The debate on the importance of word count in SEO goes on and on. Every year, there is continuous research on the average words per page. Such an average goes down every year. As in 2016, the standard word count per page was 1890. Comparatively, in 2020, that count dropped to 1447. A standard digital marketer would see this as 1500 per page, while the digital marketing conferences (2020) beg to differ. They say to take it as it is or don’t bother. Mean thereby, the sole purpose of content is to satisfy the intent of the user’s search.
A digital marketing guru said that “Content can be long or short, focus on the providing the remedy.”
Factors that genuinely matter in page ranking
We generally see that most of the times Google rankings show the pages with longer content for a keyword. But a broadened content isn’t the sole factor that takes you higher. The factors like backlinks, user intent and most importantly, a solution to query matter the most. If you look up to the top digital marketers in India/UAE, you will get insight into these factors.
Sometimes, we see quite a lot of pages that have 2000-3000 words, but they do not meet users’ expectations. This happens because no matter how many words you write or how many studies you show, the key is to answer users’ queries.
Therefore, the decline in the average word count is a lesson to be learned by many. As unless, you focus on getting backlinks and being helpful to the audience, words do not matter. A right SEO freelancer/agency will help you with that.
So, what should be the word count of your page?
It is to be said that your content must be comprehensive. Now, don’t get the idea that comprehensive means longer content. It merely means that the content should be complete in every aspect and do not leave any doubts in users’ minds.
Hence, there is no specific word count for your page. A digital marketing freelance company will help you in realizing this, as they only work after analyzing your industry.
All you have to do is be precise and satisfy the intent of the users. Such thinking will not only rule out the dilemma of word count but also get you optimal backlinks. Ultimately, you will be higher in Google rankings, assuming that you have used the right keywords.
Also, one cannot base the rankings on the above factors. We need to realize that whatever we right only matter if users want the answer to that. In other words, if users are not searching the questions to which you are providing the solutions, then many SEO factors do not matter.
Top digital marketers in India/UAE have concluded that sometimes the questions/queries are not worth answering. This is due to the cause that those queries do not mean as much as a content marketer thinks.
Fortunately, such a conclusion is the main reason which leads many marketers to a PPC Company.
Factors that make us write longer content
Most of the times, content marketers write longer content in the pressure of seeing the rankings of lengthy materials in Google. Seeing the higher-ranking sites with longer content creates an illusion that it is the only thing that matters in SEO. On the contrary, it is no brainer that SEO is more than mere content. Of course, the idea of an SEO optimized site revolves around content. But it does not mean that content has to be longer.
Factors like transition words in SEO also have a fair share in the word count. As the shorter the content gets, the more is the pressure of transition words (30%). But imagine if your content is of 500 words, what would you focus more on, keywords, transition words or answering the query? This is the main reason why most of the top digital marketers in India/UAE go for longer content.
As per studies, a logo is like the life of the party. Sometimes, a logo of a brand says more than what the content expresses. Therefore, you should have a logo design company that backs you up and complements your content.
Conclusion : As you read, there is no pressure on writing longer content; one only has to satisfy the users’ intent. Therefore, it is better to put some variables of SEO constant while you work on others. Eventually, you will notice that as long as you are giving what users need, you do not have to stuff your content. Also, in a longer-run, you can try other strategies and figure out what suits you and your brand the best.