Blog vs. Article: What's the Difference?

In the age of the internet, the terms ‘blog post’ and ‘article’ to a lot of people probably mean the same thing. But there are some key differences that you should be aware of, especially if you are looking to use them in your content marketing efforts.

To help you learn the difference and why they matter we decided to write this blog post.

What makes a blog post different from an article? 

The primary difference between an article and a blog post is that a blog post is generally perceived to be more of a personal opinion on a topic, while an article is more of a factual and informative write up about a topic.

For example, a blog post about cancer and CBD could be a personal account of your experience using CBD to treat symptoms of chemotherapy, while an article may discuss CBD research that has been carried out on animals and humans to find out the benefits of the drug. 

The conclusions drawn in the article will be objective and backed up by evidence whilst the blog post writer will draw conclusions based on their individual experience.

That said, the lines between the definition of a blog post and article are often blurred as people use the terms interchangeably to simply mean a “post” that you publish on your website, regardless of what the style and topic of it are. 

Blog posts and articles have different styles

Another key difference between blog posts and articles is the style in which they are written and presented to readers. Firstly, blog posts are generally about 300 to 1200 words, and articles on the other hand tend to be much longer. 

This is because an article will most likely cover a topic more in-depth whereas a blog post is a short and to-the-point explanation of a topic or of the writer’s opinion of that topic. There are also blogs called “microblogs” which are extremely short (under 300 word) posts.

Secondly, the tone of the writing will be different. Blog posts tend to be more informal and conversational whilst articles will be written in a more formal and professional journalistic tone – usually by professional article writers.

Thirdly, articles will most likely be edited before they are published to double-check the spelling, grammar, and to make sure sources that are cited are correct. Blog posts on the other hand go through far less scrutiny mainly because they are opinion based and can be edited and changed quickly if a reader points out a problem with it.

Of course, a lot of these differences are generalizations – it depends on your audience. For example, if your blog is aimed at medical professionals then you will probably write in a way that your audience will relate to and in a style that will convey you know what you are talking about even though it is a blog post and not an article.

Blog posts help start conversations

Blog posts help spark conversations with your audience as they usually include the ability for your readers to leave comments. You can then respond to the comments and have a 2-way conversation with readers. Articles on the other hand are usually just the author stating the facts of the story/ topic so there really isn’t any room for debate. 

For example, if you operate a CBD store online you could publish a blog post titled ‘Here’s How CBD Helped My Neck Pain’ – in the post you would recount your experience, and then you could ask readers to let you know in the comments their experience using CBD for pain relief. On the other hand, an article on the subject might be titled ‘New Research Shows CBD is Effective for Pain Relief’ – the article would then cite the research and present the findings in an easy-to-understand way for your readers. 

Even if your article has a comments section you are not really posting it to spark debate but instead to inform your audience.

Articles are not just online

While a blog post is only ever published on your blog, an article can be published online and offline or both. This also influencers how the writer writes about the topic at hand. For example, with a blog post, you can link to other sources and information for your readers to go to and that helps to provide some evidence of your opinion. 

Articles are less likely to have external links online and none if published offline obviously. This means that an article must be much more polished before publication as it can not be changed or edited.

The bottom line 

In short, blog posts are more about sharing your opinion, are less formal in style, are more conversational, and are only published online. Articles on the other hand are about writing about factual content to help explain a topic, are written in a more formal style, are less conversational, and finally can be published both online and offline.

Once you work out who your audience is and the aims of your content then you will be able to choose which content type is best for your company’s content marketing plan.