Can you have too many words on a page for SEO?

[ProjectLabs]

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?

[TinaGammon]

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.

[RobertFisher]

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

[irvingw]

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

[entourage212]

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

[Vizergy]

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.

[OlegKorneitchouk]

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.

[RobertFisher]

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