Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Can you have too many words on a page for SEO?
-
One line of thinking is that you can not have too many words on a page because the more words you have the higher the chances that a long tail phrase will attract traffic. But can you go overboard with this? Is there a limit to the number of words on a page in terms of SEO?
-
I usually add the largest portion of content to the home page, around 1200 words, and then make the inner pages around 300-600 words, but it really depends on what the page is about. If I have a page with a good topic I will add more text as long as it is relevant to the keywords.
-
Irving,
When you say minimum of 500 words on a page, what are you basing that on? Typically, depending on type of page, we look at a low of 100 words and try to max out around 300 if possible. (Obviously, there are exceptions to any of this).
Thanks
-
Minimum of 500 words on a page. If the page is informative and not repetitious you can make it as long as you want you'll never get penalized for adding too much good content. Some wikipedia pages for instance are extremely long.
But the reality is if you're not a site with user generated content
a) who's got that amount of time to dedicate to every single page
b) overly wordy pages on a commerce site kills conversion rates
c) chances are that much content could be broken up into a few pages which all target different keywords better
-
When optimizing your site's txt content, mys suggestion is to write for your audience. Write txt that accurately describes the overall theme and tone of the page. Of course you want to implement certain long tail & short tail key phrases, however this MUST be done in a way that reads for the audience and not for Search Engines.
So to answer your question a bit more directly:
- You want to write enough content that will accurately explain or convey your overall on page message. Typically more than 1-2 paragraphs. How do you know when to stop? When the txt begins to become repetitive or less relevant. Quit while you are ahead
- In regards to long & short tail key phrases, I would keep it to about 20-30% of the overall content. I would split up as follows; Include in the beginning somewhere in the middle and at the end. (I know that sounds simple) The trick is not over doing it and having it read for your audience ! Ask yourself would I read this?
Hope That Helps
- You want to write enough content that will accurately explain or convey your overall on page message. Typically more than 1-2 paragraphs. How do you know when to stop? When the txt begins to become repetitive or less relevant. Quit while you are ahead
-
I completely agree with you, Robert. Content for the sake of content doesn't help anyone, including the SEO working on the website. Each page should have a focus and should stick to that focus; concise, informational and clean. Thumbs up to you, sir.
-
I wouldn't say there is a limit but you if you are writing about a limited topic, the more you write, the less focused your content may become. Although it will improve long tail, could hurt the target phrase you are trying to rank for.
In addition, if you just start repeating yourself over and over again, it wont do you any favors. You are better off writing more succinctly with high quality so that people looking to solve a specific problem can visit that page and find a solution (and hopefully link back to it!). If its too long, it might be harder for a person to find what they are looking for.
-
Well, I disagree with that line of thinking. I think each page should be optimized around a general keyword (with variants as applicable) and that the content should be such that it is something users want. If I am searching and find a page with a 1,000 words and it starts deviating from answering my query, I leave.
Best
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to can customize header moveable?
Hi, i want to keep header of my website https://www.bestchromebookpro.com moveable like if i scroll down page then the header remain showable . please can someone guide me how i do this or suggest me any resource? Thanks in advance
Content Development | | Amiie7840 -
Wordpress Blog Pages, Duplicate Title Tag
Anyone have any experience in fixing the duplicate Title tag on a Wordpress blog multiple pages Basically the title tag remains the same on the pages /Blog/ /Blog/Page/2/ /Blog/Page/3/ My good friend Yoast Plugin doesn't seem to of resolved this (Unless i have missed something?) I don't really see this to be effecting anything and wouldn't of through it would either, but it would be nice to not see the notification within Moz site crawls and campaigns etc, its more of a cosmetic problem Any solutions ? Thanks James
Content Development | | Antony_Towle0 -
How many words per page?
I know this has been answered before, but I don't think it has been in about a year (and we all know how quickly the SEO landscape can change). We're having a little debate on it right now and I'd be curious to get some feedback from the community. What is the minimum number of words you would use on a page? Does it matter to you if it's a second tier (website.com/x) or third tier (website.com/x/y) page? It's always a tough sell on design between trying to keep it clean and trying to provide a lot of useful information. I'd be curious what your thoughts are. Thanks! -Adam
Content Development | | AdamWormann1 -
Christmas Music for SEO's
Hello On a lighter note just wondered what Christmas song's are the favorites of the SEO industry? One from each of us in our team: Fairytale of New York - The Pogues Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Jackson Five White Wine in the Sun - Tim Minchin Last Christmas - Wham! Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses 🙂
Content Development | | highwayfive0 -
Is it possible for a website with only 20 pages to be ranked in top?
Hi, I want to ask is it possible for a website with about 20 pages to be ranked well in Google for keywords with middle concurency? Most of the web sites in the top for such keywords are with much content and many pages. This is the web site: http://logos-sofia.com/ And that's are the comeptitors: https://www.google.bg/search?q=курсове+по+немски&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a
Content Development | | vladokan0 -
How to edit Page Title & Meta Description in Blogger?
I'm managing my blog on Blogger platform. I have published 7 blog posts to my patio umbrellas blog. Today, I have published following blog post to my blog. http://vistastores.blogspot.com/2012/03/offset-umbrellas-awesome-choice-for.html When I see page title so it is shows me as follow. Patio Umbrellas Blog: Offset Umbrellas: Awesome choice for good quality time outside! I want to remove Patio Umbrellas Blog: segment from each blog posts' page title. I can't find out Meta description in my blog posts. So, How can I make it happen?
Content Development | | CommercePundit0 -
How many pages is too many to add to a site at one time?
I have quite a bit of excellent content articles at my disposal and we would like to increase the number of pages on our site. I could, theoretically add 100's of pages at a time. Does anyone have a good sense of how much content added to a sight in mass looks bad to Google? My plan is to add approximately 50 pages a week to our site, which already has 4000 pages of content. This is relevant content, since we are a custom writing service and all topics are covered. Our content is what gives us great organic hits and orders. However, I would like to add more than 50 a week...how many is too many? Thanks and I appreciate thoughts and feedback! Karen
Content Development | | eworld0 -
How do blogs affect seo?
Could you help me understand how blogs affect seo and how this works specifically when a blog is located within a site? Thank you!
Content Development | | derrickkuhn0