Long-Form Content Vs Short-Form Content: Ultimate Showdown

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. For the thousands in attendance, and the millions watching around the world…

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s get ready to rumbllllllleeee

That’s right. Someone has finally put long-form content and short-form content up against each other without a blinkered view.

If you’ve come for a short answer, skip straight to the end.

Spoiler alert: you’ll miss the whys and hows (which are super important).

What is long-form content?

Long-form content is any form of content (blog post, video, podcast) that is long.

“Long” is often in the eye of the beholder. But, as a general rule of thumb, let’s quantify how long we’re talking.

• Long-form blog posts: 1,500+ words
• Long-form videos: 10+ minutes
• Long-form podcasts: 30+ minutes

If you’re thinking, “Gosh, that’s awfully long,” then let’s break the content types down a little further.

Long-form blog posts

How long does it take to read a blog post? Depends, right?

We generally quantify long-form blog posts as over 1,500 words. This is the sweet spot between a long news article and a comprehensive eBook or whitepaper.

Of course, there are no hard and fast rules about how long any of these should be.

But it all kind of falls into place.

When you need to dig into a topic to make your blog post comprehensive, it’s rare you can do that in less than 1,000 words.

And when you add in bonus content like quotes from experts and tables and all that good stuff, you arrive at least 1,5000 words.

And that’s, more often than not, what your reader needs (if you’ve got the format right).

How long do 1,500 words take to read?

The average reader reads 1,500 words in five minutes if their reading speed is 300 words per minute (easier than it sounds).

But, when was the last time you read every word on a blog post? Typically, we skim blog posts for the best bits.

What’s that? The sound of every writer’s eyebrows shifting, that’s what. On average, we read 28% of the words on a blog post.

It’s a harsh reality. But it also emphasizes the importance of getting long-form content right.

More of that later.

Long-form video

Like long-form blog posts, video can be rather long by today’s standards.

Even though we know the average attention span is 8.25 seconds, there is a correlation between revenue generated on YouTube and video length.

Videos over eight minutes tend to get monetized better. This is mostly down to YouTube rewarding creators for keeping people on the site.

Long-form podcasts

You might be thinking that all podcasts are long-form? You wouldn’t be alone.

My personal favorite is over two hours long.

But, there’s also a sub-genre of bitesize podcasts that are both ideal for listening to in between deep work and binging episodes back to back.

More on that in the short-form section.

Long-form podcasts typically take the shape of a host and guest (or co-hosts). After all, speaking for an hour is hard work. You need thinking time, hydration, and to check you’ve covered everything.

That said, there are plenty of solo long-form podcasts. These are often recorded over separate sessions and stitched together during editing.

So, why bother with long-form content in the first place?

Let’s look at the benefits.

What are the benefits of long-form writing?

Where do we start?

Human benefits of long-form writing

If a searcher (on Google) or potential customer needs to find out something, they want everything in one place. They want the most comprehensive version of what’s available online.

And they want to find what they’re looking for quickly.

How does this lend itself to long-form writing? Comprehension.

Creating a one-stop-shop for everything the researcher needs to find out does several things:

1. Builds awareness of your brand.
2. Creates trust and authority within your brand.
3. Takes the reader through a learning path.
4. Helps solve their problems.
5. Provides a solution or product to make that particular component of their life more satisfying.

This is especially true in B2B marketing.

While in B2C marketing, long-form content still has many benefits (think of car reviews or travel blogging), it’s undoubtedly B2B marketing that benefits most.

You wouldn’t book a holiday to a lesser-known country without serious research. And who better than someone who’s documented their every move over the last year there?

But you also wouldn’t purchase a $100,000 a year cybersecurity package without spending significant time in the research phase.

So spending weeks crafting a long-form blog post with every detail covered, embedded videos, comparison tables, and anything else the reader might need for their research pays off for the lifetime of the blog post.

And we haven’t even started on the SEO benefits of long-form writing.

SEO benefits of long-form writing

Search engine optimization (SEO) means making your content as optimized as possible for search engines.

Each search engine has specific elements in its complex algorithm that allow for ranking of content in correlation with a search phrase.

For example, when you type “long-form content” into Google, you get links, in order, to what Google deems as best matching your search intent.

So, how does long-form writing help out here?

SEO-specific benefits of long-form writing include:

• Time on-page.
• Interactions on-page.
• Organic link building.

Assuming your content is of high-quality and matches what the searcher was looking for, the higher the word count, the longer someone spends on the page, and the higher a chance of an interaction (scrolls, clicks, nice things that search engines like).

In 2019, it was noted by SEO consultants that Google had confirmed it would prioritize long-form content.

“For many organizations, well-formatted long-form content began to see a 5–10% placement prioritization for SEO versus comparable short-form content on the same blogs.”

Casey Hill, Head of Growth at Bonjorno.

In 2020, Backlino audited 11.8 million Google search results and found the average word count per post on page one was 1,890.

It all starts to make sense…

But, if you’re still not 100% sure, let’s take a look at some examples of long-form content.

Examples of long-form content

Have you ever seen the suggested reading time on a blog post?

You know, when you’re scrolling through social media and see this

While it may take 11 minutes to read the whole blog post, the reality is most people will scan for headings and images that catch their eye.

This is where getting the right components of your long-form blog posts pays dividends. And where the best long-form posts accumulate quality time-on-page.

Let’s walk through what’s included in this post.

Looking at other examples of long-form content, we see blog posts crossing the 4,000-word mark (example: The History and Future of Message Interoperability).

The efforts have been duly rewarded. If you type “message interoperability” into Google, you get this:

So, is it as simple as writing a long post?

In some cases, long-form content could become too long to digest in one blog post. There’s a fine line between comprehensive and overload.

When this is the case, consider splitting your blog post into a series.

For example, I wrote around 10,000 words on SIP trunking.

You can see below that we added a front page and contents table that redirects to each “chapter” in your blog series.

You can also download the entire blog series as a PDF.

This makes the blog series more accessible (or even printable).

What is short-form content?

Short-form content is smaller, easily digestible snippets of content. Think TikTok videos or Twitter posts.

Content you can watch, read, or listen to within a few seconds and understand what the message is.

A YouTube “Short” is on average less than one minute. That means you have a small amount of time to make clear (not cram in) the message you need to get across.

A Twitter post is limited to 280 characters (plus an image or video). Again, you have limited space to make an impression.

What are the benefits of short-form content?

While some people/businesses use short-form content platforms as a means to drive people to long-form content, websites, or other assets, short-form content has plenty of benefits of its own too.

Benefits of short-form content include:

• Easy to consume on mobile devices.
• Doesn’t need long attention spans.
• Appeals to short attention spans.
• Quicker to create (mostly).
• Apps exist dedicated to short-form content.

Examples of short-form content

Examples of short-form content include:

• TikTok.
• Twitter posts.
• Case studies (unique and can be both).
• LinkedIn posts.
• Press releases.
• Facebook posts.
• YouTube Shorts.
• Instagram Reels.
• Instagram Stories.
• Bitesize podcasts.

Podcasts, you say? Even at 10–15 minutes, a “bitesize podcast” is shorter form than the average podcast episode (38 mins).

James McKinven runs the Indie Bites podcast. Each episode is around the 15-minute mark.

This is a great example of both a bitesize podcast and content repurposing. The original audio is around 50 minutes and James creates a 15-minute version for optimal listening time.

You get bonus points if you notice I made the short-form section shorter than the long-form.

Main differences between long-form and short-form content

Other than one being long and one being short (duh!), there are many differences between long and short-form content.

The table below runs through some of the less obvious characteristics you must consider before opting for one over the other.

Of course, there are exceptions. Some short-form content may take hours to set up. For example, setting up a camera rig and getting the lighting right.

The same is true for long-form. Not every blog post you write will be evergreen and authoritative. But there is a clear opportunity to do so over short-form.

Is long-form content better than short-form?

The answer here is (unhelpfully) “it depends”.

There is a direct correlation between long(er)-form content and ranking high on search engines.

So, if your goal is to rank high for target keyphrases (things your audience is searching for), long-form content is “better” for you.

“Time with brand” is also a major factor when it comes to deciding to create long-form or short-form content.

James McKinven, podcast expert and founder of PodPanda, talks about “time with brand.”

If you compare the average read time of a blog post or even several blog posts on your site, it is likely less than that of a podcast episode.

This literally means your potential customer is spending more time with your brand.

When you understand the value in this, you start to include other mediums in your content marketing strategy. And genuine long-form content becomes a no-brainer.

So, what about short-form content?

In advertising or influencer marketing, platforms and audiences are different from your long-form content targets.

This is where short-form comes into its own.

Recognizing the impact of short-form content, YouTube now has a secondary strategy. YouTube Shorts was launched in July 2021 after TikTok was banned in some eastern countries.

Historically, “YouTubers” have tried to long out their videos. Longer videos = longer watch time.

People stay on-site longer. YouTube rewards creators for this as it means there is more potential for exposure to ads.

But Shorts (and all short-form content) grip an audience and encourages people to stay on-site too.

And it’s this reason B2B marketing teams invest in short-form too. People like it!

Why do people prefer shorter content?

In B2B, or even when conducting research in B2C or DTC marketing, long-form content has its place. And it makes companies a lot of money.

But an overwhelming number of people prefer short(er) content.

“People prefer “snackable” content not because of their attention span, but because they can quickly intake, reflect, and implement on bite-size pieces of content.”

DYLAN MILLER, FOUNDER OF DSM STORY FORGE.

“Readers want to get right to the information they need and then move on. They don’t want a background story or even the higher-level strategic “why” behind the answer. A great example of this is how food bloggers post a 1,500 word narrative around the story behind a recipe and all visitors want to do is scroll straight down to the instructions.”

GARY MAGNONE, FREELANCE CONTENT MARKETER.

“If I’m looking for information (as opposed to properly researching to get a complete understanding of something) and a sense check or initial steer in the right direction, short content is what I need. A quick read of 2/3 articles to get a general idea on something is more useful to me than one longer post.”

ANDIE COUPLAND, FREELANCE MARKETING CONSULTANT & COPYWRITER.

Does that mean short content is right for your business?

No.

What’s right for your business is what’s right for your business.

If you sell phone cases, short-form content is likely the winner.

What do people want to know about a phone case?

• Color options.
• Does it fit my phone?
• Will it break if I drop it?
• Is there a warranty if it cracks within a year?
• Does it fit within my budget or provide me a reason to go over budget?

What they don’t want is to read a 2,000-word blog post that sets the scene of buying a phone case. They don’t need relatable anecdotes. They don’t need your independent research that justifies why they should buy a phone case.

But if you sell enterprise software with an average customer value of $100,000 per year, readers (aka potential customers) need many things.

• Does this company know what I’m talking about?
• Do they demonstrate authority on the topic?
• Have they satisfied my search intent?
• Have they relatable scenarios?
• Can I trust their research?

By the time an enterprise procurement manager, CIO, or anyone with buying power has finished viewing your content, do they want to read more content because you did a good job?

Have you built trust? Have you raised awareness of your brand? Are they considering you someone who can help them solve a problem? Could they one day spend a lot of money with you?

This can’t be achieved with a 9-second TikTok.

But you can achieve it with long-form content.

Case in point: you’re still reading at this point because you’re getting the information you clicked for.

So, who wins the long-form vs short-form content showdown?

It’s a tie. (Uhhh.)

But it’s not really a tie. There are clear benefits and use cases for both long-form and short-form content.

Making the decision should be clear at this stage.

If your target audience is kids, go for TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

For the sake of absolute clarity, there are lots of other target audiences that short-form content works for. This is just an example.

If your target audience is contact center managers or digital transformation consultants, long-form blog posts that educate and inform are exactly what they need.

For the sake of absolute clarity, there are lots of other target audiences that long-form content works for. This is just an example.

If you want to get started with long-form content, visit our long-form blog post page.

But here’s the thing. Nobody wins if you don’t promote your content.

Sure, we’ve mentioned the benefits of long-form content for SEO and the potential for short clips to go viral. But if you simply publish your content and sit and wait for people to view it, it’s highly unlikely anybody will see it in the first place.

You’ve got to put something in to get something out.

Let’s talk about that.

How to start promoting your content

It wasn’t until I documented exactly where I would share my content that I could class myself as “good” at content promotion.

Over the last 5 years, I’ve collated places that do and don’t work for different types of content.

And now I share those places with you.

Using my content promotion tracker, you get 50 different instructions on how to distribute your content.

Instead of wondering where to share your content next (or at all), use this tracker as a prompt to share content in new places — and track your performance as you learn about the distribution areas for your own content.

The premise is simple (it’s a Google Sheet or Notion board — and I made an Excel version for those who don’t operate outside the Microsoft stack but I do urge you to choose the Google or Notion version).

But nobody does this because it takes forever to:

1) Trial where does and doesn’t work.

2) Document your process when busy promoting content.

3) Get free time to dedicate to content promotion because you’re busy creating.

Each content distribution technique includes an instruction, a description of how to share, an example of that technique in the real world, and some columns you can customize for tracking purposes.

Benefits of content promotion

If, like me and thousands of others, your primary channel is organic traffic, how would you like to add 67% more traffic?

Especially true in the case of low-volume keywords you’re targeting, sharing content (without paying for adverts) is incredibly powerful and delivers near-immediate results.

Check out this post that ranks top of page 1 on Google. Without content promotion efforts, it would only have 33% of the views it does today.

The obvious benefit of content promotion is that your content gets seen.

Ross Simonds, CEO at Foundation, is a big believer in this:

If your SEO isn’t great or is still a work-in-progress, content promotion is a must. If you can’t hit page 1 of Google, who else is going to see your content?

Answer: nobody.

Download the content promotion checklist here.