How Important is Word Count in local SEO?

Word count - the number of words on any given page or blog post - is one of many factors to be taken into account alongside links, website SEO friendliness, and other authority factors. Hitting a minimum wordcount threshold is also important simply because the search engines' spiders need a certain amount of words on a page to begin to make sense of the page's content.

Word count is a frequent topic of conversation between us, our local business clients and agency partners. The most commonly-asked questions we hear tends to be along the lines of "How long should our blog post be?" or "How many words do we need for our service landing page?".

So what exactly is the word count sweet spot? And how can we make sure that our content is optimised for local search? In this post we take a look at the importance of word count for local SEO, and how your local business can make the most of it.

Why is word count important for local SEO?

Wordcount is important for local SEO for a number of reasons. 

Firstly, it helps search engines understand what your content is about. The more words you have, the more keywords you can target, and the easier it is for search engines to make sense of what you're saying, and match your content to relevant searches. 

Wordcount is also important for keeping people engaged with your content. The longer people stay on your page, the better it is for your local SEO and the likelihood that your reader will engage further with your website. So if you can keep people reading with well-written, engaging content, you're likely to see a boost in your search engine rankings.

the truth about word count

There are some frequent misconceptions about word count, after all, Google’s John Mueller recently confirmed that Word count is not a ranking factor. Specifically, Mueller stated, “Just blindly adding text to a page doesn’t make it better.” So, rather than looking at the number of words on a page, Google’s algorithms look for original, relevant, and high-quality content, or sometimes referred to as Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness, better known as E-A-T.

Misunderstood Studies

A famous study from Backlinko , published in 2020 says the “average Google first page result contains 1,447 words.”

It would be easy for us to therefore presume that pages need roughly 1,500 words to rank on page one of the search engine results pages (SERPs). But, that is not what the study is telling us, rather it only suggests a commonality between top ranking pages, which is a correlation, as opposed to the causation. 

Why Long-Form Content Often Ranks Higher

Despite Google’s statement that word count doesn’t directly affect ranking, there is plenty of information and keyword tools that imply a longer word count does improve ranking.

This is why tools like Yoast on Wordpress provide recommended word counts for SEO purposes.

Here are the main reasons a higher word count can improve your ranking.

• These tools often base their recommendations on word count on competitor analysis.

• Writing longer content helps Google to figure out the purpose of your page. 

• High quality and comprehensive copy position you as an authority on the topic. 

• Higher word count helps you to rank for long-tail keyword variants.

The Right Word Count For Your Content

There’s no magic formula to follow in terms of the best word count for local SEO, which is why it is often confusing and unclear. However you can look at the following components.

• Keyword strategy 

• User intent

• Competition

• Past performance 

Each of the above factors can determine the best word count for your content. Let’s look at each in more detail below.

Your Keyword Strategy

Have you ever created a piece of content with just one single target keyword in mind?

Perhaps think again as a study by Ahrefs states that longer content is more likely to rank in the top 10 for multiple keywords. Therefore it is a good idea to cover your primary topic from various points, meaning an opportunity to rank for more keywords.

Longer articles have a higher chance of ranking for long-tail variations of your primary keyword. Long-tail keywords are keyword phrases that are three or more words long and are very specific. 

Long tail keywords provide targeted results. They have lower competition and much higher conversion rates, because they are so specific, and are not searched for as often.

For example, long-tail variants of “Accountants” might include “Accountants end of year tax returns”, and “Accountants for charities and non-profit.”

Understanding User Intent and the Keywords They Use

Being visible online enables businesses to improve brand awareness, generate leads and improve conversions. But simply just producing long form content to become more visible is not enough. The content needs to produce results. This is where user intent, specifically, buyer keywords are hugely important. Content long form or short form must target the right search intent.

The four buyer keywords: 

• Informational Keywords – How, What, Why, Where. Searchers look for information in order to increase their knowledge of a certain product or service.

• Locational Keywords-  These are terms, which include specific locations, such as, "Electrician near me" or "Solicitors Northampton."

• Navigational Keywords – These include specific brand names, products, services, directions and prices.

• Transactional Keywords – Searchers use words like ‘buy’ for the specific brand, product, or service that they’re looking for. 

In order to structure your content in a way that it answers relevant questions, you must understand what your customer is looking for. 

Satisfying and answering user intent has become perhaps the most important factor for ranking well. It’s nothing to do with having the longest content, but it’s everything to do with answering the searchers intent in the best way possible. Google also wants satisfied customers afterall.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that a 6,000 word blog spanning multiple keywords and which covers everything on a topic, will rank better than a shorter blog of say, 650 words, which focuses on answering a specific question, with only the most relevant points.

As user intent is one of the hottest topics in local SEO for 2023, let’s now look at it in more detail.

Search Intent

Is your content relevant?

Firstly it is a good idea to think about the purpose of your page. What the page has been created for is of the utmost importance when considering its ability to rank well in organic search results. 

What would a user want and expect to see when landing on the page?

Only by understanding what a user wants from their search can we ensure the page is comprehensive enough to meet the user's needs. It is never the “volume of words” that will be the deciding factor, simply the length of the copy should be as much as is needed to aid the user in achieving their objective. 

This could be quickly identifying the answer to a question, or alternatively providing an in-depth explanation of a subject, or simply conveying the specs, prices or availability of a product. For example, the act of scrolling all the way down can be frustrating, especially when trying to find specific content, for example a certain recipe. 

Google’s SEO starter guide tells us, “Content should be factually accurate, clearly written, and comprehensive.” Comprehensive means “complete and including everything that is necessary.”

However, longer pages could rank well indirectly due to their length.

Competition

You can also use word count as a benchmark metric when comparing your content to the competition. And looking at the word count of the current top performers is a good place to start.

If you are unsure how long an article should be, there are tools that provide the word count of the top-performing articles for specific keywords. Think about what your customer wants when they search for a keyword. If they want comprehensive information, you can think about exceeding your competitors’ word count.

On the other hand, if your audience wants a quick answer, you should choose to create shorter content that gets to the point faster, making it easier for your customer to find the exact information they need quickly on your webpage.

As it relates to word count, search intent should always lead your decision on whether you want to follow the competition, or differentiate your content through length.

Past performance

Finally, look at past performance to discover what content length works best for you.You can do this by reviewing past SEO performance regularly and see if any trends arise. Can you find a word count sweet spot where you tend to rank higher?

If there are shorter articles that aren’t ranking as high as you’d like, try going back to your keyword research and figuring out how you can add more useful and relevant information. And vice versa, if you have longer articles which are not ranking, why not condense them to answer the query and edit out any ‘fluff’.

The Customer is Always Right

There is no doubt that word count is an important element in local SEO. But is there a perfect wordcount for your blog or web page? Well, it depends...

If you focus on creating high-quality, keyword-rich content that will help your potential customers solve (or at least understand) their problem, that will help position yourselves as the expert. Of course by producing high-quality content, you will naturally increase the quantity of your output but if you can answer a customer’s query within 500 words, then don’t waste your time writing a 2,000-word article. 

If you'd like help with your content strategy, find out more about our Essentials package.  ‘Essentials’ is our popular,  effective and affordable ‘done-with-you’ monthly local SEO program.