[TheRaptor]

"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." -- William Strunk

[Mikl]

I agree with Stevie's answer: "as long as they need to be".

But if the article is more than about 600 words, it really needs to be well-structured, with logical sub-heads, and good use of bullet points where appropriate. Some small illustrations will usually be a good addition too.

Of course, all articles should be well-structured. But with longer ones, you've got to work that little bit harder to retain the reader's attention.

Mike

[samantha098]

The amount of words for an article depends on how you want your content to be read. If you simply just want to make a notion of what those topics are then it will only take fewer words to discuss everything, like 400-500 words. But If you want to be informative and you have a lot of key points to tackle, then that gives you more words to cover. Whether you choose to write it in 1000 or only 500 words, the important thing is that you're able to write down the important details. Goodluck!

[TheRaptor]

the content of article is different for some sites. some sites need need maximum 500 words and some needs 600 words so there are different word length for the sites when we submit article.

Out of curiosity, what sites would qualify for a smaller or larger word count?

[Mikl]

Out of curiosity, what sites would qualify for a smaller or larger word count?

I really don't think you can answer that question. It's not a question of different word counts for different types of sites.

Basically, you need to opt for a word count that's high enough to include all the information you want to convey - and no higher.

Mike

[TheRaptor]

I really don't think you can answer that question. It's not a question of different word counts for different types of sites.

Basically, you need to opt for a word count that's high enough to include all the information you want to convey - and no higher.

I agree with you Mike! My post was meant to challenge him/her.

There is no special number of words that will magically make a good article. What matters is the quality of the words that form said article.

[r937]

... a word count that's high enough to include all the information you want to convey - and no higher.

see post #3

[Stevie D]

see post #3

A point made very eloquently with just three words

[Mikl]

A point made very eloquently with just three words

I should have known Einstein could say it better than me.

Mike

[nomanzia]

i have several examples regarding web contents. I always prefer to write simple and just around 25 lines articles into my website and believe me they are give better results instead of writing longer stories. If you are focusing SEO they dont make too short or too long just half a page of articles and couple of images into it and name the images as article name and tag them again as article name and see the results.

[r937]

i have several examples regarding web contents.

no offence to you personally, but i wish you seo people would just stay in your seo forum and not bring your web-polluting backlink strategies into a forum where the emphasis is on content for people, not for dubious seo porpoises

[nomanzia]

i think you got me wrong. I ment writing a blog for private websites not on forums. For forum there is no limit for writing.
In my own website i writing simple contents are they are getting better results in google. For example:
Keyword: Web Designing
Web A is writing more than 200 lines articles into their private website and getting bad results in google
Web B is writing 30 lines of articles and getting a good results in google.
r937 Please write your advice as well its important for us. If am wrong please correct me

[nomanzia]

Mr. r937 my purpose is not to bring the polution to sitepoint. If you want i can remove my signature. I just want to be update from the new stuff that is the reason i often visit sitepoint. I am loyal to sitepoint strategies and if some is disturbed with the backlinks i may remove them.

[r937]

you misunderstood my point

the purpose of this forum (web writing) is completely antithetical to creating backlinks for seo purposes

sig links in your forum posts have nothing to do with this, i was talking about the oh-too-prevalent practice of posting crap articles on web sites in order to gain backlinks

web writing is not about backlinks

[nomanzia]

Oh i see i got your point. Again please keep us update with your advices and experiences

[warehouselarry]

I usually shoot for 250 - 500 words for a site article / post, but I don't try to force any specific number. Some concepts don't need 250 words to get across, while some need well more than 500.

[Abitha6]

My view is that let be your artilcle be of 500 words only.
1.My suggestion would be make the content under types of furnaces filters a readable one.
2.Give proper space between one type to another that is mehanical to electrostatic.
3.Give bold or italic to differentiate few important points.

[easytechtips7]

Your article should not be too longer or too shorter if you write it based on SEO. You can write your article within 500-600 words. It would be a nice one really.

[Shyflower]

Your article should not be too longer or too shorter if you write it based on SEO. You can write your article within 500-600 words. It would be a nice one really.

PLEASE keep discussions of SEO out of this forum! If you write an article for your visitors, according to the SEO Gospel written by Google in their webmasters guidelines, your page will be on-page optimized and search engine ready.

[taipres]

I personally think 600-800 is best, but it really depends on what you're writing about too. Have to remember a lot of users have a short attention span, so unless the material is engaging, is good to not go overboard, I think.

[metakomiseis]

web writing is not about backlinks

I totaly agree! Web writing is to contribute to the web community and try to make it a better place for everyone. If someone is obsessed in getting backlinks then he will never write good content.

[Mikl]

Web writing is to contribute to the web community and try to make it a better place for everyone. If someone is obsessed in getting backlinks then he will never write good content.

I'll add my vote to that.

Mike