One long article or split into more than one page

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by qwestcommunications, Jan 1, 2007.

  1. #1
    If the article was long say, 1500 words, would you have it all one one page or split it up into several pages? This question is intended for the purpose of search engine optimization. I see quite a few sites that even break up an article that was never too long to begin with into 2/4 pages i.e. each page having no more than 300 words. Whats your opinion on this?
     
    qwestcommunications, Jan 1, 2007 IP
  2. cianuro

    cianuro Peon

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    #2
    Split it up. Target separate keywords for each page.
     
    cianuro, Jan 1, 2007 IP
  3. qwestcommunications

    qwestcommunications Notable Member

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    #3
    But you can always target more than one main keyword per page.
     
    qwestcommunications, Jan 1, 2007 IP
  4. terryuk

    terryuk Notable Member

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    #4
    I'd personally keep it on one, tons more keywords on the page so then you'll get lucky with random following words e.g. *blog* pages etc etc
     
    terryuk, Jan 1, 2007 IP
  5. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #5
    I agree with terryuk, make the one "authority" page if only targetting 2-3 keywords.
     
    dcristo, Jan 1, 2007 IP
  6. whatinspiresu

    whatinspiresu Peon

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    #6
    i see you all don't agree! :) I guess theres two ways to skin a cat.

    One thing i always remembered was that "google likes short keyword rich pages, and lots OF them"

    who knows how much has changed since I learned this.

    go with the experts :)
     
    whatinspiresu, Jan 1, 2007 IP
  7. softwareprojects

    softwareprojects Active Member

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    #7
    We actually did an a/b split test of something similar a while ago for a client. We had enough content for 3 articles and the client was wondering whether we should post a single long article or do 3.

    We always love to do a/b split tests so we ended up doing both - posted one long article AND posted 3 smaller articles but meshed up the content so they appear different enough.

    Overall the 3 articles combined generated about twice the number of backlinks and hits to the client site. The conclusion was conclusive - always divide & conquer.
     
    softwareprojects, Jan 1, 2007 IP
    Glen likes this.
  8. princess06

    princess06 Banned

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    #8
    same here, i'll keep in one page..

    as for me, i don't think writing long articles is good. i mean people might end up getting bored on what they are reading. articles must not be too long and not too short, the important thing here is the content.
     
    princess06, Jan 2, 2007 IP
  9. mr_dean

    mr_dean Peon

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    #9
    google's guideance : design your website for users not for search engines.

    So, I think it is better idea to think which your users would like more.

    Personally, I think it is smarter to write several shorter articles than one bigger. Those shorter articles will have different title and therefore could attract more traffic.
     
    mr_dean, Jan 2, 2007 IP
  10. eukhost

    eukhost Banned

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    #10
    I think one of the issues with splitting articles across multiple pages could be that a split article will get inbound links to it's different parts, therefore diluting the benefit that article could see in SE rankings.

    On the other hand, if a good article is on a single page, regardless of it's length, all the links will point to the same page and maximize the benefit in the SE rankings.
     
    eukhost, Jan 2, 2007 IP
  11. Glen

    Glen Peon

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    #11
    Similar to the testing I do, nice post :cool:
     
    Glen, Jan 2, 2007 IP
  12. qwestcommunications

    qwestcommunications Notable Member

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    #12
    The only problem I see with this route is that, by dividing the pages, you get into a situation where the reader might lend on the 2nd or 3rd page and never go back to the first page - knowing how impatient internet users are.

    Also, wouldn't a single page article look more authoratative and gain more backlinks than if a page was only 250-300 words long?
     
    qwestcommunications, Jan 2, 2007 IP
  13. qwestcommunications

    qwestcommunications Notable Member

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    #13
    Its true. I think users in general are pretty impatient and want to find information quickly so a really long page might put them off. However, if you can probably counter this with nice use of subheading and short paragraphs.
     
    qwestcommunications, Jan 2, 2007 IP
  14. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #14
    I would say so...
     
    dcristo, Jan 2, 2007 IP
  15. qwestcommunications

    qwestcommunications Notable Member

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    #15
    HAving argued for the case of having longer pages rather than splitting them up, there is one important advantage of splitting them up, and that is that the more pages you have the more pages you will have indexed in the search engines. So, even if you get some de-indexed you will still have plenty of pages indexed.
     
    qwestcommunications, Jan 3, 2007 IP
  16. DomainDomain

    DomainDomain Active Member

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    #16
    Hi
    I have found splitting the pages on sites monetised by adsense gives a massive benifit in terms of ad relevance. This could be due to the particular niche, but its worth thinking about...
    DD
     
    DomainDomain, Jan 3, 2007 IP
  17. qwestcommunications

    qwestcommunications Notable Member

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    #17
    Of course it is likely to benefit for the purpose of adsense because you get to show more ads, but I am talking purley from the perspective of search engine optimization and traffic.
     
    qwestcommunications, Jan 3, 2007 IP
  18. kh7

    kh7 Peon

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    #18
    For me: 1500 words is too short to split up. I split up if a page is over 20kb. The main consideration is my visitors: will it look normal to them to have to click through to a second page.
     
    kh7, Jan 3, 2007 IP
  19. Anghus

    Anghus Peon

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    #19
    Split it up.

    Here is a simple explenation for doing so: First of all SE like a lot of content. This doesn't mean that they like 1500 words on one single page. What they really like is: lets say that you are targeting for the key word "ertererer" then it's a lot better to have a website with: "ertererer.html" "ertererer.2.html" "ertererer.3.html" etc....

    Second reason for splitting up the content is that if you have 1500 words in it, it's hard to optimize for those keywords.

    When I write articles I always try to end up with something between 400-500 words. This is the average length on most of the articles.
     
    Anghus, Jan 3, 2007 IP