Onsite Content - Word Count & KW Density

[greentent]

Does the word count of a webpage make a difference to search engines?  Are longer word counts on pages indexed higher or given higher priority?

For example,say you have 300 words of copy packed with 20 keywords, and say you also have 700 words of copy that have the same 20 keywords worked in, does Google have a preference over which one it ranks higher?

[APICDA]

Personally, I would try and focus on page titles, descriptions and user friendly content.  I have found search engines these days seem to frown upon "keyword stuffing".  Just my thoughts........ keep it simple, clear and clean, focus based for the viewer.  Just my thoughts, hope it helps.

[irvingw]

Two separate issues

a) keyword density. it is now better to not overuse your keyword or keyword phrase in your content, your example is way too high. you only need a few instances in the content - add synonyms and similar industry terms rather than the same keyword over and over again. it reads horrible and Google knows you're keyword stuffing.

b) content on page. yea the word count absolutely matters in a post panda world. flimsy pages with 250 words or so will be considered low quality. pages with 500+ words will have a much better shot at ranking.

[EdStaton]

Keyword stuffing will also likely lead to the dreaded Google Allinanchor penalty which can cause your rankings to slip dramaticly.  Might want to do some research on Allinanchor penalities.  Would be worth your while.

[NoahGlaser78]

This is always a discussion I see that really does not matter all that much. Do not write content with keyword density in mind. Write it on topic and for the users and it should com naturally. If you focus too much on pushing your keyword in teh copy then it will look spammy and may be hard for readers.

As for length, I say the more the better. You do not want a page with nothing on it but you also do not want pages and pages of absolute nothing.  500-1000 words i think is a good range

[gmk1567]

I would suggest keyword density not to exceed 2 to 3%.

Excessive usage will lead to keyword stuffing penalty.

Less usage may not relay the topic relevancy to search engine.

http://tagcrowd.com is a nice tool to visualize keyword concentration in any page.

[Dr-Pete]

I think there are some good points here, but I want to warn that it really depends. There are sites with 250-word pages that do well, if that content is unique and isn't buried in ads, etc. If you have 1,000 words but it's all syndicated from other sites and jammed with ads, you could have Panda breathing down your neck.

I would generally not worry about keyword density. Write natural copy, with solid topic focus, and your keywords will organically end up represented in various forms. Google is a lot more sophisticated than just counting keywords or density these days, and trying to engineer the perfect number is more likely to harm you than help (as others mentioned). Plus, you can drive yourself crazy for something that will ultimately have a very small impact.

What I think is a lot more important is your overall keyword strategy. Instead of worrying about how many times a keyword is on a page, focus on the structure of your site. Which pages target which keywords? Are there important variants that need their own content (and can you create unique content for them)? Are you spread too thin. I see many more problems caused by bad keyword strategy ACROSS sites than within any one page.