In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), quality content is king. While it may seem like there is a domination of short-form content in the form of Tik Toks and Instagram reels, we think it’s important to remember long-form content is still an excellent route to SEO success.
If you’re new to the SEO game, you may be asking yourself what exactly long-form content is, and why is it so important in SEO?
Today, we’ll explore the answers to those questions and highlight some of the key benefits of creating long-form content for your long-term SEO strategy.
What is Long-Form Content?
Long-form content is any content whose length exceeds 1,000 words. The average blog post is typically 300 to 500 words. So, writing a long-form piece is literally prolonging the size of your content. However, rather than prolong for the sake of having a long blog, long-form content is meant to add more depth, information, and data to important topics.
This could be a blog post that delves deep into a particular aspect of your industry, a white paper that analyzes trends and offers insights, or even an e-book that provides a comprehensive overview of a given subject.
No matter the final product of long-form content, you want to ensure anything long you create adds value to the current conversation you’re covering.
Why is Long-Form Content Valuable to Your SEO Strategy?
Now, why is this type of content so valuable for SEO? First and foremost, long-form content tends to attract more backlinks from other websites.
When long-form content is well-researched and created with care, it’s more likely to be seen as a comprehensive and authoritative resource on a topic rather than a quick and superficial overview.
Here’s a closer look at some of the ways long-form content can give your SEO strategy the boost it needs.
Improved Audience Engagement
Long-form content can help establish your brand as an authority in your industry. By offering valuable insights, analysis, and thought leadership on a topic, you can build trust and credibility with your audience.
When credibility is high, this can lead to increased conversions and sales, as visitors are more likely to see your brand as the go-to resource for what they need.
When you find the right topic to showcase your industry expertise, and provide informative content that resonates with your readers, we always say to take it!
After all, if your audience bites and enjoys your content, Increased engagement leads to a lower bounce rate, which in turn tells Google that your page is valuable, and boosts your website ranking.
More Opportunities for Keyword Optimization
Long-form content provides ample opportunities to optimize for keywords, increasing the chance of ranking high on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). With a higher word count, it is easier to include long-tail keywords and related terms that cater to multiple search queries.
Longer content naturally includes more variations of a given keyword phrase and offers more opportunities to naturally integrate those phrases into the text. This can help improve your site’s relevance for those keywords, and bolsters your overall SEO efforts without falling victim to keyword stuffing.
Boosts Backlink Acquisition
Long-form content is more likely to be cited as a source of information for writers, bloggers, and industry enthusiasts who’ll then create backlinks to your page.
Getting backlinks for excellent content is a key factor in Google’s search algorithm, so the more high-quality links your content can attract, the higher it’s likely to rank in search results. When that happens, your site gains total authority and could start ranking higher as a whole in all related search results.
Increased Social Shares
Creating long-form content promotes social sharing. It is more likely for people to share detailed, insightful, and informative content than short, shallow pieces. Social sharing is an excellent way to spread content across multiple platforms and increase website visibility.
Higher Conversion Rates
While you may say the goal of long-form content is to get important information to your audience, at the end of the day, getting conversions from great content is always a major positive.
Long-form content that provides actual value and a learning experience often converts readers into customers. Research shows that in-depth blog posts have higher conversion rates, as they provide the audience with the necessary information to make an informed decision.
So, if you want to make the most of your long-form content for your site, you’ll have to put some real time and effort into researching and developing your content.
What if Your Day-to-Day is Too Busy?
We’ll be honest, creating long-form content that is more than just a mass of jumbling words takes a lot of time, effort, and experience. Many business owners have a hard time updating their social media platforms and writing shorter blogs. So, accomplishing long-form content that converts is something that can seem out of reach.
Fortunately, there are several ways brands can take advantage of getting long-form content on their site.
- Hire an SEO Company: A team of experienced writers can make getting your content tasks done as simple as creating an assignment. Most teams work on a schedule, so you can be certain that your long-form content will drop when you need your audiences to read it. No more stressing about squeezing those extra words out at the last minute.
- Third-Party Freelancers: Sites like Textbroker grant you access to professional writers eager to get their words out in your voice. These sites typically charge by the word and writing experience so costs may vary.
Create Content that Converts With Atlantic Digital Marketing
Long-form content has become a pivotal SEO tactic in today’s digital marketing landscape. From improving engagement with the audience to forming a unique voice in the industry, long-form content offers immense benefits that impact website ranking.
However, not every business team is equipped to take on the task of creating regular content in general. That’s where we step in!
At Atlantic Digital Marketing, we can help you with all of your content and SEO-related needs. Our team of experts has helped businesses from all industries excel in their SEO efforts and can definitely help yours.
Schedule your consultation today and find out what we can do to help your business boom.