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What counts as long-form content?
Long-form content has one defining characteristic: It’s long enough to provide a comprehensive, in-depth look at a topic. There’s no magic word count number or video length, and different sources vary on what they consider to be a long-form piece. Most experts say written long-form content generally comes in somewhere between 1,200 to 2,000 words.1 But depending on your industry and the topic, you might need a 30-minute webinar, an hour-long podcast or a 3,500-word white paper.
Common types of long-form content include:
- In-depth blog posts or articles
- Guides and how-tos
- Videos (documentaries, webinars, product demonstrations, etc.)
- Research papers or white papers
- Podcasts
- Case studies
- eBooks
Whether created in written, audio or video form, what matters is that long-form content goes well beyond a short-form overview to educate, engage and help people gain a greater understanding of a particular subject matter.
Why do websites need long-form content?
- Get featured in AI responses: Today’s AI models have been trained to find and prioritize content they can confidently cite. AI search, such as Google’s AI Overviews, now prominently answers questions and searches with content from sites that it considers authoritative and that have highly relevant site pages with direct, useful information, or “reference-worthy content”. Long-form content is ideal for serving as reference-worthy content, because it often includes a clear, easy-to-follow structure, a neutral, authoritative tone, credible data and interesting insights and perspectives.
- Improve traditional search engine rankings: With AI results taking up key search result space, displaying high in the ranking list is more important than ever. In-depth content is viewed by search engines as more credible and authoritative, so it is more likely to display higher in search engine rankings. Additionally, long-form content naturally allows more room for keywords or keyword phrases that people often use when searching, which can also help boost your rankings and drive traffic.
- Keep people on your website longer: The longer the content, the more time it takes for people to consume it. So as long as your content can keep your audience interested, they’ll stay and read or watch or listen for longer than they would have otherwise. This longer time spent on site not only means that people are engaged, but it also indicates to search engines that you have relevant, valuable content—which gives your search engine rankings yet another boost.
- Be viewed as an authority: Every brand wants to be the one people turn to when they have a question. Regularly creating comprehensive, well-researched long-form content establishes your brand as an authority on your specific subject matter. It positions you as a thought leader who is seen as knowledgeable, trustworthy and a valuable resource rather than just a company trying to sell them something.
- Provide engaging, sharable experiences: People who want to explore the specifics of how your product works or hear from industry experts or look at research statistics and graphs should be able to do these things without leaving your site. Encouraging them to engage on a deep level with your brand creates a connection and helps build trust. Plus, long-form content that people find useful or interesting often inspires social sharing, as they believe others will benefit from it too.
Combining long-form and short-form content for best results
Short-form and long-form content serve very different roles for your brand, and it’s important to remember that both add value. Strategically and consistently blending different types of content together is the best way to make sure you’re ranking as high as possible in search and reaching your audience at all points of their journey.
- Short-form content: Offers intriguing, digestible bits of information, brief overviews and quick glimpses at relevant insights. It serves the short attention spans of today, allows for immediate consumption and builds interest for those who are in the early stages of getting to know your brand.
- Long-form content: Dives deep into a topic, builds authority and engages those looking to gain knowledge. In addition to addressing SEO and AI needs, long-form content can be used to nurture leads, help customers make better-informed purchase decisions and build loyalty with those further along in their journey.
Keep in mind that long-form content is not just adding words or dialogue to make a short-form piece longer. Your audience will notice if you’re repeating points, over-telling the story or adding filler content just to meet a word count. And as soon as they feel you’re no longer providing value, they’ll be gone.
At Trone, we can help you create a content marketing strategy that balances short-form and long-form content to best serve your brand and your audience. Contact us to discuss your marketing goals and how the right types of content can help your brand gain momentum in your industry.
