How Long Should a Real Estate Blog Post Be?

Or what's the shortest post I can publish and still see good results?

The following is an argument for short real estate blog posts—even though I know that longer posts will perform better.

The 300 Word Myth?

The idea that a post needs to be at least 300 words in order to be seen as long enough for Google is one that I see and hear frequently. The idea is that is falls under what Google calls "Thin Content." But the idea of Thin Content is content that doesn't satisfactorily provide value to your website visitor. If your blog article is one that doesn't require more than a couple of sentences to make a point, or answer a question, then how can it be seen as lacking value?

I think that to best understand what Google means with their goal of stamping out Thin Content is to look at the spirit of the rule. If your website is a consistent violator of publishing content that is copied from elsewhere, or syndicated from another account, or causes your audience to bounce (as opposed to stay and read), then I would say that you are violating the spirit of the rule, and you deserve what Google penalizes you with.

But if your content is unique, frequent, and engaging (people actually read it, share it, and/or subscribe to it) then the length of the post it takes to make that happen is irrelevant.

My take: If you get blogging, then counting your words is a distraction you shouldn't be bothered with.

What Do the Experts Have to Say?

Turns out, when it comes to current ranking factors, the experts make no mention of article/page length.

However, an interesting note is that in a study of over 1,000,000 articles, those that were less than 1000 words were shared/liked less than those that were greater than 1000 words, with the longer posts being the most shared and most liked.

So, yes, there is great value in lengthy posts. But at what cost to the blogger?

Get and Stay in Shape

I commonly relate blogging to getting into and staying in shape. Let's use running as an example.

Try running one or twp miles a day, every day, and you can make that a habit that sticks, and yields results.

Try running 10 miles in a day. Now get up and do it again tomorrow, and the next day. For almost all of us, that's not going to happen.

Now try doing it once a week (running 10 miles). You might last a month before there's a reason to take a week off. Then you miss another week... and soon the habit is dead, and so are the results.

Achieving blogging success requires establishing a habit. The most important thing you can do to be a good blogger is to hit publish.

Struggling to reach word counts is a hindrance to production.

I want you to see results. I want you to get an audience to read you, and trust you, and do business with you.

This won't happen if you don't become a blogger, and that means establishing the habit of publishing at least a few times a week.

If that means that half your blog articles are falling in the 100-200 word (6-12 sentences) range, then so be it. The idea is that you are still doing this in a year's time. The idea is that you are giving Google a reason to rank your site. The idea is that you have something to show your audience that you are the expert.

Don't make this the gym membership that you pay for, guiltily, and fail to use.

• Be unique.
• Use your niche.
• Your competition is thin when you target properly.
• The threats of thin content penalties apply mostly to one trying to rank for very competitive terms.
• Longer posts will come, and may perform better, but they shouldn't be the bar that keeps you from being successful.

Yes, But Longer Is Better

Okay, so there's the argument for shorter. Now here's why longer is better:

Research shows it will be shared more often. This is huge in SEO. It will be seen as more authoritative, driving your rankings higher. It will naturally have more keywords because there's more content.

But can you keep up a pace of 10 miles every time you run?

As a real estate professional, you wear a lot of hats, and I just want you to "stay in shape." And don't worry—your competition can't keep up that pace either.

If you want to keep reading about this, here are some interesting articles I found when reading about word count and SEO:

• 4 Statistics Every Blogger Should Know About Content Word Count
• What is the Best Length for a Blog Article in 2016 for SEO?
• Fat Pandas and Thin Content
• Should We Still Worry About Thin Content?

To view the original article, visit the Real Estate Tomato blog.