Compare short form vs. long form content – which one is right for you?

• What is the difference between short form and long form content creation?
• What is short form content and why does it work?
• What is long form content and why does it work?
• Does short form or long form work better for SEO?
• How to choose SEO keywords for your blog post?
• How long should a blog post be?
• How to write a blog?
• Long form content examples

You know your business needs content. In today’s digital world, it’s a must to grow your traffic and engage your audience. From short and snappy social media posts to in-depth website articles, guides, and case studies, businesses are creating all kinds of content to get noticed. This is where long form content and short-form content come into play. How long should you make your content?

It can be confusing to decide which is best, especially when everyone seems to have a different opinion on which one is better. In this post, we’ll break down the differences and help you decide which type of content works best for your business.

What is the difference between short form and long form content creation?

Now, there is a lot of confusion about what defines short-form and long-form content. In all honesty, there is no definitive answer as to the length of short form content and if you ask the experts, they will range from a word count of about 300 words up to 1,200 words. Whereas a long-form article will range anywhere from 1,000 words right up to over a staggering 3,000 words. For the purposes of this blog, we’ll discuss short form content as under 1,000 words and long form as anything over 1,500 words.

And, in case you were wondering, there is also short-form video which is typically anything under three minutes while long-form video content is over this time limit.

What is short form content and why does it work?

This format is great for mobile devices (who wants to read a long article on a small screen) although, due to the fact you can’t cover the topic indepth, it tends to have a shorter shelf life. That said, it’s incredibly shareable and, without all the extra information, usually drives immediate engagement.

What is long form content and why does it work?

Get this right and your long form content will become a valuable resource which can position you as a trustworthy industry expert. Here we’re talking about long-form blog posts (like this one!), articles, whitepapers, case studies and even reports.

You can also maximise the usability of long form content by taking snippets of the article and turning them into engaging social media posts. These short bursts will then link back to the full article giving it an exceptional shelf life and it’s a great way to fuel a big chunk of your content strategy.

Does short form or long form content work better for SEO?

When writing any content, you need it to be informative and engaging but you also need it to rank on the search engines. Fail to get on the first page for your topic and it’s unlikely anyone will read what you’ve published – definitely not ideal. So, when aiming for search rankings that appear on the first page of Google, should you write a shortform or longform content piece?

Here’s the difficult bit. Traditionally, it has always been long-form format which ranks the best for search engine optimization – especially when driving organic traffic to your site. This is mainly down to the fact that you can utilise more keywords within the content without overstuffing to hit targets. This makes it an excellent form of evergreen content which includes enough detail to make it feel constantly fresh for your audience. Long-form content can also cover more complex topics that offer key insights, a deep understanding and educational resources. This gives your website a voice of authority on a particular topic and normally results in long-term traffic.

That doesn’t mean shortform content won’t also hit well and, if you choose your keywords carefully, it can make a real impact. Search engines value fresh, relevant content that engages audiences, so a well-crafted short-form piece can be equally effective.

There is one last consideration and that’s the rise of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and how people now search for answers. If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, we’re referring to the information generated by AI at the top of the search results page. For Google, this is called AI Overview. Instead of browsing multiple links, users can now get answers to their queries directly at the top of the page. This is making it harder for websites to rank.

Writing long-form content can help your page rank better with AI because it allows you to address user queries in more detail. Of course, this isn’t the only way to rank for AI but it will help. 

How to choose SEO keywords for your blog post?

When developing your content marketing strategy, you should know the purpose of your communications. Is it about customer education, driving leads or creating more sales? You should then develop blogs and choose keywords that will help you to meet these goals.

Here’s a great example: you’ve got an idea for a blog which is based on June birthdays and you need some keywords. Instead of going for the obvious ‘June birthday’, think about your audience’s search intent. For example, if someone is searching for flowers for a birthday in June, they might type in terms like “what flowers for a June birthday” or “what is the birthday flower for June?”

When looking at keywords use tools such as SE Ranking or Semrush to help you generate keyword suggestions and analyse their effectiveness. Ideally, you want words that have a high search volume but low difficulty with a mix of keyword types. While long-tail keywords might have lower search volumes, they often attract people who are further along in the buying journey and are more likely to convert.

Finally, go with keywords that match the search intent of your audience:

• Navigational: the user is looking for a specific page or brand e.g. Facebook or Hootsuite.
• Informational: the searcher needs an answer to a question e.g. how do I write an award entry?
• Commercial: the user knows they want to buy a product or service but need additional information to help make a decision e.g. best PR agency in Lincolnshire.
• Transactional: the searcher wants to buy and they know the product name or style e.g. buy Superdry hoody.

As a rough guide, you are more likely to write long-form content feature articles, detailed guides and industry reports then you will look at navigational and commercial keywords. However, if you’re writing for something like a product page then you would be better with transactional keywords.

How long should a blog post be?

There is no hard or fast answer to this question. Instead, your choice of blog length very much depends on three key factors: If you want to build awareness about your brand and establish yourself as a voice of authority, then long-form content is the way to go.  However, if you’re making an announcement, promoting an event, or driving quick engagement, short-form content is often more effective. Shorter pieces also help foster customer loyalty by keeping messages concise and to the point.

1. What is the aim of the piece?

2. Who are your audience?

3. What is your focus topic – what do you have to say?

Remember, any decision you make about the length of content on your website or any other communication format should align with your marketing goals or comms strategy. Ideally, you want a balance of both short and long-form content with messaging that aligns with the needs of your audience.

How to write a blog?

So, you want to write a blog, but where do you start? It can be a bit daunting so here are our top five tips:

Tip 1: Choose your topic

It might sound obvious, but you want to start your content creation process by finding a topic to discuss. This is the time to position yourself as an expert on a topic matter, while at the same time increasing customer satisfaction. I mean let’s be honest, a customer who can find all the answers on your website is more likely to stick around and see what other valuable information you can provide.

Last but not least, choose your topic carefully. Yes, it needs to fit with your content strategy but does it speak to your customers. Rather than focusing on what you want to tell your customers—an old-school marketing approach, flip the perspective. Instead, ask yourself: What do my customers want to know? What information would truly benefit them? Once you know this, you can build related topic clusters. This is great for boosting search engine visibility and building internal links across your site.

Tip 2: Create your outline

Starting to write a long form blog can feel a bit daunting. This is where your headings will help. Instead of looking at the piece as a whole, take your main heading and break it down into the different questions your audience might ask about that topic. This is also a great way of helping your blog to rank higher on search engines. For example, when looking at how to get media coverage for your business, you could break this down into the following subsections:

• How do you write a press release?
• What is the difference between a news release and a feature?
• How to pitch journalists?

Seen an example of a blog post we did about media coverage here.

Tip 3: Write your content

Time to write your blog. Don’t think about the end goal, to reach 2,000 or more words, and instead focus on each heading section. Once you start writing (especially when it’s a topic you love) the word count will soon rack up. While writing, think about the reader. Why should they care about what you’re saying? Are you answering their questions? If you can tick these boxes, your blog should meet your goal. To keep your audience engaged aim for high-quality content that offers a compelling story. You want to pull them through the blog by weaving a story into each section which then makes them want to read more.

Tip 4: Give your blog credibility

While you may have valuable knowledge to share, adding credibility to your blog can make it even more impactful. Add in some valuable insights, especially for something like a deep dive analytical piece, with quotes or statements from other industry experts. Not only will this support the information you’ve provided in your blog, but also break up the content.

Tip 5: Break up the content

We’re not going to lie, reading 2,000 words is a lot to take in, even if you break everything up with lots of different headings. Your audience is going to need a bit more help in making the information easy to digest. The trick here is to add in lists, whether that’s in a bullet or number format or, as we’ve done on this blog, add in some tips (we’ve demonstrated both of these in this blog).

Tip 6: Proof read your blog

On a long-form blog, it can be very hard to keep track of what you’ve written. Make sure you read over the content a few times (you could also ask a friend) to check you haven’t repeated any of the information. This is also a great time to check the content for accuracy to ensure you position yourself as a leading voice of expertise. When undertaking this task always make sure you’ve included audience preferences and kept the content relevant to the questions they want to answer.

Tip 7: Incorporate Visuals

You’ve written thousands of words, and your long-form piece has absolutely everything it needs for an engaged audience. Time to clap your hands in satisfaction – your work here is done.

Wait! You need to understand how the human brain takes in that information. Present them with a wall of copy and they will quickly switch off – not ideal. To help your audience find and absorb the information on your page you need to break up the copy. You’ve got two tricks up your sleeve to do this – your headings and high-quality visual clues.

Headings

First, those headings you prepared earlier. These enable your audience to quickly glance down the page and quickly find a relevant piece of information on your page. If you’ve researched them correctly, it should be a question they’ve asked about your product or help in solving a problem they’re facing. Remember to equally balance out the amount of copy under each heading – you don’t want 1,000 words on one but only 50 under another.

Visuals

The second trick – decorative visuals. You remember the saying “a picture tells a thousand words” – well it’s true. You can use the magic of relevant images or video snippets to draw your ideal customer into your long-form article.

Tip 8: Create a table of contents

While searching online for blog posts, you may have noticed a growing trend for including a table of contents at the start of the article. While this isn’t completely necessary, it can help in several ways.

To start with, it can improve user experience. Imagine you’ve stumbled across an article and you start scrolling. Depending on the formatting of the page, you might have to go a long way before you reach the section you’re interested in. You will maintain customer satisfaction if they can instead scan the start of the article and then click on a link in the table of contents which jumps straight down to the section they need. Plus, if you have a table of contents linked to the sections on your page search engines will value those links and give your page a boost.

Long form content examples

If you need some support with writing your short-form and long-term content please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Aura PR Team or visit our LinkedIn for frequent tips and guides.