What is content length?
Content length refers to the total amount of content on a webpage, typically measured by word count. It can also include visual content such as images and videos, which contribute to the overall richness and depth of the page. Seeing as ‘content is king’ when it comes to the Internet, surely content length plays an important role in SEO right? Well, I would say yes, but it’s a bit more nuanced than that.
Is content length a Google ranking metric?
In the 2020 version of Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines there was an emphasis on ‘A Satisfying Amount of High Quality Main Content’. Google explicitly stated:
The amount of content necessary for the page to be satisfying depends on the topic and purpose of the page. A High quality page on a broad topic with a lot of available information will have more content than a High quality page on a narrower topic.
They then provided a few examples:
| Webpage | Discussion |
|---|---|
| Siberian Husky Information Page (Wikipedia) | The Siberian Husky (a breed of dog) is a narrow topic. Although this encyclopedia landing page has less MC than some encyclopedia pages on broader topics, it has a satisfying amount of clearly written, high quality MC. |
| Kitchen Stand Mixer Shopping Page | This shopping page on a reputable shopping website has a satisfying amount of high quality MC. The page provides the manufacturer’s product specs, as well as original product information, over 90 user reviews, shipping and returns information, multiple images of the product, etc. Note: Some of the MC is behind links on the page (“item details,” “item specifications,” “guest reviews,” etc.). Even though you have to click these links to see the content, it is still considered MC. |
| Movie Review Page | This movie review written by a movie critic has a satisfying amount of high quality MC. Time, effort, and talent/skill went into writing this movie review. |
Although this section is missing from later versions of the Quality Rater guidelines, it’s clear that content length, or the amount of content, plays a significant role in determining the quality of a page, which in turn is a direct ranking factor.
The question is, what is the required amount of content a page needs for it to be deemed as ‘satisfying’ by Google?
How to determine the ideal content length
It’s relatively simple to determine the amount of content we need for Google to classify our page as satisfying to answer a user’s search query. All we need to do is examine the pages already ranking on page one for our target keyword.
For example, if we want to rank on page one for the keyword ‘Siberian Husky’, then we can analyse the pages already ranking for this keyword. We can see that a Wikipedia page is ranked in first position, and this page has 3,200 words. It also contains 1550 words in its References section. So, Google is considering that 4,750 words is a satisfying amount of content for this search term.
This means, if we want to rank highly for this keyword, we should aim for around the same number. SEOs being SEOs, we would always try and top the first ranked page, so we would aim to create around 5,000 words of helpful content to be sure we have a page that can compete.
We can conduct this search manually to determine our ideal content length, or there are tools available to automate the process. Tools like SEMrush’s Content Template creator analyse top-ranking pages for specific keywords and identify trends in word count. It will then provide a number for the ideal word count of the page you’re aiming to create. As with all automation tools however, they need to be checked. SEMrush in particular will provide an average word count, which can easily be skewed if just one result has a disproportionate number of words compared to the other results.
Other types of content
Of course, content isn’t just words. It can be videos, images, tools and widgets.
Images, videos, and other multimedia not only count as content, but also contribute to content richness. For instance, an instructional article with detailed images or a step-by-step video can provide a more satisfying user experience than text alone.
Google is sophisticated enough to be able to read (or hear) spoken words within video. So, if you have a video with a script that contains 3,000 words, does this count towards your word count? This may be one of the reasons why Google has removed the section related to ‘amount of content’ from the Quality Rate Guidelines. It is now placing much more emphasis on the purpose of content, rather than the amount.
Main Content is any part of the page that directly helps the page achieve its purpose. MC can be text, images, videos, page features (e.g., calculators, games), and it can be content created by website users, such as videos, reviews, articles, comments posted by users, etc. Tabs on some pages lead to even more information (e.g., customer reviews) and can sometimes be considered part of the MC.
Despite this however, the same rules apply. Google has clearly determined the results on page one to be worthy of ranking highly, and so their content must be satisfying, no matter what form it takes.
Other factors to consider
As with all things in SEO, there is more to it than a simple ‘do this’. We can analyse the pages ranking on page one to determine our ideal word count, but there is a far bigger picture at play.
For example, in 2019, Brian Deane of Backlinko claims to have analysed 912 million blog posts and discovered that long-form content (more than 3000 words) gets an average of 77.2% more referring domain links than content shorter than 1000 words. Seeing as links from other websites are a direct ranking factor, this would suggest that this type of content will rank higher regardless.
In a different study, they discovered that the average length of a page ranking on page one of Google was around 1,500 words. So, if we were using front page analysis alone, then on average our pages would be around 1500 words, and we may miss an opportunity to create long form pages that are more likely to gain links from other websites.
What about AI?
Yes, good question, AI changed everything when ChatGPT became capable of creating content en masse. Google’s E-E-A-T algorithm, which was updated in December 2022, just as ChatGPT was exploding, places more emphasis on the content creators rather than the content itself. LLMs like ChatGPT means that anyone can churn out a 3,000 word article, and on paper this may be considered a satisfying ‘amount’, but does it fulfil the other ‘satisfying’ criteria?
In the most recent version of the Quality Rater Guidelines Google has shifted its focus. Now it’s asking:
“The unifying theme for evaluating the quality of the MC is the extent to which the MC allows the page to achieve its purpose and offers a satisfying user experience.”
“Consider the extent to which the content is created with enough talent and skill to provide a satisfying experience for people who visit the page.”
“We expect clear information about who (e.g., what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) created the MC, unless there is good reason for anonymity.”
This means that the length of the content is less important than the purpose of the content and more importantly, the talent, skill or credibility of the people who created it. I expect this to become more important as time goes on, and we may start seeing lower quality content ranking higher, just because it’s written by a well known and credible person in the industry.
So, is content length a Google ranking metric?
Yes, but so is its purpose, and its helpfulness and its creators. Don’t just aim for a target word count, aim to create the most helpful page you can to answer the search query. And bear in mind that this alone may not be enough. You will need to satisfy E-E-A-T and build credibility for yourself and your brand by getting published on other credible websites.
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