When you create a blog post for your audience, your primary goal should be to offer value. You can discuss the latest trends in your niche, share a testimonial that describes how your service helped a customer or explain how your product can be used in other ways. You also want to make sure that it reaches your audience. Word count is one of the major factors impacting audience reach. Appropriate word count will help your SEO as well as shareability. Here are five reasons why having long-form content is essential:

Rank Higher With Long-Form Articles

If you are familiar with the digital marketing space, you probably know that Google has an algorithm it uses to rank the pages of your website. One of the elements that the algorithm looks at is the word count you use. In 2014, content that had about 900 words was a sweet spot if you wanted to rank higher than competitors in your industry. That number has been slowly increasing each year. In 2015, top content would average around 1200 words. It’s fairly obvious that Google favors longer articles and blog posts.

Create Greater Value

Google also prefers in-depth articles that dig deep into a topic. You can take advantage of this preference by highlighting specific subtopics in the content that you offer. Use tips, strategies, tactics, ideas or ways. Instead of writing a blog post that lists “5 strategies to complete X,” write a post that includes “15 strategies to complete X.” Be sure to use relevant images, infographics, and videos throughout your writing. Doing so will help grab attention and makes sure that your posts are visually appealing.

Increase Shareability

If you create content that is loaded with valuable tips and has a word count exceeding 1500 words, it should make that content more shareable. People appreciate having their problems solved. They are much more likely to share this type of content than something that tries to sell. Longer content has a tendency to encourage engagement.

Linkable Content

Content that’s longer will also offer data, which makes it a comprehensive piece of work. Experts in the same niche are more likely to link to this type of content than short articles. If you create a blog post that lists “50 ways to tackle your X problem,” it will get noticed. These type of blog posts are highly linkable and can help improve your trust factor with search engines such as Google.

Track Conversion Rate and CTR

While longer content does have its advantages, the short copy does tend to generate better conversions. When creating content, you should always be watching your analytics to understand your conversions. Vary the word count in some of your posts to find a happy medium that creates the most conversions.

By supplying your current customers and potential customers with detailed, long content, you place yourself in a position of authority and trust.

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