They're easy to write, quick to read and do great in search engines. Why haven't you started writing listicles for your business yet?
You may not be aware of the name for it, but we guarantee you’ve read a listicle article before. Made popular by sites like BuzzFeed, listicles are defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a piece of writing or other content presented wholly or partly in the form of a list.” While this may sound like something that was invented to get out of long-form writing — and listicles have caught a great deal of flack online for not being “real” articles — there are big advantages to writing listicles that might not be apparent at first glance.
Just Keep Skimming
On average, users read only about 20 percent of your article. Skimming is a bad reading habit that many of us have picked up from perusing articles online. So even if your article is brimming with great information and helpful content, chances are, only a fifth of what you write will be read. Writing a listicle instead of a full fledged article makes it easier for skimmers to glance through the page and grasp your complete thought in bite-sized format.
Pack a Punch of Information
Writing information in a listicle keeps it compact and means you should keep your points concise. If there’s more to a subject that you’d like users to know, then link off to another blog post on your site that explains things further. Linking back internally to other parts of your site looks good to search engines, and it will keep your listicle from getting too long.
Google Loves Listicles
Search engines look for keywords in several spots, but they favor some areas in particular. One of those spots is subheads. When you make a subhead (by choosing a paragraph style meant for headlines) then Google reads that as a tentative outline for what your article holds. Make each point in your listicle a subhead and you’ll end up having a SEO-rich blog post in no time.
