I still remember staring at a 2,500-word “SEO checklist” a client handed me, convinced that hitting that number was the secret to ranking. Three months later, a competitor’s 700-word post was sitting above ours for the exact same keyword. That’s when it really clicked for me: word count is a side effect of good content, not the goal itself.
If you’ve ever padded a post to hit some arbitrary number — or worse, cut a genuinely useful section short because you were “already at 1,000 words” — this one’s for you.
Where the “longer is better” myth came from
A handful of studies years ago noticed that top-ranking pages tended to be longer than average. That’s true — but it’s a correlation, not a cause. Long posts often rank well because they’re thorough enough to answer every version of a question, not because Google counts words and rewards the highest number.
Google has said directly, more than once, that there’s no ideal word count. I’ve seen 400-word pages outrank 3,000-word pages on the same keyword, simply because the short page answered the question faster and the long one buried the answer under fluff.
What actually matters more than length
In my experience, three things move the needle far more than hitting a target word count:
- Search intent match — does the page give the reader exactly what they typed the query to find, without making them scroll past three paragraphs of preamble first?
- Depth on the actual question — covering the edge cases and follow-up questions a reader would naturally have, even if that only takes 600 words.
- Time on page and engagement — Google watches whether people stick around or bounce back to the results. A focused short post often wins here against a bloated long one.
Honestly, this is easier than it sounds once you stop thinking in word counts and start thinking in questions answered. Write until the reader’s question is fully resolved — then stop.
So how long should your post actually be?
There’s no universal number, but here’s the rule of thumb I actually use: look at what’s currently ranking on page one for your target keyword, and ask what those pages cover that yours doesn’t. Match or exceed that coverage — not the word count, the coverage. Sometimes that means 500 words. Sometimes it means 2,000.
A quick “how to reset a router” query needs a short, scannable answer. A “complete guide to choosing a CRM” query needs real depth, because the reader is doing research, not looking for one fact.
The bottom line
Word count was never the ranking factor — it just happened to correlate with thoroughness for a while. Write to fully answer the question your reader actually has, cut anything that doesn’t earn its place, and the right length will take care of itself. A tight 600-word post that nails the intent will beat a padded 2,000-word post every time.
Next time you sit down to write, skip the word count tab entirely. Open the search results for your keyword instead, see what’s missing, and write that.