Some of the best content on the web uses multiple pages to cover the same idea.
For example:
- A blog series or related blog topics, organized on-site with a menu
- A piece of pillar content with a supporting, ancillary Q&A section
- A content cluster where multiple sub-topics are arranged around a head, money key phrase and folder
Simply put, great content will always attract huge numbers of visitors and keep a site ranked highly in search whether you understand in-depth SEO tactics or not.
If you have a longer blog post, splitting it up into multiple pages may help your blog’s visibility in search.
Most likely, traffic to other pages on your blog will come from both off-site link building efforts or on-site internal links.
If you write a blog post that’s longer than 3,000 words, your best option may be to split it up into multiple pages.
In addition, you may be able to increase your ranking by implementing a multiple-page post that includes easy navigation to subsequent pages.
Here are some additional tips for improving SEO with longer blog posts, multiple pages and blog series.
Table of Contents
Break Blog Posts into Multiple Pages
Breaking down a post into multiple pages is likely a good idea when:
- The blog post length is 2,000 words or more
- You have a lot of facts with images that could create a slide
- You have in-depth content that requires multiple keywords per page
When you break up an article into multiple pages, you can target different keywords per page and also help your optimization for search with those keywords. You don’t have to place all of your keywords on a single page, which means you can spread your keywords throughout the content without worrying about the consequences of stuffing your blog post.
In addition, more users will click through your first post to see the other pages and will more than likely engage with each of your pages. However, multiple pages also have some issues.
One con of a multiple page post for SEO is that people will more than likely just link to the first page of the post. If you have something really blog-worthy or links on other pages, they may not be seen because only the first page is linked. All the link juice stays on the first page.
Another problem with multiple page blog posts is that content is typically slim on the subsequent pages. You can’t add too many keywords or optimize your content for multiple pages if you only have 100 words per page.
However, slide blog posts can be very popular and rank well just on their own while also including internal and external links.
Do Blog Series Work for SEO
In many popular blogs, you will see a blog series like
“Favorite Mexican Dinner Night Recipes Volume 1”
or
“Top Strategies for Email Marketing: Beginner.”
You can see how these blog series will develop into a multi-part post series that continuously expands upon information. There are several uses for blog series with SEO.
1. Break Up Longer Blog Posts for Easier Reading
If you have written a blog post that’s 2,000 words or more, you should consider breaking it up into a blog series. This allows you to focus on great content that will intrigue readers and then also get readers to click through your blog, which treats them to a longer stay on your site.
The key is to link to the next blog post at the top and bottom of the post. You can also use the “related topics” links at the bottom of your post to allow readers to skip to a part of the series that they prefer to read. We do this regularly with our longer posts by breaking them up into multi-part series with a link-able table of contents within the body of the content, just like we did with this piece on local SEO:
2. Multiple Points of SEO
You can create separate keyword lists for each blog post series allowing each post to rank on its own. You don’t have to keyword stuff any of the content because you have plenty of content written to spread out your images, links and keywords.
3. Save Time
You can plan blog post series for weeks giving you an easy post at least twice a month with a subject that you know is already popular with your readers. The main point is that you should focus on blog post series that have a lot of traffic. Tracking the traffic and comments on your blog post series is important to understand what topics to go forward with in the future.
4. Good for Video
Videos have become the most important feature of any blog. If you have a blog post series, you can partner it up with a video series. This gives your site and post more visibility while also increasing the chances that it will be shared.
A blog post series is a great way to break up content and make your blog easier to read. Since these are single posts, you can still link to them and use separate keyword lists to drive your SEO strategy.
How to Use Internal Linking with Multiple Page Blog Posts
Internal linking is a beneficial strategy to make your site stickier. Visitors stick around by clicking on links to other pages of your site and reading more content or browsing other products. If you have multiple pages or a blog series, you can use internal backlinks to increase SEO and make it easier for readers to browse content. Some tips to follow with internal linking are:
- Use descriptive anchor text for internal links
- “Google Play Review” rather than “my last review”
- Don’t overdo it with links
- Readers just ignore any post with too many links
- Two internal links per page, two external links per page is best
- Remember to add external links for balance
In addition, if you have multiple pages with a blog post, you can also use graphics to link to the next part of the series or the second page. You can add titles for images and links with this strategy. It also grabs the attention of your reader and lets them know where to find the rest of the content.
Benefits of Single Posts
In general, most professional SEOs still recommend single post over a multi-page post, especially when just starting a blog.
Typically people only read the first page of the post. Since readership dilutes for each page of a post, it’s difficult to rely on a multi-page post for SEO. Single page posts are more searchable and can be printed easily, which is especially good if you are writing a how-to or guide.
If you do have a longer single post, you don’t have to break it up into pages. You can use headings, images and blockquotes to make it easier to read.
Ideally, there should be a plugin that allows pages to be viewed as one page for SEO and multiple pages for easy reading.
Blog post series are likely the best way to break up longer content since you are still using a single post method, and you can include more internal links.
Whether you use single or multi-page posts, great content always seems to win higher rankings and will perform well in search engines results pages.
Sharing your post through social networks and sending it to your subscribers will likely be the main source of website traffic.
For further information on how to write with SEO in mind, please visit our other post.
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