Is 300-350 words article still effective since the change of Google Algorithm??

My lovable DPers,

Would really like to clarify something as for my information since the changes of Google Algorithm it was told that Google prefers content with more than 450 or 500 words. But i still can see so many people even in our DP forum Content section are selling 300++ words article. What is the purpose of such content.. I'm seriously confused.

Thanks and Regards

 

There are so many variables involved here that you can't make a hard and fast rule about the length of your content.

I think the length matters only if it matters to your readers. Depends on the nature of your blog and the type of people who visit it, or who you want to attract.

Also, some subjects require more in-depth coverage than others.

 

Yeah, the Google algorithms are very sophisticated, and so article length should be determined based on reader value. You can always put more than one short article on a page after all... There's no value to human readers in rambling on for 500 words about something that only merits 250.

 

Google's changes primarily lessened the impact of article sites, rather than articles themselves, so I believe it all depends on where the text is being published and the authority/originality of the additional work on that domain.

From my own experience, posts and pages of 500 words or more do very well in Google, but because many in my specific field don't bother to write any original text, even content with 300 words can easily beat the competition.

Your competition is perhaps one of the primary factors. Even if Google wants lengthy articles about the price of spinach, if there are only three people writing about the price of spinach Google will have to make-do with what it can find - even if all three writers limit that content to 300 words.

As for what Melanie says about rambling on, my belief is that a good writer can make anything worthy of 500 words given the right format and style to work within. You should see some of the source material I have to deal with to create a 300 - 500 word post! But I manage it. In my case the intention is to sell a product, so there are a lot of tools I can use including fantasy and personal experience to make what would otherwise have been a 300 word scene description into a 500 word article.

 

Vary up the article length. If I took over a site where all the articles were 700 words say, I'd put some 300-500 word articles in there. For variety. Looks more natural, you know?

 

The general rule, and as far as I'm aware it hasn't changed with the algorithm recently, is that you write content for people, not for machines. Can you convey useful information in less than 300 words? Are you keyword-stuffing to get to some mythical word-count? Google can certainly catch on to the latter practice, and people who find value in the former can +1, 'Like' and 'RT' the former.

 

May I say one thing, inspired by the last comment. One can get into a game of doing things 'for Google.'
What does Google want? What works best for them nowadays? If we write what we write as a service to the reader; well Google are striving to please the reader too. So just give the reader what they want. To be absurd for a moment, if readers were to be happiest with each letter a different color... Of course that's not going to happen (readability issues), though you get the idea.

It so happens that some matters can be well enough explained in 300 words. If one attempted to stretch things out to 500 words the reader would get irritated. Thus it is that articles, in the most natural way, come in different lengths!

 

Write as if you are the reader. Concise, and to the point is necessary. The faster a user can get in and get out the better. This is the reason images perform better than videos on Reddit. People want a faster and faster shot of dopamine in their brains. If they watch a 2 to 3 minute video, they will get one shot of dopamine for that timeframe. If they can get the same amount of joy from a picture, then they will choose the picture over the video.

Same thing goes with articles. If I can get the same info out of 60 words instead of 600 words, then I would rather read 60 words.

 

Why would an article of 200, 300 or 400 words be worse or lets say have less value then one with >500 words? It is all about quality of the article, a shitty 500 words article is not better then a well written article with 250 words.

 

Write for your audience.. Not for machine. Let everything just run naturally... natural backlink should last longer.

 

Write as much as you need to convey your thoughts. If it only takes 100 words, then that is good. If it takes a thousand words, then you may need to condense your thoughts.

 

Can only add to what the majority have said already; write what you feel and the length will come naturally. If it takes 10 words, just use 10 else if it requires more then thats what it takes. Dont do a 500 word sales pitch if 90% of the article will drive people away with boredom. Google doesnt buy your stuff, people do.

 

the words are not sufficient today. the crawler monitoring with human checker also. if your content is made for adsense or bad, they put down your link.

 

I agree. There's no hard and fast rule on article length. Google goes by what users like and share with other users, so keep your readers in mind when writing. If you can give good information that is valuable to readers in a 300-500 word articles, then great.

Hope that helps. Have a good day!

 

It's not about keyword-stuffing, it's about competition.

If I were to write a review of a site of 300 words, and a competitor writes a review of that same site of 500 words, and both are equally informative and come from equally viable and linked sites, which one will receive more traffic?
Google cannot read through a piece of text and decipher which one is more accurate or more informative from the use of language. This is not an artificial intelligence we're working with. Google seeks out indicators such as length of text, use and placement of images, formatting, use of bullet points and other presentation options... this is all a part of the process to build a picture of the content on a page.

Grammar, spelling and punctuation are certainly aspects too, but Google is not a Human and cannot understand speech flow or literary styling. Google cannot tell the difference between a literary genius and and a Daily Mail reporter, it can only see the facts on a page.

To put it simply, a well-written article of 500 words beats a well-written article of 300 words when all else is equal.

 

The ultimate effectiveness of content depends upon the attractiveness, quality of content and how frequently readers visit the same on google.
yet as per above mentioned comment for google algorithm 500 words article can still prove to be more supportive then 300-350 words article.

 

Better to have articles with 500 words in it then only 300 words no matter what.

 

Everything I've read says to shoot for 700+. It's also important that articles are as long as the average article on your site.

 

In my opinion, articles should have minimum of 500 words with informative content.