How Many Words Does My Web Page Need?

Finding the perfect number of words for your webpage might seem confusing. Should you listen to the professional bloggers who preach thousands of words per post or do you listen to the page optimization experts who prefer shorter but more intent-focused pages? Both approaches are terrific depending on your website approach.

How many words does my web page need? If your webpage is a blog, the more content you write to fully explain your article the better. To be safe, 1350 words is a good minimum while 3500-4000 words should be more than enough to fully explain long-form or technical content with good potential to rank. On the other hand, website landing pages only require enough words to fully explain the core offering. As few five words can work for landing pages and as many as 10,000 words have been effective for long-form sales pages.

Knowing how much to write is a real challenge. Use our guide to find out how many words to write on your webpage based on specific content types. We’ve included a few tips and tricks to improve your writing speed and idea generation as well.

How many words does my landing page need to be?

This is an awesome question. Not every website is going to require the same number of words as another. And just because you’ve heard longer posts perform better on search pages doesn’t mean it’s best for every instance.

Landing Page

There are no landing page rules when it comes to number of words on a page. There are thousands of websites that are all performing very well with varying lengths. The main point here is to trust your instincts and follow a quality formula for your landing page.

Ideally, you want to write enough to achieve your objective. That’s it. Too many words for your objective and people will leave out of boredom. Too few words and people will leave out of confusion.

An objective is what you are hoping your website visitor accomplishes on your page: education, purchase a product, product awareness, general entertainment, or continue on to another page.

To give you some insight, here are a few different examples of landing page lengths on high performing sites. Look deep into why they wrote what they wrote (or lack there of).

The Short Page

Skuawk – We love Skuawk’s minimalism. 14 words is all you’ll find here. It’s brutally effective. There is only two things you can do on this page: click the top right corner (menu) and the bottom left corner (music player). That’s it—no fuss.

Skuawk is effective because of the intention: interaction. Their landing page wants you to look at their photos or enter their music player. No fancy words, no fancy animation—just the facts jack.

This page is extremely short. It’s not a blog and it’s not blatantly selling anything. You have to tool around the site a bit to find their core offers: a $29 Hipster-sound Atmosphere player and a “pay what you want” premium photography collection. It’s refreshingly simple. Hat’s off to hipster design.

Sidenote: You absolutely have to take their hipster-sound atmosphere player for a test drive. I wrote about it here. I rarely write without it now. If you have kids or a noisey environment—thank me later.

The Medium Page

Pipedrive – Pipedrive is a sales suite with a nice, clean landing page. They have what I’d consider an average length landing-page. With 488 words, it’s not considered long or short. In fact, it’s quite similar to our blog on landing page formulas.

There isn’t anything particularly exciting on this page, but it’s effective. They do a nice job explaining their product, why you might consider it, and throw in a fair amount of social proof.

In fact, five out of their nine landing page blocks is social proof focused. This goes back to putting “enough” words in your page to achieve your objective. PipeDrive obviously felt more social proof type wording was worthy of page real estate because their objective is purchase.

The Long Page (Long Form)

EatStopEat. I’m going to use EatStopEat as my long-page example because I like Brad Pilon’s work. His landing page is nearly 9,000 words. That is a BEAST of a landing page. It’s not the longest I’ve seen, but it’s definitely what we call a “long-form” landing page.

So why is this page so much longer than the other two examples? It’s all about buyer intent. His niche is dieting and weight loss. Losing weight is deeply personal and requires people to make decisions that are near and dear to their hearts.

We’ve been inundated with diets for decades and starting a new one feels like…

via GIPHY

Brad understands this mindset and so he chose a long-form sales page that feels more narrative in style. It’s less “corporate-like” and feels like he wrote this at his kitchen table. He uses loads of social proof, science, and first-person experience.

This landing page has been extremely successful for Brad and thousands of other long-form marketers just like him. If you’re website is a personal experience product or coaching offering with tons of social proof, consider a long-form sales landing-page.

How many words does my blog post need to be (best blog length)?

Blog articles definitely play by a different set of rules than landing pages. You may end up with up to 1000x more blog pages than core-site pages (landing, contact-us, products, about us, etc) if you update content on your site regularly.

There is A LOT of conflicting advice on this topic. Some people swear by extremely long form blog posts (+2500 words). Other people have achieved good traffic with shorter posts (<1000 words). Some sites have even gone as far as giving you a specific number of words you should write in your article to maximize exposure. I’ve seen 1900 words, 3000 words, and up to 10,000 words. 😫 😫 😫 😫 .

Most of these suggestions have come from two places: average length of blogs that rank #1 on Google and average length of blogs with tons of social buzz. And I get that, you need some metric of performance.

But for the average blogger (yah, that’s us), won’t be competing against the big boys because we won’t rank for their top keywords anyway. They are just too big and have been around too long.

Okay, so how long should my blog article be?

There are two types of people: one who is trying to get traffic to their page and one is trying to write for the love of writing. Let’s talk about the traffic generator first:

The Traffic Generator

You want to bring in major traffic to your site and every word you type gets you closer to that goal. This is a business. You are serious about the time you put in and want to see results.

To get results, you have to understand that the number of words you put on your blog should be in direct correlation to the competition of your chosen article. If everyone is writing long-form content for your search term, you’ll need to write even longer content.

If you are trying to write an article for “What is the best brand for laptops,” you better roll up your sleeves and produce a monster article because you are in for some serious competition. Your chances of ranking are slim because your competition is so high. In fact, don’t write that article. Pick another one.

Your webpage will likely have less authority than the top ranking pages which is why your only chance of traffic is to write crazy-good content. And crazy-good often means tons of length, depth, and fury (images, videos, charts, infographics, etc). You aren’t throwing the kitchen sink at a keyword like this, you are throwing your entire kitchen and your least favorite child’s bedroom at it.

How to find the ideal blog length:

1. Look at the top 2 or 3 ranking posts. Are they long? Are they from big brands? Do you even stand a chance? Will you even make the top 4 or 5 even? If the competition is fierce—pick another topic.
2. If your blog topic/keyword is worth writing, look at the number 1 and 2 articles and count the number of words. Download the word counter on Google Chrome to help you out.
3. From here, you’ll need to craft your word-count action plan. Most blog lengths will fall into three tiers (short 100 -1500 words, medium 1500-3000 words, long 3000+ words). Whatever your competitions blogs length is, move up to the next tier and write BETTER content. For example, if the top search wrote a decent 900 word blog (short), you might want to write between 1500-3000 words (medium) AND do a better job.
4. If you are about to write a balls-to-the-wall long post to win a ranking (3000+ words), make sure that you feel confident that it will bring traffic. It shouldn’t be some rare search-term that five people in the North Pole are searching for like “How many days of snow does Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, Norway get?” Just because you think you can win doesn’t mean you should spend your time trying to win. If for any reason you think the article is for an unpopular search, bail early.
5. If everything is a go, get started writing!

If you aren’t sure how to size up your competition and you want a little bit more guidance, check out our blog on keyword research. It’s super helpful and all you will need to research like a pro.

Writing for Passion

If you fall into the writing for passion category, just write like a mother. Seriously, don’t worry about it.

If you have the slightest doubt that you’ll want this to become something bigger in the future, then write more words per article. You don’t have to go crazy, but write enough to where you say, “That was my best.” In this way, you’ll be able to capitalize on your earlier efforts later on should your site become a hit.

I’ve seen a lot of great writers who become full-time bloggers later on and regret not putting in a bit more work upfront. They have a ton of 300-500 word blogs from the early days that aren’t really helping them at this point. It takes a while for Google to rank your blogs (8-9 months in some cases), which is why it’s important to understand your work today will impact your future scalability.

Many bloggers stumble their way to success without ever thinking about keywords, competition, or back-links. They focus on great content and then unforeseen but magical things happen. If you don’t need notoriety or have aspirations of big readership, just write awesome content.

Does blog length make a difference for SEO?

Yes, it makes huge a difference. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about structuring your site to maximize your opportunity to rank. No one really knows the perfect recipe to rank, and if someone tells you they can land you on page one by next month, RUN-AWAY-IMMEDIATELY!

Here is what we do know: search engines likes long, authoritative content. And, study after study after study back this claim up. There have been many niche sites that have climbed their way to the top with incredible, long-form content.

If you come across a blog ranking #1 for a what appears to be a competitive search, I’ll bet they have incredible, long-form content on their site.

Why does blog length matter for SEO?

This is a valid question and the answer is really quite simple: the idea behind search engine optimization is that you are structuring your website and content in a way that is favorable for search engines to rank your content. You’re effectively trying to earn a search engine’s affection.

The best way to earn affection is to give LOTS OF REASONS for them to send traffic your way. The more content you produce, the more reasons you give.

More content means more information for a search engine to scan. That’s right, search engines scan your website regularly to see what’s on it. Extremely advanced algorithms connect all of your words to search queries (machine learning).

Through these machine learning algorithms, search engines decide if your content is relevant to a searchers intent, questions, and inquiries. Machine learning is advancing everyday and giving searchers better results all the time. This is good for bloggers who write insanely helpful content.

Also, because you never know what search engines are truly looking for, we encourage you to write the most helpful content you possibly can. Whatever it is you are writing, make it a superior resource on that specific keyword or search. Scan the top five pages ranking to get an idea what you are standing up against.

Seriously. Take that to heart. If you want to begin ranking, you have to create epic content. If you are worried, you shouldn’t be. You should be excited because search engines like Google, Bing, Firefox, and Safari are giving you an opportunity to play in the arena against the big boys. This should excite you. You have a tool to win rankings; and that tool is creating INCREDIBLE CONTENT.

Word of caution: Don’t write fluff. Don’t write a bunch of words for the sake of writing A LOT of words. This won’t rank your article better. Search engines are smarter than this. Focus on creating the best content available with enough words to fully illustrate your expertise.

How do I count the number of words on my website page?

Counting words on a website can be critical for SEO optimization, competitor research, and general search information. There are a few ways to go about this with ease.

How to count words on a WordPress website page:

With the new rollout of the WordPress page editor, you can press the tiny little information button and it will give you the word count on your page. This was a very thoughtful addition. I use this throughout my article to make sure that I am creating enough rich content. I’m not obsessive about it, but it’s really helpful when writing my blog.

How to count words on a webpage in Chrome:

When you are surfing the web or looking at your own content, using a webpage word counter is a real lifesaver. The chrome extension Word Counter Plus is a fantastic tool that you can use on a daily basis. You simply highlight any amount of words on a webpage when in Google Chrome and it will give you the word count. You can use this on your blog or any other website.

One thing this tool is exceptional for is competitor research. If you are looking to rank for an article and want to check out your competition, you can look at their blog, highlight all of the words, and then get an idea of what type of word count you are competing against.

How to count words on a webpage with free browser tools:

If you don’t have WordPress or Google Chrome, Wordcounter.net and Essay Tools are really great resources. They are dead-simple to use as well. You copy all the text from a website and then paste it in. I used this technique in college quite a bit before Word Counter Plus came out. These are great tools for quickly checking word lengths. I’ve often kept these websites open in a browser tab while doing research and writing.

How to count words on your entire website:

Counting all the words on a website is extremely challenging without advanced SEO tools—until now. Weglot, a word translation company, has created a free tool that gives you estimates on the number of words on your website. It takes a while to return website count results, but if you keep it running in the background, it can be quite useful.

This tool is great for larger competitor research. If you are starting a blog and want to model your success after another blog, it might be helpful to know how much content they’ve produced. If a competitor blog has 500,000 words on their entire website and a lot of traffic, you better get writing!!! If a competitor blog has 5,000 words and a lot of traffic, they have black-magic and you should stay away.

How can I write my website article faster?

Oh yah, this is where blog writing gets fun—speed writing. For people starting out on their web writing journey, speed is one of the biggest fear factors. We’ve heard all of the complaints:

• “I’m not a fast writer.”
• “I can’t type quickly.”
• “I can’t think of what to say.”
• “I was never a good writer. I can’t write.”

You can do this! There are tools to help you accomplish this. Let’s go case by case and help you with each problem.

I’m not a fast writer

If you aren’t a naturally fast writer, join the club. Most online bloggers struggled with this early on. But there is light at the end of the speed-writing tunnel. We can help you out with a few things that can make your writing infinitely faster.

1. Plan out your article headings: Don’t just go all willy-nilly and expect great results. You should plan out your article headings first. Start each article with at least five headings. To do this, think through the natural questions your reader might ask next in a conversation. If your first heading is “How to chop wood with an axe,” your next heading might be “How heavy is an axe?”
2. Do your research ahead of time: After you write down all of your headings, you’ll know if your article requires research. Do that now and save it. You can save it in a Google Doc, keep a few browser windows open with research pages, or use a blog research tool like AirStory or Evernote. I personally use Evernote because it’s quite good, but Airstory is amazing as well if you are a hardcore researcher. I feel Evernote has more useful tools overall for a blog.
3. Write without overthinking first: With your headings and research done, start writing. Don’t think, don’t get cutesy, just write. There is a good reason professional writing teams edit AFTER they write—it’s faster and more effective. Don’t slow yourself down by overthinking every word or phrase. Put the thesaurus away on the first round and get cracking.
4. Edit on another day: Your first pass is done and your ready to edit ASAP. Wrong! You aren’t ready to edit today, you are ready to edit tomorrow (at the earliest). You brain is now mush; it’s a smorgasbord of randomness. Don’t edit today, come back tomorrow fresh. You’ll catch things in the coming days that will surprise you.
5. Save creative graphics for last: Yes, graphics are fun. Picking the perfect picture is fun. Finding a great meme is fun. And, they are all distracting. You’ll need 1 image for every 500 words—words are obviously more time-consuming. Also, if you spend too much time on graphics early on, you’ll end up making graphics for word blocks that will be edited out. Don’t do this. Plan, research, write, edit, and THEN create graphics. Trust me… I’ve made this mistake too many times. I still have a Luke Skywalker graphic that took me 2 hours which has yet to be used.

I can’t type quickly

I get it, not everyone took a typing course in school or have had jobs which required typing. If you are a slow typer, I have three things for you:

1. Write 1000 words every day: That’s right, start writing a ton of words every single day. Interestingly, you’ll become a much faster typer and you’ll become a more succinct writer. Everyone hates grandpa’s “practice makes perfect” speech, but the old geezer was on to something.
2. Practice typing skills: Use a free website like Keybr or an in depth course like TypingClub and practice typing each morning for 15 minutes. You will increase your typing skills IMMENSELY in a few weeks. In fact, touch typing is a skill so important to blogging faster that I might start this before typing a single blog post out.
3. Voice to Text Technology: Speaking your words out is a good way to write much faster. You can type seriously fast if you have a conscious stream of thought happening. By using Google Docs to draft your blogs, you can use Google’s native voice recognition technology. Open a Google Doc > Click Tools > Select Voice Typing. Click the red microphone when you are ready to start speaking. It’s super easy and super fun. I actually use this when I don’t have access to WordPress but I have some thoughts I want to put into blog content.

I can’t think of what to say

Ah yes, writers block. It’s totally normal for new AND seasoned bloggers to have a case of brain-freeze. But today, there are less reasons to get writers-block than every before. It’s the age of information. There are enormous amounts of information out there to help you generate great ideas.

4 Steps to conquer writers block immediately:

1. Youtube: Go onto Youtube and watch channels in your niche. You aren’t stealing anything, you are educating yourself on inspiration. Nothing speaks to us like real people and this is an awesome way to generate great ideas.
2. Go down the Google rabbit hole: Start searching and then keep going until something tickles your fancy. This is not the same as wandering into the Google abyss out of boredom. This is research. Visiting a few authority sites in your niche is a great way to see how they are presenting topical content. Try the keyword research method here.
3. Go to the bookstore: Sure, bookstores are closing everywhere, but if you are lucky enough to have one in your neighborhood, head over. Browse books in your niche, look at their table of contents, and scan through the chapters to see what types of questions they are answering. Head over to the magazine area and flip through publications in your niche. Bookstores are so fun…and serve coffee ☕☕☕!
4. Keyword generator: Maybe you have an idea of what you want to write about but need a few more headings or topics. Head over to Answer The Public and let them take you down the road of random questions. This site is so useful. I’d suggest you bookmark it.

I was never a good writer. I can’t write.

I’ve heard this one before. Here’s the deal: I’m not a great writer either. You’ve probably spotted 100 grammatically incorrect words. But I don’t care. My goal is to help people and I think you can do the same.

Don’t worry about what others think of your writing. You are building a content machine. And, your content will improve over time. Your writing is guaranteed to improve with consistency. Sure, you might cringe a year from now reading the posts you write today. SO WHAT! Starting today will afford you the opportunity to cringe in a year; we call that progress.

Most people will never get past the point of not feeling good enough AND they will never start. The good news for you is that you want to start.

If you need some great resources on becoming a better writer, here is my top list:

1. The Writing Revolution: This is a great book to build foundational knowledge like grammar and style. It’s a best seller on Amazon and I’m confident you’ll find it beneficial.
2. Be A Writing Machine: This is a great book if you are solid with grammar but want to take your writing consistency and frequency up a notch. This is a stellar guide on speed writing and creating content quickly.
3. On Writing Well. My favorite book on writing. Read it and then read it again. Keep it handy when writing and it’ll change your content immediately.
4. On Writing by Stephen King: I can’t count how many times this book has ended up on a must-read list for writers. Read it. Steven King is a prolific writer and you can learn much from him young Jedi.
5. The Elements of Style: This book also makes the must-read book list of many aspiring writers. My favorite part of this book are the examples. They are very helpful to see spots where you can improve your writing.

Related Questions

How many words do professional writers write in one day? Professional writers often aim for a specific word count each day. This keeps their ideas flowing consistently. I once read that famous Poet Maya Angelou would rent out a hotel room in the same city she lived in just to write consistently.

There are many great authors that aimed for specific word counts each day. Most authors with consistent word count goals aim to write between 500 and 3000 words per day.

• Stephen King – 2000 words per day
• Ernest Hemingway – 500 words per day
• Jack London – 1500 words per day
• Sarah Waters – 1000 words per day
• Kate DiCamillo – 600+ words per day
• Anne Rice – 3000 words per day

What does 250, 500, and 1000 words look like? Writing 250 words might seem daunting, but you can do this. If you are familiar with writing papers in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, then this chart will help you visualize what different word lengths look like: