Just how important is word count to your SEO results? I wasn’t looking to answer this question myself, rather this question hit me as I noticed a recent Tweet from John Mueller. Google’s John Mueller. So, what does John have to say about SEO Word Count?

Word Count Analyzation

“Having the same word-count as a top-ranking article isn’t going to make your pages rank first, just like having a bunch of USB chargers isn’t going to get you to the moon. But, I’m still tempted to buy some of those USB chargers”

While Google and John are always pretty cryptic, I feel like this is a clear statement that word-for-word matches don’t correlate to any similarities in SEO performance. It’s what you do with your keywords and how relevant your content is that matters most.

What This Means

The tricky part is that there are opinions on the matter. Studies show us that 1,500-word posts favor best with readers and rankings. But this also means you need more saturation, more headers, more links, etc. We also know from rankings and research that 300-word landing pages can absolutely kill it. SERP analysis software often presses for a minimum of 500 words.

In my opinion, Jon’s quote means that the actual number of words is less important than the use of the words themselves. That to obtain EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) doesn’t require a certain minimum or maximum length. So my advice is to focus on quality and performance and pay less attention to the word count.

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What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you have a preference for the size of your blogs? I’d love for you to share! Reach out of LinkedIn and let’s talk more.