Best Length for an Article

What do you think is the best length for an article? I personally think this would be 500-750 words as this isn't too short nor too long. I think it would be better to split up an article in 2 parts of 700 words than 1 article of 1400 words.

What do you guys think?

 

Too long article can make visitor going out of a website. I think that better is too short article than too long one. I think the optimum is 500 words.

 

Often it's not the length of the writing, but the way the article is written that appeals to a reader. Small blocks of text, subtitles, lists and such make for MUCH easier reading online. I personally feel the optimal article is 400-600 words, but that wasn't a choice.

Rebecca

 

The best answer I've ever heard to this type of question: Exactly as long as it needs to be, but no longer.

It really depends on the purpose of the article. Obviously, if you're submitting it to a directory you'd want to follow their guidelines.

 

I think 400-500 words article is fine.

 

Readability is key. Use headings, bullet points, numbers and bold sections to make it so people can scan. Images, charts and graphs help too.

Even 250 or 500 words is hard to read if it is one big paragraph.

 

I would set 350 to 500 words as ideal length for an article and agree that splitting is best for both readers and writers to stay focused on topic.

 

If articles are going to be that short, they may as well be blog posts?

 

I agree with the 400-600 heuristic.

 

I do not mind reading long articles if they are all content and no fluff.

They must be divided into paragraphs, must be properly punctuated and have subheadings in bold if possible.

Some visitors are only interested in a particular paragraph( which contains what they need). Taking into mind the average internet surfer, in this poll, 500-750 looks like the best option. Even 750-1000 wouldn't look bad, but it depends what your niche is.

 

Articles online are harder to read for many of us -- keep it short. Serialise where necessary - a number of shorter articles related together rather than one long one.

 

400-500 words is the best solution, I think.

A short informative article is better then a long one with alot of minor details.

 

I think if you are inserting content for your business or service website, anywhere from 250 words and up are ok.

For adsense purposes, it makes the most sense to have at least 500 words on each page so that you can display your adsense ads to the best possible advantage. This is according to Brad Callen, creator of Keyword Elite and a real SEO expert.

 

Well, I'm pretty sure that 2000 is too long. I had an idea, sat down and wrote a draft, and it was over 2000 words. I left it for a couple of days, and when I came back I felt as if I were reading a book. So I'm breaking it up into three or four more focused pieces. I'm not sure I would have thought it was too long in a magazine, but it definitely was not good for a web article. I did some formatting, and it helped, but not enough. The formatting will make it easier to split up when I get back to it, though.

 

That'll be less than 500 for me unless of course the article is exceptional.

But then again, it comes down to the kind of website you have and the kind of audience you have. If you know your people, then pretty much anything will do.

 

To me the optimum is 500-600 words which include an eye-catching few lines, the body of the article and a summing up conclusion. It is definitely a relative matter and a certain adaptiveness to your audience is needed.

 

Opinions will vary widely as to the best length for an article. To be honest, I believe the word count matters less in the long run than readability. While shorter articles with bullet points, subheadings, etc. can make for easier reading online, oftentimes web searchers are looking for comprehensive information on a subject.

Really, I wouldn't worry about word count so much as your ability to say what needs to be said as effectively as possible. If it takes you 500 words to get your point across, great. But if it takes 1,000 words, and you've said everything you needed to say (with no extra "fluff,") I don't think anyone's really going to be counting.

 

I find articles written in shorrt paragraphs with use of bullet points most readable. It does not matter howllong the article is as long as it readable, but tend to find overly long articles a turn off in most cases. But, if you are researching something important, I don't always mind the long articles because you are bound to be interested.

 

I always prefer to go for 400 words+ article. Most of the visitors don't want to spend more than 1 minute in a page of a website. Bold the wordsin the page also enhances the SEO.