Conclusions are the most-skipped part of writing advice out there. Bloggers spend hours agonizing over intros, work hard on middle structure, then end with “In conclusion, blogging is important. Thanks for reading!” and move on to the next post. The conclusion is actually one of the strongest positions on the page, since the readers who reach it are the most engaged of anyone on the post, and most blogs waste that position completely. This is how to use it properly instead.
Why most conclusions are bad
A handful of mistakes show up again and again:
“In conclusion…”
This phrase tells the reader “this is the part you can skip.” Cut it every time you see it.
Rehashing every section
“As we discussed, first X, then Y, then Z” adds nothing. The reader just read X, Y, and Z in order. They don’t need a recap of what they finished thirty seconds ago.
“Thanks for reading!”
This is wasted space at the most valuable spot on the page. The reader already knows you appreciate them. The thanks itself doesn’t earn anything back.
Generic call-to-action
“What do you think? Let me know in the comments!” rarely works, because most readers don’t comment regardless of how the question is phrased. The CTA fires blanks.
The fade-out
Some posts simply trail off. The last paragraph isn’t really an ending, it’s just where the writer ran out of energy, and readers feel that lack of intention even if they can’t name it.
What good conclusions do
1. Restate the key insight in one sharp sentence
This isn’t a summary of every point made in the post. It’s one sentence that captures the post’s central claim on its own.
If your post argues that self-hosted is the right default for serious bloggers, the conclusion’s first sentence is that claim, restated with weight: “Self-hosted is what every serious blogger eventually wants, so most should just start there.”
2. Give the reader a clear next move
This should be specific and concrete, often a link to a related post that’s the natural next step for someone who just finished this one.
Something like: “If you’re picking a theme now, our guide on how to choose a WordPress blog theme covers what matters most.” This serves two purposes at once: it helps the reader continue their actual journey, and it places an internal link in one of the highest-value positions on the page.
3. End on a strong final line
The last sentence of the post lands harder than any other sentence in it, thanks to what psychologists call the recency effect, the well-documented tendency to remember whatever came last in a sequence more clearly than what came in the middle. The serial position effect is exactly why bloggers waste this position with “Thanks for reading!” when the strongest endings are short, declarative, and slightly memorable instead.
A few examples of strong endings:
- “Compound interest, not lottery tickets.”
- “The first three sentences decide everything.”
- “Six months in, the search traffic shows up.”
Each of these ends on a punchy line that reinforces the post’s argument. The reader closes the tab carrying that line with them, which is exactly the point.
The “short version” pattern
One pattern that works well is ending the post with a short, clearly labeled closing section: a one-paragraph compression of the whole argument.
This works for a few concrete reasons:
- Skimmers get the takeaway without reading the whole post.
- Readers who finished the post get a satisfying summary that confirms what they just read mattered.
- Search engines see a clear restatement of the key claims, which can help with featured snippets.
This isn’t the only way to end a post, but it’s a reliable one worth having in your toolkit alongside a punchy closing line. It also plays to how people actually read online: Nielsen Norman Group’s eyetracking research shows most readers scan a page rather than reading it start to finish, so a compressed closing paragraph gives scanners a real payoff even if they skipped most of the body.
The conclusion structure that works
- One sentence restating the central insight. Keep it sharp and specific.
- One or two sentences expanding it slightly. This is where the implication lives, the compound effect, the “why this matters” beat.
- A clear next move. An internal link to the natural follow-up post, or a specific action such as “audit your last 5 posts” or “set up the redirect plugin.”
- A strong final line. Short, memorable, and resonant with the post’s argument as a whole.
The total length should land around 80 to 150 words. Go much beyond that and you’ve started restating the body of the post rather than closing it.
The “call to action” question
Should the conclusion include an explicit CTA? It depends on the post:
- Pillar posts: a soft CTA toward the email list often works well here. “If this was useful, the newsletter goes deeper on these topics.”
- How-to posts: the next-action link essentially is the CTA. “Now go fix your image alt text.”
- Opinion posts: often no CTA at all is the right call. Let the argument stand on its own.
- Affiliate or review posts: a clear next step toward the product works, with disclosure already in place well before this point.
Stick to one CTA per conclusion, never three. More choices reduce the odds a reader acts on any of them.
SEO considerations
The conclusion carries more SEO weight than most bloggers realize:
- Google often pulls snippet text from conclusion paragraphs specifically.
- Primary keywords appearing naturally in conclusions reinforce relevance for the whole page.
- Internal links placed in conclusions tend to get a higher click-through rate than the same links placed mid-post.
This doesn’t mean stuffing keywords into the conclusion artificially. It means writing the conclusion deliberately, letting the keyword appear naturally, and linking to one or two genuinely related posts while you’re there.
The “I’m not sure how to end this” trap
Bloggers who struggle with conclusions usually struggle for a specific reason: they don’t actually know what the post is arguing yet. If you can’t write the conclusion easily, the post’s central claim probably isn’t sharp enough in your own head.
The fix isn’t spending more time writing the conclusion itself. It’s clarifying the underlying argument first. Ask yourself: if a reader could only remember one line from this post, what would you want it to be? Write that line down, then build the conclusion around it.
For long posts
Posts over 3,000 words can support a more substantial conclusion section without it feeling bloated:
- A “Recap” subsection with 3 to 5 bullet points covering the major takeaways.
- A “What to do next” subsection laying out concrete actions.
- A final short paragraph that compresses the whole post into a few sentences.
Longer posts justify longer conclusions in proportion. A reader who finished a 4,000-word post has genuinely earned the structured payoff at the end of it.
For short posts
Posts under 800 words can skip the formal conclusion structure entirely. End on a strong final paragraph that handles both the “key insight” and “punchy line” jobs at once, with no subhead needed to separate them.
However the ending is structured, it’s worth remembering that the words themselves are only part of the equation. Aurora’s typography settings control how that closing paragraph actually renders, line spacing, weight, and size, all of which affect whether a strong final line lands the way it was written to.
Write the ending like someone is actually still reading
Strong conclusions restate the central insight in one sharp sentence, expand it briefly, give a clear next move, and end on a memorable line. Skip “in conclusion.” Skip the rehash of every section. Skip “thanks for reading!” Aim for 80 to 150 words, and lean on a compressed closing section for genuinely long posts. If you’re also working on what opens the post, the same attention pays off there too: a strong opening earns the reader who eventually reaches this ending. The last sentence is the strongest position on the page. Write it like it matters, because it does.
