Does it really matter how many words you have on each page of your website? Surely as long as your copy and content contain keywords, it doesn’t matter how many there are on each page?

The answer is, actually, it does matter. It matters a lot.

Firstly, the number of words is one of the factors that search engines such as Google take into account when they are deciding on the authority of your website. If your website is full of beautiful images but very little text, it will be difficult for search engines to find you at all, never mind showing you to the people you want to do business with.

Secondly, it may sound obvious, but the words on your website are what people read to find out what you do and whether you can solve a problem they have. If your pages contain hardly any words, it’s difficult for people to find out what it is that you do. And whether they know enough about you and your business to be able to like and trust you to do what you say you will.

If they can’t find this out, they’ll leave and are unlikely to come back.

But on the other side of the coin, too many words, particularly if they are badly written with lots of errors and typos, long paragraphs and sentences, will put people off. Faced with a page full of dense text, most people will leave your website.

So, how many words is the right number for different types of pages and listings? And how can links help to build your authority?

Read on to find out.

Word count

Different types of pages need a different number of words. Regular content in the form of blog posts needs to be at least 300 words to get picked up by search engines. But in reality, you need to write a lot more than that if you want your post to rank high up on results pages.

Home and About Me pages will depend on your layout and what your products and services are. Three or four good-sized paragraphs are a minimum for these pages – as I said at the beginning, you need to have enough words to share what it is you do and entice people to want to find out more about your business and how you can help them.

Product listings should be at least 200 words long.

Consider your audience

The type of audience you have will also determine the length of your content. If your industry is technical, your readers are likely to want in-depth pieces that contain lots of facts and figures to help them make purchasing decisions. However, a busy parent will want easy-to-access information that tells them quickly what they want to know.

Making the most of links

The purpose of links, whether they are internal or external, is to direct your readers to another page or website that will add value to their reading. Internal links keep people on your website so are a valuable tool to help you improve your authority. The longer someone is on your page, the more search engines think your site contains valuable content and so the more authority they give it.

Make sure you have internal links on your pages to make it easy for your readers to navigate around your website and find other interesting posts and information to read.

External links take your reader to another website. These can be tricky to get right as although external links can also help to improve your credibility, they shouldn’t be added for the sake of it. Only link to sites you trust and you think will interest your readers and that is relevant to the topic you’re writing about.

One of the key things about adding links is to make sure they are worded correctly. Naked links don’t help search engines pick up the nature of the content you’re directing people to.

How I can help

The second in my Simple SEO masterclasses gives you all the details about word counts and links. It explains why word counts are important, and shows you how and where to add links so that they help to get your website seen by the right people.

The masterclass is a 30-minute recording and at £20 is a great investment in your business. Head over to my shop to buy it, and get in touch if you’ve got any questions about it.

If you’d like regular tips and advice about taking simple steps to get your website seen by the people you want to do business with, sign up for my newsletter Simple SEO. Or head over to the blog section for simple tips and to read about some inspiring businesswomen who can help your business grow.