What’s the ideal length of a piece of writing for online readers?

Today, the answer depends on who you ask…

If you’re writing content for SEO goals, most say that longer is better.  In this case you’re writing for an algorithm that draws on programmed conclusions.  One of those is that an article that is longer, with more images, videos, and word count, it must have more in-depth, compelling content.  So it ranks better in SERPs.

But consider this presentation by Dan-Petrovic on Moz:

Dan makes a distinct point:  people don’t engage with longer articles.  They skim, skip, and rarely read the article in it’s entirety (their study showed only 16% did).  Dan notes the dilemma:

“If I write less, the effort for reading my content is very low. It satisfies a lot of people, but it doesn’t provide the depth of content that some people expect and it doesn’t allow me to go into storytelling. Storytelling is very powerful, often. If I write more, the effort will be very high. Some people will be very satisfied, but a lot of people will just bounce off. It’ll provide the depth of content and enable storytelling.”

Often, writers extend pieces because they think longer content will rank better for search.  But by doing this, they’re diminishing the user experience and increasing bounce rates.  Is there a solution or compromise?

Get Dense

There a few considerations that can help here.

Dan’s solution is more a technical one.  He created a plug-in that allows for hypotext.  This keeps the main article short, with embedded text that can be expanded for those that want to read.

But the better, albeit more difficult solution comes from Seth Godin.  He asks us to focus not on length, but density.

In other words, the problem isn’t that the writing is too long.  The problem is it’s boring.

“Density is difficult to create. It’s about boiling out all the surplus, getting to the heart of it, creating impact. Too much and you’re boring. Not enough and you’re boring.

The formula is simple to describe: make it compelling, then deliver impact. Repeat. Your speech can be two hours long if you can keep this up.”

No problem, right?  To satisfy Google and online readers, all you have to do is write a complete piece (preferably a few thousand words) that consistently delivers impact.

But let’s face it, not everyone is Toni Morrison.  Long, dense pieces of writing are a difficult achievement.

And with the plethora of writers vying for attention online (and seeking to improve SEO), long-winded articles of wimpy impact are going to infest the web.

Still, Google is getting better at figuring out what users actually engage with.  As that develops, writers need to think more about density than length.