If you came here to know what is the best word count for SEO, Google said the word count doesn’t matter. I agree.
Many people say that over 2,000 words are ideal as search engines will think your blog post contains a lot of useful information if it has so many words.
But they just haven’t done their research. Or they haven’t experimented with their own blog posts. Or they haven’t ranked enough blog posts.
In this article, we will discuss the following:
- What is the best word count for SEO?
- How long does it take to write an article?
- Writing tools to improve writing speed
Let’s get started!
What Is the Best Word Count for SEO?
What is the best word count for SEO? None!
I have 2,000-word blog posts on A Lover in Disguise, and not all of them are ranking. (Maybe because of the quality.)
On the contrary, I have less than 1,500-word blog posts that are ranking. How Introverts Fall in Love is one of them. It has been on the first page since 2021.
I also haven’t worked with a client who requires over 2,000 words. Many of them want 300 to 1,500 words. But it is my choice as it is time-consuming and mentally draining!
Less than 500 words sound too little to me, though, because there is no room for in-depth explanations.
But I tried it out on this blog for almost a year, and a few blog posts got on the first page. But it was because I targeted long-tail keywords!
Below is this website’s performance from June 10th of 2023 through March 31st of 2024, which was poor:
The <500 Words SEO Experiment
I wanted to see if a post with less than 500 words could outrank longer ones, or if they could rank at all. Result: It could. Glad to know!
I could tell my clients that there is no best word count for SEO because the experts said so. But I wanted to be that expert and show them MY proof.
During the experiment, I wrote casually. I rarely linked to credible sources and mostly talked about my own experiences with SEO. Why?
I knew I would be more impressed with the results if the blog posts that ranked on the first page were obviously not as informative as the others.
Does the writing style matter? Is there a need to link to the industry giants like Forbes? I wanted to have answers to those questions!
Some of the blog posts used in the experiment ranked, so less than 500 words and poor quality content are SEO-friendly.
But ranking doesn’t mean getting more views.
I ranked because I targeted long-tail keywords, which 0 to a few people search for. They didn’t help with my blog traffic, so I was not impressed.
I decided to do an SEO audit on this blog and improve the quality of my content. This was part of the experiment. You are reading the better version of this post.
How Long Does It Take to Write an Article?
Knowing how long it takes to write an article allows you to set realistic expectations.
The number of hours to finish an article depends on the requirements, or the content brief. But these are the factors at play in most situations:
- The number of words
- The scope of the article
- Whether the article is in-depth
- The knowledge of the writer
- What images will be used
- How long the editing phase takes
I can finish a 500-word article in about an hour if I know the topic well enough. If I need to research, it may take 2 or more hours, depending on the complexity.
I have previously written about the time it takes to write 500 words, which you may want to read.
Writing Tools to Improve Writing Speed
If you want to quickly finish an article so that you can write more, which helps with your goal of posting consistently, there are writing tools that can help you.
Here are some writing tools to improve writing speed:
1. Notepad for Mobile
Before you search for “Notepad for Mobile” in your app store, it is not an app. I am talking about any notepad you can install on your mobile device, and make sure the notes sync across devices.
You want speed, right?
I love Notesnook because the free version has tools and features perfect for writers who want to write on the go.
It is distraction-free, available for all operating systems, has a great organization system, and syncs automatically and fast! It is better than Obsidian in my opinion.
2. Generative AI Tools
Okay, I know what you are thinking. I am also not a huge fan of AI articles — I write my articles from scratch!
But biases aside, generative AI tools like ChatGPT can “write” faster than humans. Many businesses actually use it as their “writer” and then they hired an editor to improve the output.
There is no denying that it improves writing speed!
3. Grammarly
Who doesn’t know Grammarly? It is a popular AI editing tool among writers, which cuts the editing process in half.
I have been using Grammarly since 2019. Sometimes, it suggests edits that do not apply to the writing considering the context. But if you know what you are talking about, why blame the tool?
Grammarly is a robot, and it can’t read your mind. This is why knowledge of the language is important for writers, too!
Conclusion
The best word count for SEO doesn’t exist, so don’t put pressure on yourself or your writer. If you can include all the information in an 800-word article without fluff, that is better, especially for user experience.
SEO increases your leads via search engines, but if you take people to a poorly written, shallow article, they will leave. That hurts your bounce rate, which is bad for SEO.
Go to Google and search for anything, and then check those pages in the top 10. You will find some that have outranked their competitors even with a lower number of words.
Liked the article? How about a free SEO audit from me?
What is the best word count for SEO? None! But trashy content leads to a high bounce rate! I can help you find poorly optimized articles with my free SEO audit. Click here to learn more!
