The blogs you write for your law firm do not have to be a certain length, according to some law firm SEO consultants.
If anyone tells you that your blogs need to be a number of characters or words, they are misinformed. Contrary to popular belief, blogs don’t need to be a certain word count to rank high in search engines. So you can ignore the 500, 750, or 1,000 word guideline you heard in the past. Google has said this directly: word count is not a ranking factor. What matters is whether you actually answered the question, not how long it took you.
A question we hear all of the time is, How long should my law firm’s blogs be? With this question attorneys are typically looking for a specific number of words they can use as a guideline for their legal content writers. But this metric is flawed. I mean, think about it. Why would a blog length determine how well you can answer the question in the best way possible?
Answer: It doesn’t. Instead it usually just causes writers to add fluff to their blog posts. And who does that help? Thin content is the real problem. We’re talking about restated definitions, filler transitions, and generic advice that could go on any blog. A word count goal almost guarantees you’ll end up writing it. Chances are it just annoys you and people are mostly skimming the content anyways.
So next time the correct question you should ask yourself is: does this blog answer the question quickly and comprehensively? Here’s a useful gut check: could your reader finish the post and not feel like they need to search Google again? If not, it needs work. Doesn’t matter how many words you used. If so, it’s worth getting it indexed and see what happens before you put in a lot more effort.
Short posts don’t hurt your SEO. In our experience, a 300-word post that actually answers the question outperforms a 1,200-word post stuffed with filler. If your answer is complete, publish it.
Need help starting a law firm blog? Check out our guide or contact us today for a free marketing analysis.
