The best number of words for SEO on your website is something that has divided the marketing community for years. Some businesses swear by using fewer words, while others advocate for long-form content, but which is favoured by google?
Unfortunately, knowing how to get your business website on Google is tricky, and the algorithm that dictates how pages are ranked is shrouded in secrecy.
Back in a Reddit thread in August 2019, Google employee John Mueller stated that for the popular search engine, word count is not a ranking factor and that businesses should “save themselves the trouble” of worrying about it. While this is somewhat controversial in the eyes of many, he has a point.
Google has recently conveyed that word count does not equal quality content, and it's worth noting that Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines do not explicitly mention a specific or ideal word count. Instead, they focus on whether online content (blogs, web pages, landing pages) “achieves its purpose” - whether that’s answering a question, giving instructions or promoting a product.
When it comes to defining a word count, we’d recommend at least 250-300 words per web page, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you need to go above and beyond this every single time. There are pros and cons for writing both long and short web pages, and we’ll discuss what each of these are in this blog, and help you decide which is best for your business.
First, let's look at the difference between the two forms of content.
Long-form content is usually defined as content that is 2,000 words or more, and the material is usually made up of ebooks, whitepapers, and how-to guides. Short content is typically categorised as anything around the 1,000 word mark or less, and tends to be used in material such as blogs, emails and some web pages.
As we have seen, Google doesn’t explicitly favour either short or long content, so knowing how to get your business website on Google will never be an exact science. However, we can look at the facts to give us an idea of the best ways to utilise long and short-form content to help with SEO on your website.
On average, the top 10 results for most Google searches are between 2,000 and 2,500 words, which suggests that long form content tends to perform better when it comes to ranking. A study by HubSpot confirmed this, as they found that their best performing blogs were those around 2,500 words. It’s true - often, long-form content performs better. You can rank for more keywords, get more backlinks and a thorough piece on a subject is likely to meet Google’s emphasis on purpose and value.
But does this mean you should always write long-form copy?
Absolutely not.
While the data shows this kind of copy often hits the top spot of Google, it can be misleading. For example, it doesn’t take into account the fact that the content reaching that #1 place is often there because it has value and serves a specific purpose - not just because it’s the longest piece on a particular subject. When done wrong, long-form copy can actually harm your SEO efforts, which is why we recommend not focusing all your efforts on it.
Short content can and will help your SEO.
Take this example: “how to restart an ipad”.
The top result from Apple Support is an extremely short article, but it's informative, has purpose and answers the question immediately. Remember, not all subjects demand long content, and using short content where appropriate can often elevate your business. So, while long-form content has its advantages, never discount the potential of short copy.
Again, we can’t give a definite answer here, but a recommendation:
Stop worrying about the specifics, and focus on your target audience.
In order to understand exactly what word count you should be aiming for, you need to take your audience into consideration. Think about:
What kind of person are they? What’s their job role?
Do they have time to read an in-depth article or web page, or are they in a rush? What device will they be reading on?
Once you’ve answered these questions and created a well-thought out buyer persona, deciding how long your website pages, blogs or landing pages need to be will become clear. We recommend that in every blog, you should aim to answer the question of the blog topic in the very first paragraph. This way, you can please all readers - those who want answers right away, and those who want more knowledge on a subject.
Whatever content you do write, we recommend that you ensure that it consistently:
If you apply all of the above recommendations to your website content, you'll have a greater understanding of how to get your business website on Google's first page, allowing your content to be found more easily by the right people at the right time.
When it comes to your B2B website, content is just one piece of the larger puzzle that is creating a site built for lead generation and conversion. If you’re unhappy with your current website, or feel like it needs a revamp, download our free B2B website project checklist.
In this handy document, we have put together some essential elements that your new website needs to have. Our fill-in-yourself template helps you think through every aspect of your project, identify your goals and put them all down on paper, to prepare you for a website redesign.