Words. Every page needs them. But how many of them? This is a topic that businesses often think about when creating web pages. This is also a common question in SEO, when authors want to write service pages and blog posts that are actually the “right” length.How many words should a web page have (for SEO)? Do you know?
Disappointingly, there is no “correct” length for a landing page, but word count can have an impact on ranking. On the bright side, there are ways to figure out what an effective word count can be for SEO, which we’ll look at here.
How many words should a web page have (for SEO)? Is this the case less? Or really more? How much is too much?
Of course, as with almost anything in SEO, the answer is highly subjective and depends a lot on your traffic, your customers, and your site.
Right answer
No one in the world, not even Google, can give you a number for this question. Some sites will rank higher with a 300-word homepage and if they expand it their rankings will fall. Some sites will grow and grow as much as they add to their page. What you need to do is affect the proper balance between thin material and fluff.
Does your homepage have a high bounce rate? If so, this is an indication that your page is not compelling. This may be due to a low word count – users find very little value on the first page they see – or it may be due to a poor layout, navigation, or advertising.
Use your analytics. Does your homepage appear in the search results for queries, or are all your landing pages sub pages? In particular, use a click and activity heat map to see what users are doing on your homepage. Are there navigation links they never click? Are the graphics they click in hopes of leading to content they can’t reach? Optimizing the user experience on your homepage will be more important and more effective than endlessly tweaking your content.
Longer posts are just better
Regarding any metric you can choose to measure, longer posts and articles simply do better.
There are two primary reasons why posts receive more traffic:
- Ranked high in Google search results.
- With more words on the page, the keyword is more likely for phrase matching.
How many words should your website content? Your website should have 200 to 2500 words or more depending on the type of website. Generally the following word counts should be used for web content, blogs and articles:
- Home page content – 200 to 300 words of static content
- Internal page – 300 to 500 words (need to be updated regularly to keep it fresh and to increase rankings)
- Blog Post – 500 words per post with 1000 or 2500 words or more of some posts minimum
Is your site up to the mark?
When the Google Panda update hit, many sites found that they were being penalized for publishing farm-derived content that had no value. Inevitably, if this content was on your site, you were becoming increasingly tempted by the search results.
But, do you know that your content is valuable? There are certain considerations that you can take to determine if you have published content that is SEO friendly:
Is your site up to the mark?
When the Google Panda update hit, many sites found that they were being penalized for publishing farm-derived content that had no value. Inevitably, if this content was on your site, you were becoming increasingly tempted by the search results.
But, do you know that your content is valuable? There are certain considerations that you can take to determine if you have published content that is SEO friendly:
- Is it error free?
- Does the content come from an expert?
- Is there really enough length to teach or tell someone something?
Consider this – an average newspaper article is between 600 and 1500 words, magazine articles are between 1500 and 3500 words. Detailed research papers or reports are usually between 4000 and 5000 words. These high words mean that the whole picture is made, so that the readers can get the whole story.
Targeted content
Your homepage, like any other page on your site, is an opportunity to include powerful keywords and links. However, you should avoid writing for search engines. If your homepage looks like a mess of keywords and links with no appropriate user content, no user can get around. You can be optimized for search engines – and indeed the technologies you are using are outdated and likely to become ineffective – but your users are more important.
Consider the fold. When a user views your homepage, they all see the top section. Anything that needs to scroll, remains hidden until it actually scrolls. The fact is, many users do not bother to scroll down. If they do not see what they want in the top screen, they are unlikely to find out as further. If you include their all powerful call to action below the fold, they are not doing you any justice. Tweak your layouts or your content to present them higher, where they can be seen.
Providing information
Ask yourself: who are we? Does your homepage answer this question? You need a clearly visible logo and a readable brand name. You strongly benefit from the “About Us” section conveniently located for curious users.
Ask yourself: what do we do? Then, does your homepage answer this question? A short tagline and a short description should suffice, both requiring no more than 50–100 words. This is a great place to include a keyword and link that keyword to the pages of your general services or products. You can also use this opportunity to link to testimonials from your users.
Blogs and articles
There is a lot of diversity within blogs and articles in terms of word count, purpose, and user expectation. A simple news update on your business or industry should not be lengthy because you do not need a page to rank anything. Not to bring in new traffic is to inform regular visitors.
Other types of articles work better if they are longer. If the article is long, to say if it is longer, SEO word wise, will do an adequate investigation. First, it will cover the subject in the depth it deserves, meaning that readers are more likely to remain on the page. Second, it will (hopefully) be filled with useful information that readers can share or link back to. Third, it will attract new potential customers and customers from organic search. Finally, it will replace your website with language relevant to your products and services, and, if properly written and formatted, promote the subject authority of important transaction pages.
Conclusion:
It is necessary to take time to create quality content that provides value. Keep in mind, if you have nothing to say, wait until you create an article or blog post. If you just rumble or publish low quality content, chances are that SEO efforts will not be what you expected.
If you want quality content for your website, contact us at 1weblab, website design company in Delhi Laxmi Nagar, India. We are a team of well experienced team who provide the best services to the customers.