How long your content should be to get on top of Google Search?

“The lengthier the blog post is, the better it will rank.”

“Make it 3000 words and it will be in top 3.”

“For high competing keywords, you need a blog with at least 10,000 words.”

And all of the above three statements are B.S.

How come?

Not just like that.

And well, the honest answer is: “It depends.”

Yes, 💯 cliché!

But 💯 true!

“But how is that helpful?”

I didn’t say I am done. Read my words ahead 👇

To help you understand how length of content plays in SEO, let me feed couple of points into your head.

“Okay, bring it on.”

Sure, jump in 👇

Yes, length of content matters for SEO

Yes, length of content MATTERS for SEO. 

But that doesn’t mean you should unnecessarily drag a topic to 10,000 words. 

Google never released a statement saying add XYZee number of words to your page and I will rank it!

By length here, I mean depth of content. 

Imagine you are writing a blog about how to do email marketing.

Now, there is no damn way there to find out how precise your length should be.

What you do next?

You put everything you know about email marketing in a doc to make it a comprehensive guide.

You do your research, see what’s ranking in top 10, what kind of content all those top 10 blogs have. 

Then you cover all those factors in your content. 

And then you add some amazing examples to it from real brands, add your own story and experience to it, your own flair, your own style. 

And kudos! 

You have got a fresh blog that’s different and better than all others there on the internet, unique, and which has inherit a style that only you have 😎 

That’s how you make a world-class blog, better than all others on the internet, rather than counting word-limit of how much you have typed on your fingers. 

For example, as I am writing this self-proclaimed awesome article for YOU, I don’t give a damn about how many words I have typed and how many more I am going to. My fingers are flowing on my Mac right now, dictated by the SEO section of my brain! 

And all I care about in this article is to make your head as clear as Bisleri mineral water about how long a content should be to rank high on Google! That’s it.

So, when you feel that you have covered the topic in best possible depth, better-than-best enough for your readers, that’s when you stop. Not on the command of some word counter. 

“What should be the length of my content?”

Again, it depends!

As I mentioned in last point, stop only when you feel you have made your blog better-than-best and have covered everything that your readers need to know. 

“Still, can you give me some more concrete points?”

Well, have I ever disappointed you?

I don’t remember!

Sure, let me give you some “data-driven” points now to please yourself, your Head of Marketing slash Growth, or your CEO, or anyone who won’t wake up in morning without eating some sort of data.

Alright, enough of damn rant here. Moving on to data 👇  

📊 The minimum word count required for an SEO-optimized page is 300 words.

Why?

If the content is less than 300 words, Google classifies it as thin and throws it out of its index, in my experience. 

“What do you mean by ‘in my experience’?”

What I mean is that not every data is public on the internet, some data also come to me based on my own SEO work.

I have seen Google often doesn’t index blogs and pages which are less than 300 words saying “crawled but not indexed.”

Besides, I don’t know how you can make a good blog or page in just 300 words! And I am not talking contact and about pages here. I am talking pages you are trying to rank for some keywords, alright.

So yeah, you can call 300-word content kinda “The Minimum Guy” in SEO!

That means it will be out there ticking for a name sake but it won’t get you any results. 

Want some more data?

Rolling here 👇

📊 Posts with around 1000 words correlate with getting the best backlinks.

📊 Posts with around 2000 words correlate with getting the best Google traffic.

📊 Seven minutes is the optimum reading time for a page or blog post.

“🤔”

“Oh, these stats are so vague! How can I plan the best word limit for my blogs?”

Again, as I said, I don’t care about these stats really. I am just quoting these to let you know what industry has come up with “research.”

All the blogs I do and my team does, we never fix a blog length. We just do our best to cover the topic in best possible way, to make it better-than-best on the internet.

Let me just say: If you have covered a blog topic well enough in 800 words, it is unnecessary to add 1000 more words to it. And if you think that even at 5000 words, more details are required to cover the blog topic comprehensively for your audience, do it.

Only one simple question you should be asking while creating content: “Is this the best blog on the internet for this topic?”

And there can be only two possible answers to that: “Yes” or “No.”

If it’s a Yes, cool. Go live. 

If it’s a no. Get back to it, add whatever is missing. Make it better-than-best. Go live. 

Simple!

No counting words, ever. 

“Has this approach worked for you?”

I will be biased if I tell you myself. Ask my clients or see the testimonials on ZeroAdo!

See, I have done blogs with just 1200 words ranking on #1 and I have also done blogs with 7500+ words struggling in the top 3 and beyond! It all depends upon the requirements of the topic.

So, do not let anyone fool you into thinking that 3,000-word blog is a must or 600-word blog works best!

Focus on:

→ Your blog topic.

→ Understand what people searching for related keywords are looking for.

→ And also see what content currently ranks for those keywords to understand search intent.

Gel all these factors, bring in your X factor and your own flair, and make your blog the world's best blog on that topic, ensuring every word adds value and not fluff.

Once you do that, rankings and growth for your business will be unstoppable.

And mind you: Length isn’t the ONLY ranking factor

Now, you know that length and depth of your content matters. 

You also know “how long your content should be” to make it to top ranks in Google.

And next, you should also know that length is not the ONLY ranking factor.

It happens a lot in SEO that a shorter blog is doing well than a longer blog.

“How can that happen?”

A lot of factors impact SEO like 👇

→ Quality of content; as in how much value each word is adding. Is it fluff or is it adding any value?

→ Overall user experience, speed, and accessibility of the website: Does it look cool for 2024 or is it very 2010-ish? 

→ ‘Good’ external and internal backlinks pointing to your content: Are they more or less than your competitors?

→ And a LOT MORE factors I need a spreadsheet for to list down!

Again, I can’t repeat it enough: Make the better-than-best content for your audience. Do NOT worry about the word limit. Don’t give a damn about word count. Just focus on making your blog the best piece for that topic on the internet. And I promise you, it will get you results. 

And before I go for the day, I will leave you with this example 👇

I Googled: “how to do email marketing” 👇

You can see in snapshot 👆 that this blog from Adobe 👇 is ranking on #1 position:

And this blog from Sprout Social 👇 is ranking on #2 position:

You know what’s the length of both these blog posts?

I counted for you!

→ Adobe: 2312 words

→ Sprout: 3382 words

I rest my case here!

BTW, do you follow any word-limit for your SEO content? Or you go with the flow on making it a masterpiece? I’m curious to know 🙂