The short answer
A blog post should be as long as it takes to answer the question fully, and no longer. Google does not reward word count; it rewards pages that satisfy the search. Some questions need three hundred words, some need two thousand.
Length follows the question
The useful way to think about length is to start with the reader's question and ask what a complete answer needs. "What does a noindex tag do" can be answered well in a few hundred words. "How to move a website to a new domain without losing traffic" needs steps, checks and examples, and will run much longer.
Google has said repeatedly that word count is not a ranking factor. A long post that pads its answer with background the reader did not ask for is not more useful than a short one that gets to the point. Often it is less useful, because the answer is harder to find.
Signs a post is too short
A post is too short when the reader still has to search again after reading it. Look for these gaps:
- the question is answered, but not the obvious next question
- a process is mentioned without the steps
- a term is used without being explained for the audience you are writing for
- there is no example, so the reader cannot picture the advice in their own situation
Signs a post is too long
A post is too long when the answer is buried. Common causes are an introduction that restates the title, a history of the topic, a list of generic tips that apply to any business, and a closing section that repeats the whole article. If you can cut a paragraph and the post loses nothing, cut it.
A practical way to decide
Before writing, search the question yourself and read the pages that already appear. Note what they cover and what they miss. Your post should cover what a reader needs, add what the others missed and leave out what nobody needs. The length that results is the right length.
It also helps to decide early whether the topic is a quick answer or a full guide. A quick answer settles one question and points to the next step. A guide walks through a whole task. Mixing the two produces posts that are too long for the quick question and too thin for the task.
What matters more than length
Three things affect how well a post performs far more than its word count: whether it answers the question someone actually typed, whether it is written by someone who knows the subject, and whether it leads the reader somewhere useful afterwards. A short post that links clearly to the right service page often does more for a business than a long one that ends nowhere.
Our blog writing work plans each post around one question and one next step, and our guide to how a publishing cadence stays organized covers how that works across a whole calendar.