It’s hard to argue with the benefits of blogging. Having a blog on your website is an excellent way to showcase your brand, help customers better understand your services, and increase your search engine rankings.
When promoting your blog content, it’s essential to incorporate ranking factors, such as readable paragraphs, headers, and visual content. However, did you know you can also promote your content by sharing the estimated read time of your blog article? Here’s how.
Sharing Read Time Can Engage Readers
You’ve been there before: you stumble across what looks like a great article, but it looks long and you don’t want to waste your time reading it, so you look for something a bit shorter—or content that tells you exactly how much of your time it will take up.
Telling readers upfront about the estimated read time of an article helps them budget their time accordingly, which can not only be helpful, but increase engagement on your website. When your audience knows what to expect from the content, statistics show they are more likely to continue reading it.
By helping your readers estimate at a glance how long the article will take to read, you can reassure them that the content will only take up a few minutes of their time. The result? People stay on your site for longer, therefore increasing engagement and improving your brand trust.
Boost Your Search Engine Rankings
Sharing the estimated read time of your blog articles may even influence your search engine rankings. Certain search engine algorithms take estimated reading time into account when ranking your content and your site, making it a vital part of promoting your blog content.
Having an estimated read time can encourage people to read your content, stay on your website for longer, and potentially look at other content on your site. As a result, it can also improve your bounce rate and tell search engines that your content is valuable.
By having people stay on your site for longer and giving an estimated read time, you have a better chance of increasing your rankings and boosting your SEO efforts.
How Do You Calculate the Estimated Read Time?
On average, people read about 200-250 words per minute. So when determining how long your content will take to read, simply divide the total number of words in the article by 200 or 250 (dividing by 250 will give you more flexibility and ensure you meet your audience’s expectations for the read time). If the math results in an uneven number, round up to be safe.
Post the estimated read time at the beginning of the article just under the headline. This way, your audience can see what the content is about and how long it will take to read in just a couple seconds—allowing them to decide if they want to continue.
Have you included the estimated read time when promoting your blog content? If not, now is a great time to start to boost your rankings and deliver more valuable content to your audience.
