What is the optimum number of words for a hub- 400, 500 or 1000 words?

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   editorsupremoposted 11 years ago

   What is the optimum number of words for a hub- 400, 500 or 1000 words?
   
   I try to not to write over 500 words as it has been said that people tend to scan articles/hubs or lose interest after 500 words.
   
   I also find that breaking up my hubs with bold sub-headings and placing photos or monetized capsules in between helps the reader and makes the read more interesting.
   
   What do you think?
   
   

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   Doc Wordingerposted 11 years ago

   From an SEO perspective, I've heard that 300-500 words was optimal once upon a time. Whether this still applies, I don't know. And whether 300-500 words is optimal for the benefit/attention span of the reader is debatable.
   
   I don't really have a set number of words. I just write until I've said everything I wanted to say. I think page layout is much more important than word count.
   
   In terms of SEO, my only real focus is on the keyword structure. Everything else is done completely for the reader. Sometimes 500 words might suffice for everything that you want to convey, but I always find that I need 1000+ words for the topics I've chosen. This might be because I don't write succinctly enough, or have a tendency to waffle or get sidetracked, but sometimes I read 300-500 word articles online and feel that the writer has missed out a whole lot of useful information, just because they have this 500-word template that they always stick too.
   
   I'm not sure what is optimal for search engine ranking but I feel that more is better than less for the reader, providing there are plenty of subheadings, paragraphs and other page-beaks to make the content digestible and easy to navigate.
   
   I guess it really depends on how much info the reader requires. Some are just searching for basic points, others want more depth. Unless the reader has the ability to use an article length parameter within the search query, there isn't really any way of knowing.

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      editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I appreciate your comment Doc. Obviously more is better for you. If I have lot of information on a particular topic I will split it into 2 or 3 articles, for example, on the topic diabetes I write several invidiual hubs.

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   kennynextposted 11 years ago

   Personally, I try to keep mine between 500 and 600 hundred words. When I am reading, I become disinterested in long articles unless they are wrote in a way that keeps my curiosity peaked.

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      editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Kenny you hit the nail on the head, if you are going to write long articles over 500 words you have to write in a fashion that will keep the reader interested to read your article to the end.

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   leroy64posted 11 years ago

   I find the 500 word limit to be a good rule of thumb for me. Going off subject and irrelevant topics is a problem for me when I write a long article.  I find that when I have written a thousand word article, I can usually edit out enough irrelevant sentences to get the article down to 500 words. I am not that SEO savvy, but some of the other answers are addressing that issue nicely. As for breaking up the hub with headers, that seems to work for hubs that are relating facts.  The short story hubs and opinion hubs seem to work as single entities, at least in keeping my attention..

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      editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Totally agree you can easily whittle down long articles with superfluous content. However, I would say it is possible to break up short story and opinion hubs with sub-headings that tie in with the storyline but perhaps the length would surpass 500.

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      leroy64posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Perhaps I will try out headers on a short story to see how it works.  I am always open to different approaches.

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   DeanCashposted 11 years ago

   I like my hubs to be less than 500. I think if you can accurately say what you like your reader to know is important it need not be too long. Yes I would agree on interesting photos that would grab some attention but not big photos that rather turns them off.

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      editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Great comment about photos. I keep my pics to half and in most instances quarter size. Big photos which are in your face are off putting.

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   collegedadposted 11 years ago

   I've been watching my hubs and it seems that the hubs that are between 600-750 words are ranking better in the search engines. I do think that if you have a hub with a lot of content you may want to break it up into multiple hubs.

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      editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That's interesting. I agree that long hubs should be split into multiple hubs.

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   cam8510posted 11 years ago

   Great question.....for me.  My top three hubs based on pageviews and comments have 734, 1740 and 1011 words.  The most words in one of my hubs is over 3700 with two at 3000 and some in the 1000s and 2000s.  So.....well then.....hmmm.....I wonder....tsk tsk......why do I have, you know, so many, well, you know,  words and phrases and sentences and paragraphs and capsules and stuff like that$.  I find it humorous when I use the wrong punctuation too.  Do you?  What was I talking about?  Oh yes, word count.  Good question.  I'll give that one some thought.

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      editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah Cam what are you talking about? Only kidding, however many words works for you is what works for you!!

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I am going to start breaking things up into smaller hubs.  I had been wanting to do that anyway.  Although I just finished one today that ended up being about 1000. Thats  better than the 3000 or so of some of my others. I know I wouldn't read that m

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   unknown spyposted 11 years ago

   I usually write 500+ words..  well, for some, barely got to 300

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   ShootersCenterposted 11 years ago

   I've found that Google likes it better over 500, and hubs that are around 700 words rank best for me.

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      editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for your comment Shooter. I shall bear in mind that Google likes articles over 500 words.

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      cam8510posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Here is a question...I have written insanely long hubs.  Should I go back and break them up now or just let them be?  I could try it with one I suppose, just to see what happens.

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    JohnGreasyGamerposted 11 years ago

    For a video game review, well over 1000 words - I need to be informative, go into every nook and cranny so I can squeeze out more constructive arguments. Film reviews, just over 1000 words, maybe under. In order to be a critic, you have to show reason NOT to or Why you should invest time and money into the product. ^^

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       editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Hey John, I suppose for game and film reviews you may have to use a few more than 500 words to give a full review in order to get into what you say, 'every nook and cranny'.

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    Cam Anjuposted 11 years ago

    I have taken to making sure that my bs are least 500 words, I like to make them longer, more like 700-900 but I almost never do 1000 or more because it seems to get very long. As far as search engine likes go, I hear and have found 500 words is really a good start length.

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    dealsinkenyaposted 11 years ago

    I find five hundred words enough to express all my thoughts and also when I want to adhere to keywords easily. Thanks for the question.

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       Judy Macposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I am a newbie at Hubpages and haven't created any pages yet, so you answered some of my questions - how much space I'll be given.  Looks like the space is large enough and the decision is how many words is optimal content.  Thanks!

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       editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, 500 words is generally enough for me also. Thanks for your answer.

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    feenixposted 11 years ago

    Personally, I hardly ever publish hubs that consist of more than 500 words. I like to get in there and out of there as quickly as I can.
    
    Plus, I always take into consideration that most people have better things to do than spending 10 or more minutes reading one of my hubs.

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    CVLibraryposted 11 years ago

    i am normnaly using 500 to 600 words and content should be fresh and interesting.

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    mjkearnposted 11 years ago

    Hi editorsupremo,
    I think you have a valid point that people tend to loose interest after 500 words and breaking up longer hubs is a good idea. I find it difficult to say what I want in 500 words and have a fear of cheating the reader. I suppose some topics suit 500 words and others that don't should be broken into 500 word chunks,
    just my thoughts,
    MJ.

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    Coding staffposted 11 years ago

    It all depends on the topic. In some niches 150-200 words can develop a theme. But in some others even 1000 words is a few.
    For example you write hub about new trailer. 200 words is even much.
    But a hub like press Release, that describe many aspects of business should be more than 600

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       editorsupremoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       I appreciate your answer Coding staff and agree that some hubs need more than 500 words whilst others required far less.
       
       If your hubs are in the region of 750 to 1000 it is essential to break them down into sections to make it more readable.

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