Do Search Engines Prefer Longer Articles?
As far as search engines are concerned, they prefer longer articles. They like research style articles that are nice and long and juicy. They like when articles have several subheadings that are more specific subcategories of the main topic of the page. Think about research papers done at the university level. That is what search engines like. Maybe you are trying to please the search engines so that your article ranks higher. Maybe you are just trying to please the search engines hoping that they will allow the article to pass some link juice. Whatever your reason, bear in mind that search engines like them to be longer. It also helps the article rank for and get more traffic from additional long tail keywords.
How About People? What do they prefer?
People could be on the opposite side of that coin. Sometimes people prefer really short articles. It still depends though. At the very start of this article I could have simply said “Yes”. That would have made this a one word article. You would have got your answer. But, would you have been satisfied? Not likely. You still would have wanted me to explain why. Sometimes it takes a substantial amount of additional content to fully and clearly explain your point of view on a topic.
What About When You Want The Articles To Actually Deliver Traffic?
If you want them to deliver any traffic to you at all then you had better keep the reader in mind. You had better forget about how long your article will end up being and simply focus on delivering what the reader is looking for. Some people want to trick the reader by trying to force him to click over to their website to finish getting the answer they want. These authors will write a short article without ever answering the initial question. Then they tease the reader saying that the answer can be found on this other web page over on their website. Some people will fall for it. Smart people are more likely to click away instead though. You break their trust when you do that.
When trying to get people to come to your website and to take some kind of action once they arrive there, then you have got to have them in the right frame of mind. You want them to be totally thrilled with the high level of knowledge you possess. That will make them want to read more of what you have to say. That will silently convince them to click through to your website.
Why I Prefer To Write Longer Articles
I prefer to keep my articles a little on the long side because I like to be thorough. Sometimes I might not do such a great job, but other times I hit the mark. The way I see it is that if you are willing to read past the title then you must be looking for a solid explanation of what I am talking about. That usually takes more than a couple hundred words to accomplish. So, I am going to write as much as I need to in order to make a point. I don’t hesitate to make the articles longer and neither should you.
Look at the most popular and highest quality blogs on the internet. Do they post short articles or longer ones? Hmm……