Oops! Google did it again. Yet another new ‘strategy’ to make life better. You might have noticed that when you Google stuff nowadays, you tend to find detailed results with a thumbnail and an introduction to your searched keyword. Now, that is what Google’s in-depth articles are.
In-depth are supposed to be well researched and detailed articles that are at least 2000-5000 words long. You cannot judge a good quality content on the basis of the word count as it would just make it more quantitative. It is the reader’s job to decide whether the content is good enough or not and is not something Google should be deciding.
All these new concepts just make no sense sometimes and cause more inconvenience than help. There are plenty of other reasons as well as to why in-depth articles shouldn’t be taken seriously. Here are some of them.
In-depth article favors only the big fishes
Big publishers have an edge over the others. Google often favors them when it comes to ranking. So trying to get your small blog or website to compete with the big websites isn’t really a smart or logical idea. They will always be ranked well and the competition will be pretty tough. So you have to get realistic when you make a choice. Even if you do get featured along with them, users will go for New York Times or Business Week rather than a small blog or page.
Why attract so much traffic if you aren’t doing good business 😛
In-depth articles are keyword based. People often tend to use long tail keywords like, “movers and packers in Indranagar area” or “electric appliance stores in Koramangala” etc. So the search results tend to get specific in nature. And If you have wasted your time writing about what movers and packers really do or how electric appliances make life easier, then you are in for a loss, with nobody interested in what your article really wants to say. So why write a really long article for people who are just going to read through your content and not buy anything? There is no point trying to attract so much traffic if you aren’t doing good business. Think about it.
Google can’t change loyalties
When people run a Google search, they always go for websites they are most comfortable with. Readers and customers have a comfort zone they don’t really come out of. They often turn to sites they have used before such as Wikipedia to trust the facts and information. So you wouldn’t be clicked anyway even if your page appears in the search results. People tend to have their loyalties and in-depth search results are in a way pointless. Even if people are looking to purchase something, they would most definitely go for sites they have previously shopped from or their friends have shopped from. It is all about the reviews and comfort they share with that particular site. For example, no other site online can beat IMBD when it comes to reviewing a movie. 90% of the people would check IMBD to see how many stars and user review the movie got.
Not all lengthy content are good
It is important to have great content in order to be featured in the in-depth search results. Once you write a great article you will have to add back end data for getting on to the search list. Isn’t it better to have a site or page that already has a tremendous amount of traffic and then make an in-depth article out of it? Also, as said earlier, not every great article has to be 2000 to 5000 words long. That does not make any sense in fact. Nobody can jump into conclusions as to whether an article is good or not depending on the word count. Sometimes we stumble upon wonderful articles that are short, sweet and simple and they are often the most read articles online. So, website content writing cannot be limited to the number of words and to the brand names to which it is attached. The will to write good quality articles will be lost if that happens.
Moral of the story
Don’t waste your time on in-depth articles if you are not big fish
It would be easier to attract more traffic by producing original and interesting content rather than long boring ones just to please Google. Every business aims at pleasing its customers and readers in order to get customer satisfaction, so their point of view and demands is what matters. If your readers want long articles, then go ahead and write them. If they want short, interesting and engaging articles then that is what you should work on rather than trying to conform to Google in depth search requisites. So you do not necessarily have to jump into the in depth articles bandwagon, just because your competitors are. Write well and make your content attractive, that is the best strategy anyone can adopt to attract more traffic. So there is absolutely no need to take in depth articles seriously.
