As a SaaS content company, we see (and write) more blogs than most. With our insight from writers and businesses alike, we’ve compiled this list of blog content writing trends to anticipate in 2023. 

Why is blogging important?

Blogging is one of the most straightforward ways to earn cost-effective, organic search traffic today. But everyone these days has a blog—in fact, there are more than 600 million blogs on the internet today. If we assume that number will grow in 2023, it’s easy to see how difficult it will be to attract and retain readers, or to convert them into paying customers. 

That means, for any brand hoping to excel online, it’s essential to create an effective content marketing strategy and keep up with blog writing trends that develop.

From ever-shrinking attention spans and transforming media consumption habits, to constantly evolving marketing and social media channels, the way consumers prefer to discover and read blogs is evolving at an alarming rate. If you don’t keep up as a brand, your company will get lost in the crowd.

1. The resurgence of long-form content

Our first blog writing trend of 2023 is a pivot from short-form to long-form written content. Micro-blogs gained popularity in the early 2000s along with the popularization of short-form platforms like Tumblr and Twitter. These platforms made it easy to get bite-sized pieces of information in a quick, novel way we hadn’t seen before. 

Although short-form video content is increasingly popular, we’re seeing a resurgence in long-form written content. Long-form content gives you more real estate to provide real education to your audience and publish a large swath of keywords and phrases that search engines love. 

Articles spanning between 2,000 – 7,000 words in length are becoming popular due to the high rate of traffic they attract. In fact, blog posts that are over 3,000 words in length tend to receive the most internet traffic.

The most performant of these blog posts typically offers evergreen, in-depth, yet easy-to-read content that is almost like a mini e-book.

A quality long-form piece of writing will keep readers on the page – and your website – for longer and will help them associate your brand with expertise and authority. Next time readers are looking for similar advice, they’ll turn to your brand for more knowledge.

Google also seems to favor long-form blog posts, with the average word count of a blog post on the first page of search results coming in at 1,890 words. Although Google has said content length isn’t a direct ranking factor, several independent studies have found trends between ranking and longer content. 

While you should strive to write content that’s longer than 1,000 words, you must do so with direction. There’s no point rushing to write a 3,000-word article if the content isn’t going to be well-organized, relevant, or useful for the reader. Regardless of length, make sure it’s a quality piece of writing before publishing.

2. Less time spent writing, more time spent optimizing

Although longer content will gain more traction in 2023, content writers and marketing teams won’t spend as much time creating it, especially with the potential of a recession looming. Every hour will count for businesses and their staff. Brands can’t waste time on a piece before knowing if it will perform.

Instead, savvy entrepreneurs and marketers will outsource large chunks of their content strategy to freelancers, marketplaces, and AI-powered content platforms. 

These third-party content services can guarantee a steady flow of content for businesses of every size while cutting out the operational burden of finding, interviewing, training, and managing in-house writers. 

Instead, in-house hiring will focus on technical expertise and strategic planning. For example, a content marketing manager will focus less on writing copy than they traditionally have and more on building out a content strategy that accounts for the keywords, channels, and metrics that are important to the business.

Once those strategic viewpoints are in place, they can easily plug into a content service like Draft to execute the plan and create quality ai-generated, and/or human-written content. 

3. Fewer exclamation points

Hark! Exclamation points were originally introduced to indicate actual exclamations. Today, they’re so ubiquitous in business writing and marketing that they have little meaning.

Creative copywriters already quibble over the use of punctuation. But expect the same discussions of copywriting artistry to make their way into content writing and blog writing too. Especially among larger, prominent brands, the exclamation point will be used less frequently and more strategically in blog content in 2023.  

4. Accelerated publishing frequencies

Similarly, using advanced technologies like AI blog generators will make it easier for growth marketers and content strategists to publish more content faster. We’re already seeing organizations post multiple blog posts per day using Draft’s writer marketplace and AI content tools.

While it might seem like a lot, daily content creation can improve your chances of achieving virality and high search engine rankings. In fact, content freshness is a factor in Google’s search engine ranking algorithms. Organizations that post content regularly are more likely to become a recognizable source of valuable information within their field.

It’s important to stick to a routine when posting content too. If you commit to posting daily or weekly, don’t break that promise to your audience. Loyal readers that return to the blog for new content may look elsewhere for a more consistent brand if you decide to stop posting as usual.

5. Hybrid content teams

Many companies can’t afford a full-time in-house copywriter and even the organizations that can afford full-time staff are wary in the face of current economic uncertainty. 

That’s where the popularity of outsourcing freelance writers comes in for 2023. Brands save time and money on their keyword research, topic generation, content creation, social media marketing, and more by outsourcing their content writing to companies that do all the hard work, like finding, managing, training, and retaining writers (our specialty at Draft). 

6. Increased editing demand

As technology like artificial intelligence continues to improve, the first drafts of blog posts will be produced by artificial intelligence and other technologies. That doesn’t mean top-tier brands will publish those AI-generated blog posts straight away though. 

Instead, AI will provide the first draft, and brands will seek proofreaders and content editors rather than writers to elevate tech-powered writing. For example, Draft has a roster of professional proofreaders and editors who can refresh your old content or take your AI-generated content to the next level without breaking the bank. 

7. Video content is still king

Think about it – how often do you watch videos online? If you browse the internet regularly, the likelihood is that you watch many a day.

It’s a video-saturated internet world out there and 87 percent of online marketers are already using video in their marketing strategies. Plus, mobile consumption of video content has been rising by a whopping 100 percent annually.

If you’re not jazzing up your blog posts with visual content like videos, then you’re being left behind in the world of blogging. While written content is still crucial to communicate with your audience, in the online world, video is becoming one of the most popular ways to engage browsers and build an audience. 

The inclusion of a video with a blog post helps to deliver ideas more successfully in a shorter amount of time while striking the viewer’s emotions through visual and auditory elements. Paired with organized and informative written content, your blog piece is on to be a winner.

While using a professional videographer for your brand may seem expensive, the best part about incorporating video content into your editorial strategy is that you don’t need to be a video producer to create a successful blog video.

All you need is a smartphone with a decent camera and voila, you’ve got your filming equipment. We also recommend starting with a video script to make the most of your filming. From how-to-videos to product reviews to comedic material, all these work wonders merged into a blog post. Not only will videos entertain browsers, but it will also add some variety to the blog piece.

8. Interactive content increases engagement

Following on from this, another of the blog writing trends of 2023 is the inclusion of interactive content within a blog post. Interactivity increases engagement and in 2023 more and more brands are expected to jump on the bandwagon.

Interactive content can include anything that can get the reader involved in the post. For example, quizzes, surveys, and infographics.

Fun activities like these can keep the reader engaged and can help them understand the topic better. And if a reader feels more involved in a blog piece, they’re likely to feel more valued as a consumer too.

9. Increased focus on distribution

You’re writing quality content with great momentum. Well done!

However, planning and writing blog pieces are only half the job. This is especially true in 2023 when more blog content will be created than ever before. If you aren’t marketing and distributing your blog posts and articles, then they’re only going to be viewed by those that happen to be browsing your website.

To gain real traffic, you need to engage with readers by other means to give out brand presence.

Assuming your company already has its own social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, this is a great place to start.

Post your blog articles regularly across these platforms to entice readers to read your piece. If budget allows, you can even create a paid advertisement on Facebook, for example, which will guarantee clicks. You can even cater the ad to your target audience so you know that you’re only paying for the right people to click into your website.

The bottom line: keep up with the trends

When it comes to blog writing, it’s important to understand that the process is constantly evolving. To keep up to date and to consistently produce written content that will build engagement and rank highly in search engines, it’s important to stay connected with the trends in the world of content marketing.

While the effort you need to invest in blogging is rising, so are the results! Keep these blog writing trends in mind and if you practice them properly, you’re sure to welcome results with your content marketing strategy in 2023.