Long-form content is readable, sharable, and Google loves it

It’s good SEO content practice to start your blog post with a statistic, so here’s one which should get every SEO content writer excited: Google announced not so long ago – through the Daily Information Needs survey – that 10 percent of searches are for long-form content, and that number is growing.

This is significant from both a Google, SEO, and end-user perspective, so here we examine why Google is making the shift, and what makes long-form content a hot button topic in SEO at the moment.

Googling the unGoogleable

Google is on a mission, and that mission is to make every piece of information – however deep or obscure it is – retrievable. This has resulted in Google’s inclusion of the “In-depth” information category into its search results which prioritises long-form articles and obscure data.

Although innumerable factors have come together to form the new surfacing of long-form search results, two in-particular stand out as main contributors.

The first is that more and more searches are being made from mobile platforms (30 percent of Google’s search revenue is from mobile now!), and the second is that there is a growing end-user desire for detailed location-based, time-sensitive information which traditional search results can only offer in a limited way.

Therefore, Google has begun to integrate in-depth content to its search results, with options in its Webmaster Tools for its webmasters to optimise the content they upload for the In-depth section. If you’d like more information on that, follow the link for Google’s Webmaster page which discusses In-depth article integration.

Moving towards long-Form SEO content

So, as always, as Google changes the way it produces search results to reflect end-user desires, SEO must change and adapt to Google’s way of thinking. This flows down into all aspects of the SEO process, including content – the foundation of any strong SEO campaign.
As everybody knows, content is the foundation upon which everything is placed, so if the content is inaccurate, or poorly targeted, the campaign might not be successful. Therefore, as Google looks to promote In-depth search results, content writers must now look to writing long-form content.

Why you should be excited

If you’re a content writer, this news should be music to your ears. Long gone are the days of generic, ‘pre-fab’ blog posts, but even so, everybody knows how great it feels to be able to flex your creative brain and write something which is truly informative and helpful.

The best thing about this is that everybody wins. Google will promote the content you write because it shows depth, research, and understanding; you will love your work because you’re able to really sink your teeth into a piece of writing, resulting in better quality of work; the end-user will benefit from more specific, detailed information.
Ultimately, the end result is content which is more readable, more desirable, more sharable and Google loves it.