SEO Article – The 500 vs. 1000 Word Count Debate

With my experience in the content creation industry and providing SEO articles, I’ve been asked by people several times as to which word count works best for writing articles. Is it really 500 words or 1000? My take on it..? It depends on what you’ll be using it for.

For the purpose of this article, I’ll be citing the key points that make each word count effective or better in its own right.

The 500 word count argument:

Easily Absorbed

True enough, a 500 word SEO article does look a lot more enticing to read than a 1000 word one. With the technology advancements that this age brings, people are used to “easy gratification.” That being said, a 500 word SEO article gives them just that. A thousand word SEO article in this case can translate to more reading and more concentration. If you know your readers are looking for easy gratification, then you know that the 500 word article is what you’re looking for.

Easier to Produce

If you write your own post, you should know by now that writing an article of a thousand words or so is comparatively more tiring than writing an article of 500 words. In terms of effort, time, money, and fatigue (mental), the 500 word article is definitely spot-on!

The 1000 word count argument:

Comprehensive

The article being 1000 words makes it more comprehensive and complete (provided that it’s written properly). You probably know by now that providing complete information to your site’s visitors is very important if you are to give them value. That being said, articles of 1000 words normally get the job done in terms of giving comprehensive information to the readers.

Higher Chance of Syndication

I’ve confirmed this myself. Of all the articles that we’ve posted on article directory sites, what gets syndicated are usually the articles of 1000 words or more (Ideally 1000 – 1300 words). Now we all know that syndicated articles more often than not equate to more traffic. More than that, it gives us a chance to build a connection to the person who syndicated our article.

These points are what make these two word counts the best in their own right. It’s not to say that one is better than the other, it just shows that depending on what your goal is on your article writing campaign, choosing a 500 word article vs. a 1000 word one can have its advantages.