Backlinks Count More Than Word Count in 2019

Backlinks Count More Than Word Count in 2019

Your SEO guy probably tells you that you're good to go with an optimized H1 and a count of 2,000 Words - but is that still true in 2019?

Back in 2016, Brian Dean and Eric Van Buskirk looked at how 1 million websites ranked. When it came to content:

"Based on SERP data from SEMrush, we found that longer content tends to rank higher in Google's search results. The average Google first page result contains 1,890 words."



However, that was a while back, and algorithms have changed. It's now believed that the bots put more weight on the quality and authority of content - and crucially perhaps, how well the material satisfies search intent.

Ahrefs examined 2 million websites more recently. Their 2018 study, on one hand, backs the practice of longer content but also found that top-ranking articles need only have around 800 words.

How to Achieve Page One - Cut the Fluff and Answer a Question

This is where it gets interesting. A study by Dean and BuzzSumo in 2019 looked at a whopping 912 million blog posts and found that longer-form material attracts 77% more backlinks than shorter articles. Dean and Van Buskirk found backlinks to be the primary ranking factor back in 2016!

Also, Ahrefs discovered that 91% of webpages get zero organic traffic - because they get zero backlinks.

Ranking isn't about one single thing.



Longer content attracts more links but it has to be of value to the reader. The more you get linked, the better your ranking and higher the levels of organic traffic you get. Write the most informative and interesting content you can - and answer the search question better than anyone else.

Don't aim for a word count. Instead, create content until you've satisfied the ranking requirements and you've got a happy Googlebot. Begin with the main message of the piece, and add more detail further in - kind of like a news article.