Does Google like websites that have bigger post, for example instead of only having 8 post per page you have 20 post per page does this benefit in any way. I see that lots of the popular sites leave lots of post before going to the next page, like Engadget and Lifehacker.
That's just a personal preference. But, of course, the more content you have on the homepage (which is the most powerful page on your site to the search engines), the more keywords you'll have listed and the more chances you'll have to rank for them. I think they do it more for the readers though. Personally, I don't generally click on the "page 2" link, but if it's on the homepage, I'll at least glance at it...that's good for more impressions and more possible money via adsense/affiliate links/etc...