Terrible Blogger Advice and Running a Mediocre Blog

If you read a lot of conventional wisdom articles about how to write successful blog posts, you’ll read a lot of advice that’s just plain wrong. This is especially true if that advice came out before October of 2023.

Even today, some people giving out advice are still talking about what worked for them five years ago. Many of the SEO plug-in tools like Yoast, RankMath, and Ahrefs are also stuck in a pre-HCU rut that they can’t seem to dig out of. You do not want to try to get a perfect score in RankMath now because their scoring system is outdated and just plain wrong. (What Google wants now can’t be so easily codified.)

Others are just parroting what they’ve heard before, with no research or testing to back it up. Then here’s the big problem that got us into this recent Google algorithm mess in the first place: If you follow all the “rules,” you’ll be average at best.

To rank these days, you need to be original, not a copycat, so if you follow a bunch of rules that worked for other people, there’s a good chance you’re going down a path that’s too well-worn and you’re copying a formula.

At the beginning of this year I published this post on the keys to travel blogger success in the current blogging environment, so go read that for the things you might want to consider to set yourself apart. And subscribe to my Travel Writing Success monthly newsletter so you can keep up with what’ working a year or two from now.

Then here are all the pieces of terrible advice I’ve heard that you should probably ignore if you want your blog to thrive and endure.

Write long posts of at least 3,000 words OR Write short, easy-to-read posts

Before the (not) Helpful Content Update, the prevailing wisdom was to write long blog posts and you’d rank better. It became an arms race where people kept copying each other, but going longer and longer hoping to outrank their peers. If someone else had a post on “27 Things to do in Omaha,” then your post had to be “31 Things to Do in Omaha” and be 1,000 words longer, even if most readers only wanted 1 or 2 options.

We ended up with a flood of food blogger articles that had a 2,000-word backstory about grandma’s cooking just to get to the stupid blueberry muffin recipe. Tips about packing light became the length of e-books, stuffed with every single item the blogger could find an affiliate link for, useless for someone just wanting some quick tips and strategies.

Thankfully Google squashed that trend and has said in no uncertain terms that solid info can be long and comprehensive, but fluff will do you more harm than good. That’s partly because AI tools are good at writing fluff and Google says they’re trying to reward real content written by real experts. (Says does not equal does, but it’s their wish anyway.)

Some people have interpreted this pendulum swing as a mandate to write super short articles though, which is also not really the answer.

How long does a blog post need to be? As long as it needs to be for the reader.

Yes that’s ambiguous, and people want a shortcut formula, but the reality is that the whole purpose of a service article is usually to solve a problem or give advice on a subject. The question might require a short answer or a long one.

Here’s the most logical argument against that theory too: if an AI bot can spit out a short answer in AI Overviews, or ChatGPT, why does anyone need to go to your blog for it? If the answer is already out there on the web, in multiple articles, why do we need yours?

In the current environment, it’s best to answer the unanswered questions or at least present a more authoritative version of the answer. If you’ve got original research and stats, great, or quotes can set you apart too. Otherwise, at least have a well-earned opinion if your post just functions as an answer to a single question.

Here’s my opinion on this subject: long and authoritative beats out short and surface-level, but only to a point. If your article is 3,000 words because it’s a complicated subject with many facets, perfect. But if it should really be 800 words and you’ve padded it to 3,000 like a high school student meeting a teacher’s word count assignment, that’s not good.

In mid-2025, most of my most popular posts on the Cheapest Destinations Blog are between 1,500 and 4,000 words. On the Perceptive Travel blog they’re generally 800 to 2,000. On Hotel Scoop that I used to run, most are between 750 and 1,300 words. Different subjects, different averages. Your mileage may vary too.

There’s no formula for ideal word count so don’t believe anyone who tells you there is. Have you said everything that needs to be said on that subject? Then hit “publish” and move on.

Break your post up with lots of subheads and short sentences so people can skim easily.

Yeah I know, people have short attention spans on the web and they don’t like to read long blocks of text. That’s what everyone will tell you anyway.

But what kind of readers are you trying to attract? The kind that surfs the web like a squirrel on crack? Or the kind that lands on your site because they’re actually interested in the topic? Or because they like you and your writing and they follow you?

If it’s the latter, forget the former. Go for quality visitors, not just eyeballs. Stick in a photo or subhead where it’s natural, but those who want to skim and just pick out one fact aren’t the ones who are going to sign up for your e-mail list, buy your products, or value your advice. Ten seconds from now they’ll be on to something else and won’t even remember the name of your blog.

Yes, web paragraphs should be shorter than print ones (especially because of phone reading) and subheadings do help people take a breather and know that the focus is about to change. They’re also another SEO clue as to what the article is about.

But don’t dumb down your writing to please the least valuable visitors. Let them go.

Anyone who wants short answers can get them from an AI tool now, so stop trying to attract those readers with no attention span. Publish the equivalent of a real meal, not a bag of junk food.

Don’t try to be too clever with your title—and keep it short.

This is actually half right. It’s still good advice for search: you want the subject of the article to be in the subject in your title. And not more than 60 characters because the rest will get cut off.

But it turns out this is terrible  advice when it comes to social sharing. Or for YouTube. Or for Google Discover. The truth is, most people who have built up massive traffic from Facebook or do really well on YouTube are posting clever titles that promise something funny, strange, or amazing if you will just click that link already. Some are long too.

Here are some examples from when I first put up this post: “The Nipple Bikini Lets You Go Topless Without Taking It All Off,” “A Man Walked Into A McDonald’s With A Knife Sticking Out Of His Back,” “If You’re Too Grossed Out To Share This Video, Then You’re Exactly Why It Exists.”

The ideal blog title for Google Discover would probably be one that has your essential keyword phrase in it but is also clever or intriguing. That’s not an easy tightrope walk to pull off, but if you have a chance to make it work, try it and see.

Put links to your post on every social media platform as soon as you hit publish.

This is bad advice for a whole host of reasons, the main one being that the time you publish a post might be the lowest readership time for your audience on social media. If most of your followers are in bed by 10 pm and your post goes live at midnight, then put the megaphone away until the morning.

Besides, based on personal experience with six different blogs and websites, at least 90% of an article’s traffic comes after it has been out at least a month. What’s the rush? The other point is, it’s better if others spread the word for you than if you do it yourself. If you’re the only one sharing what you write, that’s a bad sign.

Do share what you publish: it’s important for engagement and there’s some evidence now that it helps your search rankings too in the long run. But the key word is “long.” There’s no rush; just be consistent.

Write lots of list posts to get clicks and shares.

If there’s one thing we should thank Google for in this last round of updates it’s that the sites publishing nothing but shallow listicles that looked like everyone else’s listicles seemed to get hurt the worst. It doesn’t mean the trend will go away since our brains seem hard-wired to click on lists, but maybe we’ll at least see better ones now, ones that are thought-out.

Yes, you may get more clicks and shares if your post has a number in it. The lemmings love lists and even if they haven’t read it, they might share it—though in reality this trend seems to have slowed since Twitter went down the tubes. It doesn’t help with Google though, even though some tools like RankIQ and RankMath are still telling you to do it.

But what good is a social share of a list article if nobody clicks on the link? What’s the good of bringing more traffic to your site if it’s the first and last time they’ll visit—for 15 seconds?

The occasional list post is a nice break that will probably get you higher short-term traffic. It’s also a quick way to organize info into a round-up. You could say it’s the entire reason some blogs (like The Luxury Travel Blog) get so much traffic. They’ve done lists non-stop from the start and it has worked for them. Hey, your next list post may even go viral.

But here’s the key question: do you want to be known as a writer with expertise, or a person who’s good at making lists?

Your turn: what other terrible blogger advice do you read all the time that hasn’t been right for you or your audience? Or used to be true but isn’t now?

All text and photos by human Tim Leffel, author of the book Travel Writing 2.0, with no AI help or stock images.