Google’s John Mueller has stated that the length of content does not determine its quality.
“Some pages have a lot of words that say nothing,” Mueller points out. Conversely, pages with fewer words can be highly relevant to a user’s query.
Therefore, Google does not rank pages based solely on word count. Shorter content can rank just as well as longer content.
The key is how effectively the content meets a specific query.
If someone is seeking a quick answer to a simple question, a lengthy article might be exactly what they do not want.
This discussion emerged on Twitter when a user inquired about the potential benefits of de-indexing shorter articles.
Mueller responded by asserting that “word count is not indicative of quality.”
Ultimately, it’s up to the site owner to make informed decisions.
John Mueller tweeted, “I agree with you & Mihai :). Word count is not indicative of quality. Some pages have a lot of words that say nothing. Some pages have very few words that are very important & relevant to queries. You know your content best (hopefully) and can decide whether it needs the details.”
It’s important to note that Google’s updated Quality Rater Guidelines do not mention anything specific about word count.
When Google’s quality raters manually assess content, they determine if pages “achieve their purpose.”
This could involve answering a question, describing a product, providing how-to instructions, and so on.
Therefore, don’t focus excessively on word counts. Consider whether the content serves its “beneficial purpose.”
If Google finds that the content is beneficial to users, it will rank accordingly, regardless of its length.
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