Do longer blog posts tend to garner more backlinks and social shares compared with shorter blog posts? Does headline length correlate with the popularity of posts? What share of posts generate the bulk of engagement?
To find out, Backlinko teamed up with BuzzSumo to analyze more than 912 million blog posts published between October 2017 and October 2018.
The researchers examined metrics such as social media shares and backlinks to determine how certain content-related factors correlate with performance.
Below, key findings from the analysis.
Blog Post Length
Longer blog posts tend to generate more backlinks and social shares compared with shorter blog posts, the analysis found.
Pieces longer than 3,000 words garner 77% more referring domain links, on average, compared with content shorter than 1,000 words.
Posts longer than 1,000 words also get more social shares, on average, compared with posts shorter than 1,000 words. However, there are diminishing returns once posts surpass 2,000 words in length.