16 Long-Form Content Statistics to Convince You of the Power of the Written Word

A piece of writing that is between 1000 to 7500 words is labelled as long-form content. Long-form content is used to supply the reader with valuable information, it engages audiences as the topic that the content covers is explained in depth. This form of content is not intended for a quick read, it’s aimed at people looking to educate themself on a particular topic, or a specific question about that topic.

I have included 16 statistics below which may help/inspire you to write some long-form content of your own and help you decide if you would like to plunge into a piece of long-form content or include this type of content in your marketing strategy (spoiler: you definitely should, the power of it is undisputed).

The Benefits of Long-Form vs Short-Form Content

(Source: Publicize)

Here at Embryo, we’re not shy about our love of the written word and have harnessed the power of longer forms of content for ourselves and our wide range of clients. No matter what industry you operate in, this type of copy can establish you as the most intelligent business in your sector, something that Google cannot help but love and thus rank highly for.

To learn more, get in touch with our team today!

Can You Acquire Links by Using Long Form Content?

Yes, using this form of content in your marketing strategy will help you acquire more backlinks and help you gain more inbound leads for your business.

• Long-form content gets an average of 77.2% more links than short articles
• Short content (300–900 words) gains 21% less traffic and 75% fewer backlinks than articles of average length (900–1200 words)
• Articles with a word count of over 2,500 earn the most links

Perfect Blog Lengths

• Today, the average blog post has 1236 words, which is 53 per cent more than the average post six years ago
• The ideal time spent reading their blog posts is 7 minutes. That equates to roughly 1,600 words
• An average Google first page result contains 1,447 words

From the statistics above it is clear that having a blog that has between 1200 and 1600 words is most likely to have success. It’s clear that readers prefer a to-the-point thorough blog that isn’t too time-consuming. This could help you increase your ranking and better your results.

Social Platforms

Data suggests that long-form content is more likely to be shared on social platforms which will help gain website traffic and help you gain visibility/leads for your business.

• Headlines that are 14-17 words in length generate 76.7% more social shares than short headlines
• Articles with a word count of over 2,500 get shared the most on social media
• 2,500-word posts get shared 3x more than 1,000-word ones
• Long-form content (3000–10,000 words) gets shared more than short-form content
• Long content (3000–7000 words) gets 2x page views and 24% more shares than articles of average length (900–1200 words)
• Short (300-900 words) articles are not shared at all x 4.5 more often than long reads of 3000+ words

Engagement and Leads

• Long-form articles generate 2x the engagement of short articles on mobile devices 
• LinkedIn posts between 1,900 and 2,000 words perform the best and gain the greatest number of post views, likes, comments, and shares
• Long-form blog posts generate 7x more leads than short-form blog posts
• 7000+ word content drives almost 4X more traffic than articles of average length (900–1200 words)

It is clear that when it comes to long vs short-form content, long-form wins from an engagement standpoint. Long-form generates more website traffic, shares, comments, and likes.

To conclude, from the above statistics, it’s clear that lengthy, high-quality content ranks higher on search engine results. If you create a longer piece of writing, you have more opportunity to include backlinks and keywords you can include in your content, this will help bring organic traffic to your website. In addition, research shows that long-form content is more likely to be engaged with on social platforms.

In essence, long-form content just gives you more opportunity to express how knowledgeable your business is on one particular topic.

If you want that opportunity, and to work with an agency that can help create stunning copy for your business, then be sure to get in touch with us today. You can reach our team by phone on 0161 327 2635 or by email at [email protected].