How much text do I really need on my web pages?

Simple answer = as much as is needed to cover your subject well. This does not mean as little as you can get away with. The opposite, in fact, so as much as you can to cover what your readers want to know comprehensively.

If you want a number of words, then as a general guide aim for 500 plus.

But people don’t read long web pages?

It is often suggested to me that “people don’t read long web pages, they put them off and consequently they want short web pages with little content for their website”.

This is just wrong and isn’t going to lead to an effective website.

Most people will scan or skim, looking for things that spark their interest and then read more when they spot something they are interested in. So it is more about the way copy is written and presented than about how much there is. It needs to be easy to digest.

Too thin?

It is generally felt that under 300 is considered thin by Google and therefore unlikely to trouble the first page rankings. I have seen articles saying the ideal number of words per page for SEO is 700 to 800 and that the number of words of top-ranking blog posts is typically between 1500-2,500 words.

So where does that leave us?

Averages and guides are just that. I don’t know what the right answer is for a specific case because it very much depends on the subject being covered and the competition.

But the answer is never the minimum you can manage, it has to be the maximum you can do.

Your copy should be well written, interesting to the user, relevant to the subject, otherwise you are wasting your time.

Lots of words for the sake of a large word count is not going to help your audience or your SEO.