How long should a blog post be for SEO?

You'll find plenty of advice saying blog posts should be 1,500, 2,000 or even 3,000 words. Studies that compare word count with rankings often find longer posts rank higher on average. But Google has said clearly that word count isn't a ranking factor. Longer pages rank because they tend to cover a topic more fully, not because of the number itself.

What actually decides the right length

Search intent

Ask what the searcher wants.

• A quick fact ("what time zone is Lisbon"): a few sentences.
• A definition ("what is a canonical tag"): a few hundred to a thousand words with examples.
• A how-to ("how to do an SEO audit"): as many steps as the job needs, often 1,000 to 2,000 words.
• A comparison or buying guide: often longer, because readers want options, trade-offs and details.

Competing pages

Search the main phrase and look at the top five results. If they all run 1,500 words and cover ten subtopics, a 400-word post will struggle, not because it's short, but because it leaves questions unanswered. If they're all short and direct, padding yours to 3,000 words just makes it harder to read.

Completeness, not length

A useful test: after reading your post, does the reader need to go back to Google? If yes, something is missing. If they had to scroll past five paragraphs of introduction to find the answer, something is too long.

Typical lengths by content type

These are observations, not rules. Use them as a sanity check.

Signs your post is too short

• The page ranks on page two and the pages above it answer questions yours doesn't.
• It gets impressions in Search Console for related questions it never addresses.
• Visitors leave quickly and search again (you'll see this pattern in session recordings).

Signs your post is too long

• Long introductions before the answer.
• The same point made several times in different words.
• Sections that only exist to include a keyword.
• Readers drop off halfway (scroll-depth heatmaps in tools like Microsoft Clarity show this clearly).

How to check word count

The checker on this page counts the words in a page's main content and its total text, so you can compare your page with the pages that outrank it. Run it on the top three results for your keyword, then on your own page. If you are far shorter, look at what they cover that you don't. Pair it with the keyword density checker to see which terms they use.

Write first, measure later

Write the best answer to the question you can, then check the length. Trimming a complete draft is easier than stretching a thin one, and the result reads better. For structure, see SEO content briefs and SEO writing tips.