Hub Length

1. 68

   diplessposted 13 years ago

   Hi,
   
   I haven't written for almost six months due to family problems, however now that I am back I am thinking seriously about the length of a hub. Obviously it is often topic dependent. However I am interested in peoples thoughts on the ideal length of a hub and how specific each hub should be.
   
   For example if you are writing hubs about writing financial plans then would you write one long one. or many covering each section of the financial plan? Which would be the most effective?

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   1. 58

      climberjamesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hi, I have a few that are doing really well with over 1,200 words but saying that I have ones with 700 words that also are bringing in traffic.
      
      I think the reason for this is that when I take a look at the Hub stat's the title of the hub virtually matches the popular google search engine queries.
      
      I guess for me it is more important to pick a good title, good keywords and backlinking - and to write 700 words as a minimum.
      
      Hope this helps

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2. 67

   Pearldiverposted 13 years ago

   Welcome home
   
   You should know better than to ask a preterred size question in a forum
   
   Go reading mate... judge that way and how captivated you are on any read hubs.

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3. 89

   WryLiltposted 13 years ago

   Think of a hub as a stand alone magazine or news article. Unless they are really interested people won't read the entire hub and will often not go on to read a series. Mine are (generally) 500-1500 word standalone hubs.
   
   I've had a few 300-400 word pieces take off but those are specifically niche targeted.

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4. 0

   Rainbow Briteposted 13 years ago

   I agree with the fact that most people will not read a series of hubs, however, I suspect that in a niche as specific as financial planning, someone would click thru until they find what they are looking for.  In my experience here at hubpages, the longer the hub, the more traffic it gets, and the higher the score is.  I guess it is topic specific in a way (for example, my pieces on human interest topics (health care, entertainment, etc. tend to be longer than say how-to pieces).  It is a lot of this-but-that kind of reasoning, and I guess in the long run, the best rule of thumb is the skirt rule...any article, no matter the circumstance should be as long as a skirt...short enough to be interesting, but long enough to cover the subject.  Hope that's helpful?

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   1. 68

      lisabeamanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Great analogy! I'll remember that one!

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5. 68

   diplessposted 13 years ago

   Thanks all for your good advice

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6. 92

   akirchnerposted 13 years ago

   I've read many different theories on it - and recently took a class that said the average 'stay' on a page is 35 seconds or so.  That kinda proves that we all have very short attention spans I guess!
   
   I also have a friend who writes for the Huffington Post and he claims that anything over 700-800 words is a waste because no one will stay on long enough to read it.
   
   That said though - some things you just can't get OUT in that short a space.  For instance, if I'm writing a funny story - how do I cut that off in short form unless it is a really, really short one-liner type deal?
   
   Or if you are explaining something complicated - no way!
   
   I think IF you can see that your idea/hub can be split up into parts - then do that - if not, I don't see anything wrong with 1200-1500 word hubs and I read them regularly - however, I read Diana Gabaldon books which are probably in the 800-1200 page range easily - and I still stay interested.  It is becoming a world though where no one wants to spend time doing anything - including reading!

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7. 60

   brettbposted 13 years ago

   Web page length is of no importance whatsoever.
   
   My best performing page is 150 words long, yet it makes a steady $10 a month.
   
   Google is getting better at determining if a page answer's a user's question, and for this short is sweet!

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8. 68

   Evan Hutchinsonposted 13 years ago

   No more than 700-800 words, I say. I hate trying to read 4,000 page novels.

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9. 71

   CarpetDiemposted 13 years ago

   It depends on it the hub is for search engines or humans...
   I think search engines like LONG hubs (lots of content) but humans want them short and sweet...
   I think the answer is to write long hubs but have clearly defined sections so people can quickly find the answers they are looking for, but can also continue to read if they have the time and interest...
   Make sense?

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10. 79

    Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

    I write my hubs for the reader that DOES stay.  Maybe only one person will ever stay to the end, but if they do, I respect them enough to do my best to provide good information worth their time or a laugh.  Sometimes both.
    
    I think Google-bots like longer content too.  That said, I had a couple of early hubs that were short, and I tweaked them up to about 700 words and the scores and traffic leapt 10-15 points.

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