The SEO Benefits of Longform Content

Despite the fact that media sources have incorrectly announced the death of SEO for years, the actual data shows that it is more critical than ever before. That being said, there is validity to the claims that ranking for keywords — particularly competitive keywords — is getting more difficult with each passing year.
However, this is largely due to the fact that Google is getting better at distinguishing high-quality content from everything else, which means websites that are able to generate genuinely useful and interesting content will still enjoy the benefits of SEO and ranking at the top of Google’s SERPs.

Why Longform Content Is So Valuable

Longform content, which is roughly described as content that is at least 2000 to 3000 words (or more!), is becoming increasingly popular in the SEO world. In addition to earning a boost in Google rankings for having high-quality, original content that exceeds the 2000-3000+ word count, there is simply more you can communicate and explain in this format — especially when compared to the typical 300- to 1000-word blog post.
Longform content consistently does better than shortform content when targeting the same keywords, and longform content is also shared at higher rates on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Longform content also gives you the opportunity to incorporate a great number of keywords in a natural and organic manner. Adding keywords that are related to the main subject of your longform article helps strengthen your content’s ability to rank for your primary keywords while also driving addition traffic from the related keywords when users search those terms as well.

How to Write Engaging Longform Content that Will Rank on Google

The most important thing to remember when writing longform content is to choose a subject that is both interesting and lends itself to an in-depth, highly detailed discussion. Writing a longform post that is mostly filler won’t be nearly as effective as an interesting and valuable post — and could even hurt your website’s SEO if it increases your bounce rate.
Once you’ve selected a topic, simply make it as interesting as possible. Don’t be afraid to link to other authoritative websites that support the points you are making, and encourage readers to share and link to your content.
While it’s true that SEO is changing, those who are willing to provide genuine value to readers will always have a way to generate traffic for their website.

Here are some ways you can create longform content:

Expert Roundups:
People like to know what experts are doing and how they are so successful. Trying aggregating content from experts or simply reach out to experts to find out their two cents on a topic you want to write about. Often times they can do the long form content work for you.
Tutorials:
Tutorials are a great way to show your expertise and may require a lot of content and writing to do properly. This can offer massive SEO value and show your authority as an expert.
Stories and Case Studies:
Personal stories and case studies of real life examples show how things really work. Its great to see hypothetical examples but true stories go a long way when explaining something to a potential customer or user.
Predictions & Forecasts:
Predicting or forecasting about your industry is a great way to write long form content and is something that shouldn’t be too difficult to do given that you can freely write about what you want.
Bold Opinions:
Don’t be afraid to make bold opinions and explain why you feel the way you do about something.