Scroll-worthy, short content formats like TikTok videos, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have captivated audiences so much, that you’d be forgiven for thinking long-form content is becoming obsolete. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth—especially for SaaS brands.
With longer lead times, complex sales cycles, and far more stakeholders to convince, SaaS brands have a much harder job conveying the value of their products than, say, a travel operator or a shoe brand. They need to go beyond surface-level, fluffy content to deliver ongoing value that provides the right information at exactly the right time.
In this guide, we’ll cover what long-form content is, why it’s so important for SaaS brands, plus examples of long-form content in the wild.
Last updated in August 2024
What is Long Form Content?
Long-form content is typically defined as any written or video content that exceeds a certain length. There are no clear-cut rules around how long this type of content should be. Some marketers say 1,200+ words, while others cite 2,000+ words. As a general rule, when my clients ask for “long-form content”, they usually mean content that’s over 1,500 words.
But the word count isn’t the only consideration. Long-form content is designed to provide comprehensive and in-depth information on a specific topic. You can easily write 1,500 words of utter fluff. And, while this may be considered “long-form”, it doesn’t get to the core of what this type of content is really about: diving deep and providing unique value.
Why is Long Form Content Important for SaaS Brands?
Most of my SaaS clients come to me for pieces that are 2,000+ words. They understand they need to go deeper than existing content to rank well and prove their expertise. But why is long-form content particularly important for SaaS brands?
For starters, there’s often a longer sales cycle. People are less likely to impulsively buy monthly access to an online tool than they are a pair of shoes, and there tend to be more people involved in the buying process. For example, you might have a junior role researching tools who then take their findings to their manager, who then takes that information to the head of marketing or the CEO.
As a result, you end up with a pretty convoluted sales cycle with multiple touchpoints and multiple people with varying priorities and interest levels.
Secondly, SaaS brands often solve a problem people don’t realise they have (yet). Take Dropbox, for example. Now a prolific cloud storage solution, it originally took a lot of convincing for people to realise that an online tool was better than saving files to a hard drive. People like familiarity and SaaS brands regularly have to pitch a product that goes against that familiarity.
SaaS products often have multiple use cases and complex feature sets. They aren’t like a pair of shoes that you put on and wear. Instead, one single tool might help project managers map out deadlines, assign resources, and pay their contractors. It’s a lot of information to get across—-something that can be difficult to do with shorter content formats.
Why long-form Content is a Must-Have in Your SEO Strategy
Long-form content helps you rank for multiple keywords. Research by Semrush found content over 1,000 words is more likely to rank for multiple keywords because you have plenty of space to talk about relevant topics. Additionally, Google often deems longer content better quality because it conveys expertise and is more in-depth.
Sidenote: longer content isn’t better than short-form content, it just covers a specific topic more thoroughly, which tends to match search intent.
Finally, incorporating long-form content into your inbound SEO strategy helps you get more backlinks (which ultimately improves your search ranking). According to research by Ahrefs, longer content tends to attract more backlinks.
When should you create long-form content vs short form?
Long-form content isn’t necessarily better than short-form content, but it is more useful in certain situations. For example, if you have a complex topic to break down or you’re sharing a step-by-step guide or tutorial, creating a longer piece can maximise the value of the content and allow you to go into more detail.
There’s no hard and fast rule about when you should create long-form content over short-form, but here are some things to consider.
- Think about how it fits into your overall content strategy. What is your ultimate aim with content and what type of content can help you get there? For example, if you aim to go viral among a Gen Z audience, short-form might be better. But if you want to become an industry expert renowned for sharing pithy ideas, long-form is the way to go.
- Use keyword research to identify pieces with multiple subsections. If a keyword has multiple secondary keywords, it’s a good indication that there’s a lot to cover and long-form content might be a better fit.
- Look at search intent to uncover what readers need. Check out what posts are ranking for your chosen keywords—do they provide quick answers or longer, more detailed accounts? Usually, if the majority of content ranking for a keyword is long-form, you should do the same.
- Consider the user experience. Long-form content is often referred to as “pillar content”. These are lengthy pieces that break out into shorter pieces. If you find a topic completely overwhelming, try turning it into a series of shorter posts that dive into more detail for a better reading experience.
Tip: For best SEO results, content should answer the search query as needed (whether that’s a sentence or a few thousand words). Longer content isn’t always best, especially if you’re just adding fluff to get it over an arbitrary word count.
5 Examples of Really Good Long-Form Content
Let’s take a look at some long-form SaaS pieces in the wild.
1) The ultimate guide to SaaS pricing models, strategies, and psychological hacks by Cobloom
Cobloom content is often long-form. This particular piece is 6,500 words long—it’s a corker—but we’ve made it easy to scan by adding a table of contents and other structural touchpoints, like bullet points, visuals, and call-outs.
As you can see, the piece covers every angle of the topic and should leave readers with a full understanding of pricing models.
2) How to combine SEO and content marketing by Ahrefs
This piece by Ahrefs is considerably shorter than our example above, but it still comes in at over 1,500 words. It includes a table of contents so readers can jump to the most relevant section, and it’s broken up with helpful visuals and graphs.
Not only does this piece cover a topic in detail, but it leans heavily into the brand’s personal perspective which fosters trust and credibility. The step-by-step guide encourages readers to put what they’ve learned into action, and there are links to related content for those who want to dig deeper into specific areas.
3) The state of AI at work by Asana
Asana’s report about the state of AI at work is a gated piece of content that relays primary research the brand carried out itself. This adds value with first-hand stats and it’s broken up nicely with visuals and graphics.
4) How your CX team will evolve with AI by Gorgias
This piece by Gorgias runs at just over 1,800 words. It’s structured well with pull quotes and visuals and a handy table of contents for easy scanning. You’ll also notice it includes quotes from subject matter experts to provide first-hand perspectives and it builds in real-world examples and case studies for extra credibility.
5) Social media advertising in 2024 by Buffer
This piece by Buffer is almost 3,500 words long. It includes embedded social content, visuals, and videos to break up the text, as well as real-world examples to illustrate key points. It turns theory into action by incorporating a step-by-step guide and helpful tips in lightboxes. Like the Ahrefs piece, it also directs users to further reading on each topic.
How to Create Long-Form SEO Content That People Actually Want to Read
Ready to take inspiration from the above examples and create your own long-form SEO content? Here’s how to get started.
Structure is everything
Make your content skimmable. Not everyone will read every single word, so make it easy for people to find the most useful information for them. Include a table of contents and link out to other relevant pieces of content for those who want to read more.
Make it multimedia
Break up long reams of text with videos, graphics, GIFs, and other visual elements. This can even be a lightbox or a pull quote—just make sure your pieces are a mix of text and other media.
Include a keyword structure
Research your primary keyword and secondary keywords to make sure you touch on recommended subtopics. This will help you rank because you’ll (hopefully) be including all the information people want and need. Semrush’s keyword research tool can help you do this by spotlighting the most searched keywords in your industry and grouping them together based on context.
Add your own expertise and experience
Google’s new EEAT formula prioritises content that showcases the author’s expertise and experience. Include anecdotes, personal experiences, and your own thoughts and opinions to differentiate your content from others. You can also include real-world examples to show concepts in action.
Include different perspectives
Great long-form content often includes quotes from subject matter experts. This provides an unbiased view and first-hand information from people who are well-versed on the topic. Identify top contributors in your industry and reach out to them for a quote or an interview.
Use storytelling techniques
Keeping a reader engaged for 1,000+ words is no easy feat. Employ traditional storytelling techniques to keep them hooked. This might include building suspense, adding a personal narrative, incorporating conflict of some kind, adding a surprise, or keeping the reader at the centre of the action.
How to Make The Most of Your Long-Form Content Post-Publication
Creating high-quality long-form content is time-consuming. The last thing you want is to let it gather dust once you’ve hit that all-important publish button. Here are some ways you can make the most of it post-publication:
- Repurpose old content to attract new leads. Turn long-form pieces into an ebook, pull sections and turn them into social media posts, share sections in an email marketing campaign or series, or create a video.
- Use it throughout the sales cycle. Incorporate your long-form content throughout the sales cycle—turn it into gated content for lead gen, send it in onboarding sequences, add it to your help centre, and make sure customer support is aware of it so they can send it to customers who might find it useful.
- Promote it via paid advertising. Keep your long-form content relevant by pushing people to it from ads. You can target relevant keywords in paid search to attract more traffic.
The Challenges of Long-Form Content in SaaS SEO
We’ve covered the importance of long-form content for SaaS brands, but what about the challenges? It’s not easy creating content that’s thousands of words long—there’s definitely an art to getting it right.
Here are some key challenges you might find yourself up against:
- Long-form content is… long. Attention spans are short. There’s a mismatch here, which means it’s absolutely crucial to make content engaging.
- It’s difficult to add something different. There’s a lot of existing content already out there, so it can be hard to make yours stand out. Think about what makes your pieces different from other articles on the same topic—maybe you add personal anecdotes, carry out primary research, or add multimedia elements.
- Keeping up a regular publishing cadence is tricky. Obviously, long-form content takes longer to write than short-form content. You need more resources and time to publish often and consistently, but it’s worth figuring out a schedule that works for you. Don’t forget to block time for outlining, researching, and editing, as well as writing.
Why Long-Form Content is Needed for SaaS Brands Surrounded by Short Content
We might be in the era of short, scroll-worthy content, but long-form content remains an incredibly valuable tool for SaaS brands because it provides the depth and detail necessary for longer sales cycles.
Typically spanning 1,500+ words, long-form content dives deep into specific topics, making sure no stone is left unturned. As such, it plays a critical role in SaaS SEO strategies by helping brands rank for multiple keywords, meet search intent, and attract backlinks. While it’s not inherently better than short-form content, it’s particularly effective for covering complex topics, step-by-step guides, and thought leadership content.
Creating engaging long-form content can be a struggle. It requires thoughtful structure, multimedia elements, a solid keyword strategy, and a hearty sprinkling of personal anecdotes. Don’t forget to maximise its success post-publication too. Reuse it in other campaigns and continue to share it throughout the sales cycle.
Ready to create long-form content worthy of better backlinks and rankings? Use Semrush to build out a search-focused keyword strategy.
