Copywriting for SEO • Web Content Development • (559) 589-0379
Word Count Per Page: Making It Just Right!
by Katherine Andes
"I always look forward to Katherine's Easy Web Tips. They really DO take almost no time to get through ..."
Peter Bowerman
Author Well Fed Writer
"... she always
shares something useful ... one smart tip a week, every week." Nick Usborne Author Net Words
"Thanks, also, for all the good advice you have shared with us over the past year."
Barry Hatch Managing Director Top Carpets
South Africa
“I don’t want to have too many words on my page,” is something I often hear from clients.
This isn’t the right approach to take when planning a web page. You need to have a word count that’s just right to achieve your goals.
Your word count per page is guided by two specific criteria:
1. If you want the page to be found by search engines, Google strongly recommends a minimum of 250–300 words per page.
2. What is the job of the page? If it’s to communicate a sales message of some sort, then you need to have as many words as it takes to communicate your message and convince your prospect.
The problem usually isn’t with the quantity of the words, but it is usually a question of the quality and the formatting of the words.
One sentence poorly written can be excruciating to a reader. Have you ever experienced reading a sentence on website, rereading it, and reading it again? You get so frustrated you click away.
The other common problem is poor formatting. If the margins are too wide and your eyes have to track across a wide screen, even the best sentence is rendered tiresome. Or if there aren’t enough paragraph breaks, or nothing is emboldened to help with scanning.
To see a before and after example of the above click here.
Remember, one paragraph poorly written and poorly formatted is worse than 20 paragraphs well written and properly formatted.
TIP OF THE WEEK: Use as many words as necessary on a web page to achieve your goals for search and conversion. Just make sure your text is easy to scan and read by using good formatting.
This isn’t the right approach to take when planning a web page. You need to have a word count that’s just right to achieve your goals.
Your word count per page is guided by two specific criteria:
1. If you want the page to be found by search engines, Google strongly recommends a minimum of 250–300 words per page.
2. What is the job of the page? If it’s to communicate a sales message of some sort, then you need to have as many words as it takes to communicate your message and convince your prospect.
The problem usually isn’t with the quantity of the words, but it is usually a question of the quality and the formatting of the words.
One sentence poorly written can be excruciating to a reader. Have you ever experienced reading a sentence on website, rereading it, and reading it again? You get so frustrated you click away.
The other common problem is poor formatting. If the margins are too wide and your eyes have to track across a wide screen, even the best sentence is rendered tiresome. Or if there aren’t enough paragraph breaks, or nothing is emboldened to help with scanning.
To see a before and after example of the above click here.
Remember, one paragraph poorly written and poorly formatted is worse than 20 paragraphs well written and properly formatted.
TIP OF THE WEEK: Use as many words as necessary on a web page to achieve your goals for search and conversion. Just make sure your text is easy to scan and read by using good formatting.
