{"id":15225,"date":"2014-05-22T03:28:43","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T07:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/?p=15225"},"modified":"2021-10-19T06:51:26","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T10:51:26","slug":"is-too-much-content-making-people-bounce-from-your-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/is-too-much-content-making-people-bounce-from-your-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Too Much Content Making People Bounce From Your Website?"},"content":{"rendered":"

People want more, more and more, so why do they want to work less, less and less to get it? Many blogs and website owners are expressing concern over bounce rates. Even time on the site analytics are disturbingly short for content that should take longer to read or view. Unfortunately, the argument rages about content length, as it has, according to the following information, for years. Why is it so hard to pin down the problem? Because the web has changed and old content ideas are outdated.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yes, it seems like no matter what you do, people still want it faster. If the customer is always right, then how do you provide them something that might be impossible? Sometimes it’s a matter of shaving off seconds from seeing and acting upon your content. Does content length really drive SEO? Are there other reasons people seem to bounce off a site so quickly. Is it true that people only read a small percentage of content? The answers aren’t surprising. What’s surprising is that the questions still exist.<\/p>\n

Is Less, More?<\/h2>\n

There are people who believe that the bigger your content, either more images, videos or, most commonly, longer written content, the better for your SEO and keeping bounce rates down. There are also those who believe that it’s not about keeping people bouncing around your website but getting them in and then letting them find what they need and get out.<\/p>\n

John Rampton, in his April 4th, 2014 article on Forbes.com, “How Long Should My Blog Post Be?”<\/a> (a right to the point title!), argues both sides:<\/p>\n

\nYou\u2019ve probably heard plenty of supporters who champion shorter posts, meaning posts that are around 200 words. This is perfectly acceptable if your blog has been created to sell a product of service. This is effective because you\u2019re getting directly to the point with your call to action (CTA). If you want visitors to subscribe to a newsletter or email subscription, for example, keep it short and sweet. People have the tendency to have short attention spans and you don\u2019t want them to forget the real reason why brought them to your blog.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean that you can simply write a short blog post and call it a day. In fact, it may be more challenging to actually posts that are 200 words. But, if you can make all of your points and grab the attention of people, then go for it. But, how can you grab the attention of online surfers? After all,\u00a0there have studies that have shown that most people only read between 20% to 28% of a post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The idea is to catch the attention of people by getting directly to the point. You can do this by utilizing visual aids like infographics or scannable lists. This type of content is easy for readers to scan and digest.<\/p>\n

John Rampton, Forbes.com<\/cite><\/small>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rampton also accurately argues the reasons longer content post are better:<\/p>\n

\n\"User<\/a>On the other side, there are a lot of people who are all about posts that are meatier. We\u2019re talking about 1,000 words or more. If that sounds insane, it\u2019s not. It\u2019s actually pretty common.<\/p>\n

Why would someone sit down and write so many words? Because it\u2019s\u00a0good for SEO. Actually. It\u2019s excellent for SEO. And, isn\u2019t that kind of a good thing for any content marketing campaign? Don\u2019t worry, there\u2019s research to back that claim up.<\/p>\n

According to some incredibly detailed research from\u00a0serpIQ<\/a>, the top 10 results from Google all have a minimum of at least 2,000. The reason? Because Googlebot, Google\u2019s web crawler, looks at every piece of content on a page, such as words, titles and whatever other information you\u2019ve shared. So, when you have post that has like 1,500 words you have more flexibility with keywords, meaning that you\u2019re not limited to one or two specific keywords. Instead, you can include a lot more of keywords that may not be specific, but are still relevant to your theme. This works because Google just doesn\u2019t provide exact results, but results that are related to the subject.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the SEO and length connection, it has also been discovered that longer posts increase your chances of gaining quality backlinks. Again. That\u2019s kind of a big deal.<\/p>\n

John Rampton, Forbes.com<\/cite><\/small>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Jonathan Morrow’s article of September, 2009, “Do Long Posts Scare Away Readers?”<\/a> which is a good barometer of the changes in content surfing five years ago (an eon in web time), shows not a change in post length but the same question arises:<\/p>\n

\nSome writers\u00a0don\u2019t seem to know when to shut up. They ramble and pontificate and theorize, seemingly oblivious to the agony it\u2019s causing everyone else.<\/p>\n

To avoid this awful fate, you probably try to keep your posts short, chopping up longer ideas into a series of posts. No need to scare away readers by dumping too much information on them all at once, right?<\/p>\n

Makes sense, but what\u2019s weird is it doesn\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n

Many popular posts here at Copyblogger are over 1,000 words. But other times, short posts pack the most punch. It\u2019s almost as if the length of a post has no impact whatsoever on how successful a post becomes.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Morrow, Copyblogger.com<\/cite><\/small>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Morrow also lays out important posting basics that are still true today:<\/p>\n

\nHere\u2019s what matters:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Writing something that\u2019s interesting<\/li>\n
  2. Taking out everything that\u2019s\u00a0not\u00a0interesting<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That\u2019s it. Sometimes, it takes\u00a03,700 words to make an idea stand out. Other times, all you need\u00a0is a few sentences. What\u2019s important is that you do your idea justice in as few words as possible.<\/p>\n

    Professionals call it writing \u201ctight.\u201d Long or short, the piece couldn\u2019t possibly be any shorter and create the same effect.<\/p>\n

    Blogger and recent Copyblogger contributor Michelle Russell calls it \u201cwriting with a knife\u201d \u2014 perhaps the best metaphor I\u2019ve heard to describe the process.<\/p>\n

    Jonathan Morrow, Copyblogger.com<\/cite><\/small>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Great, in theory. Yes, content must be interesting. Whether it’s written or an image or video. In the end, as all can agree, it’s the quality of the information and how it is presented. In terms of content being responsible for bounce rate, is it that once an article or post has been seen, the viewer goes elsewhere? Are viewers more likely to view two shorter posts, rather than one longer post? No one seems to agree.<\/p>\n

    With sites such as Buzzfeed, their time on the site per viewer is one of the highest and with long content such as the “20 this” or “50 that.” It may be because it’s in a humor category \u00a0or images. It may also be because it’s purely entertainment and not informative content.<\/p>\n

    \"Sharing<\/a><\/p>\n

    Sideway Surfing<\/h2>\n

    Roger Algeri, in his LinkedIn News post, “The Disappearing Homepage,” brings up another factor about bounce rates on your blog:<\/p>\n

    \nTraditionally, a website\u2019s homepage has been treated like a book\u2019s cover. When designing a website, marketers imagine that most of a website\u2019s visitors will pass through the homepage en route to their destination. This is bedrock conventional wisdom in the web design world.<\/p>\n

    New research indicates that it is (increasingly) incorrect.<\/p>\n

    A major shift is occurring in user behavior \u2014 and people are now bypassing the website\u2019s front door at a striking rate. The new data are compelling \u2014 and have major implications for the design of all websites.<\/p>\n

    Studies of content-heavy news sites are showing that homepage traffic is\u00a0dramatically declining. For example, in 2012, fewer than half (48.8%) of the visits to NYTimes.com started on the homepage. The Wall St. Journal reported, less than 40%. Meanwhile, Yahoo.com saw a 24% drop in homepage traffic.<\/p>\n

    Roger Algeri, LinkedIn.com<\/cite><\/small>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Algeri’s firm took a look at statistics of different websites for whom his firm does marketing:<\/p>\n