For years, I’ve heard the same advice echo through the SEO community: write at least 1,500 to 2,000 words if you want to rank. Brief writers included target word counts in every content spec. Clients asked me to add more words to pages that already said everything they needed to say. The assumption was simple: more words equals better rankings.
But here’s what I’ve learned after watching SurferSEO completely rebuild their algorithm: that assumption is wrong.
In early 2025, SurferSEO analyzed roughly 1 million web pages across 10,000 different search results. They examined 100 top-ranking pages for each query, filtered out low-quality content, and measured correlations using Spearman’s coefficient. What they found surprised even seasoned SEO professionals. When they rebuilt their correlational model, text length factors dropped to zero weight.
Zero.
Let me explain what this means for how me and other content strategists should approach SEO in 2026 and beyond.
The Old Belief: Why We Thought Count For SEO Mattered
The logic made sense on the surface. Search engines want to provide comprehensive answers. Longer, more in-depth articles (often 1,500 words or more) tend to rank higher because they provide more comprehensive information and keep users engaged longer. Studies showed correlations between content length and rankings. Tools told us the average word count of top-ranking pages. We believed hitting that typical word count would help us compete.
Common guidelines suggest that general blog posts should aim for 700 to 1,500 words for sufficient depth without overwhelming the reader. Long-form articles and guides often need 1,500 to 5,000+ words to cover comprehensive topics. Blog posts often benefit from 1,000 to 2,000 words for comprehensive topics, while product pages can be 300 to 500 words to be concise yet descriptive.
This created an entire industry around target word counts. Content briefs specified minimum word counts. Writers padded articles to meet quotas. Agencies charged clients based on words delivered rather than value created. SEO professionals insisted that writing more than 300 words for posts helps Google understand the text better and provides room for nuanced information.
The problem? We confused correlation with causation. While longer articles typically provide comprehensive information, leading to better engagement and backlinks, that doesn’t mean word count itself drives rankings.
What The Traditional SEO Advice Got Wrong
Traditional SEO wisdom held that Google considers pages with low word count as thin content, which is less likely to rank high. SEO recommends a general minimum of 300 words for regular posts and over 200 words for product descriptions. Product pages are usually sufficient at 200 to 500 words to describe a product and persuade customers.
The ideal length is determined by the user’s search intent, where product pages need to be concise and blog posts can be much longer. A higher word count can help rank for multiple long-tail variants of the optimized keyphrase. Many SEO specialists believed that targeting a higher word count would automatically improve search rankings.
But here’s the truth: there is no single ideal word count for SEO, as the best length depends on the topic and content type. What matters isn’t how many words appear on your web page. What matters is whether those words provide value.
What SurferSEO’s Data Actually Revealed
SurferSEO’s research team didn’t stop at one finding. They dug deeper into what actually drives rankings. Their analysis showed that when pages used at least 50% of the relevant terms for a topic, the total word count stopped mattering entirely. In fact, shorter, more focused content sometimes performed better than longer pieces.
Think about that for a moment. A 700-word article that covers all the essential facts, entities, and subtopics can outrank a 2,000-word article filled with fluff.
The shift happened because search engines evolved. Google’s algorithms now use sophisticated AI and machine learning models that assess meaning, relevance, and topical completeness rather than surface metrics like page length. Google prioritizes high-quality, reliable content that demonstrates expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. The search results pages you see today are built by systems that understand context in ways that were impossible five years ago.
The primary goal should be to create high-quality content that fully answers the user’s query. Quality content is what search engines reward, not quantity.
Understanding Coverage vs Volume
SurferSEO introduced a concept they call “coverage” which lists facts that should exist in the content to replace the old focus on size. Their Facts frpom SERPs and LLMs tool scans top-performing search results, examines AI-generated overviews, and identifies missing facts, subtopics, and entities. Instead of asking “does this page hit 1,500 words,” the tool asks “does this page include the relevant information users actually need?”
Let me give you a concrete example from their research. A well-performing SEO article about beard care might include specific phrases like “use a beard conditioner to soften beard hair and reduce split ends.” That’s not just keyword stuffing. That’s providing useful, contextual information that demonstrates understanding of the topic.
The same principle applies across topics. An article about chicken care needs to mention specific temperature tolerances, not just hit a target number. A product review needs details about testing methodology, not extra paragraphs about company history.
High-quality, relevant content can attract organic backlinks, enhancing SEO efforts. But those backlinks come from creating quality content that other websites want to reference, not from hitting arbitrary word counts.
The Role of Keywords In Modern SEO
Keywords are words or phrases that people type into search engines to find what they’re looking for. Incorporating relevant keywords into your content helps Google associate your content with the searcher’s intent. This hasn’t changed.
What has changed is how we think about keyword usage. Most SEO specialists agree that using around 1 to 2% keyword density is a safe bet for effective SEO. Keyword density is calculated by the frequency of a keyword’s appearance compared to the total number of words on the page.
Using too few keywords can make your content invisible to search engines and potential customers. Using too many keywords can lead to keyword stuffing, which penalizes your site’s SEO performance. The balance matters more than the total number of words on the page.
Including variations or synonyms of your primary keyword enriches your content and improves SEO. Long-tail keywords are more specific variations of main keywords that can improve content ranking. Grouping keywords into relevant clusters can enhance the chances of ranking for multiple terms.
Secondary keywords should be contextually related to the primary keywords for relevance. Thematic keyword clusters improve content relevance and user experience. This approach to keywords works regardless of whether your page contains 500 words or 2,000 words.
What This Means For UK Content Teams And Beyond
For agencies and in-house teams working in the UK market (and globally), this changes everything about how we create content briefs and measure SEO success.
Instead of “Must be 1,200 to 1,500 words,” briefs should specify “Must cover these five subtopics and include these eight key entities with semantic relevance score of 80% or higher.” Writers need checklists for topic coverage and entity inclusion, not word count trackers. We need to write articles that satisfy search intent, not length requirements.
The workflow changes too. Content planning now requires SERP analysis to extract subtopics, entities, and user questions. We need to build entity maps showing relationships between main concepts and related terms. Quality control shifts from checking words to checking whether content answers all the search queries users might have.
This approach has practical advantages beyond search rankings. Shorter, focused, well-structured website content loads faster. It’s more readable. Engaging content that answers users’ questions enhances user satisfaction and reduces bounce rates. These factors indirectly benefit SEO through improved user experience signals like bounce rate and time on page.
There’s a competitive edge here too. While many content marketers still chase arbitrary word counts, pivoting to entity-rich coverage gives you differentiation. You’re solving the user’s problem more efficiently than competitors who pad their content. Regularly updating content with new information helps maintain its relevance and SEO performance, which matters more than the number of words on a page.
How To Create Content Based On Coverage, Not Length
Let me walk you through the process I recommend for creating quality content under this new model.
Start with keyword and topic selection. Identify your main topic, but think broader than just keywords. For example, instead of targeting “SEO content strategy,” think about “SEO content strategy for UK businesses in 2026.”
Next, analyze the search results thoroughly. Review the top 10 to 20 results. Extract the subtopics they cover. Note which entities appear frequently (companies, tools, people, frameworks, metrics). Look at the questions each article answers. Pay attention to featured snippets and the “People also ask” boxes. Understanding user queries helps you create more relevant content.
Build an entity map. List your main entities plus related ones. If you’re writing about marketing automation, your entities might include specific tools (HubSpot, Marketo), concepts (lead scoring, email sequences), and metrics (conversion rates, open rates).
Create a coverage checklist. Ensure your article will include each entity and fact in relevant context. This is key: you’re not just mentioning terms; you’re linking them meaningfully. Show relationships. Explain how concepts connect. Use related phrases naturally throughout your content.
Write focused copy. Your article should be only as long as needed to cover the topic fully. Don’t add paragraphs just to hit a number. If you’ve covered everything users need to know in 800 words, stop at 800 words. If the topic requires 2,500 words to be comprehensive, use 2,500 words. The best answer isn’t always the longest answer.
Use structured formatting. Headings help readers scan. Bullets make lists easier to digest. Visuals break up text. Internal links connect related content on your site. All of these improve user experience without adding unnecessary words.
Audit before you publish. Check for missing entities. Verify you’ve included semantic variety in your term usage. Ensure topical completeness. Ask yourself: “Would someone reading this feel like they got a complete answer?” Check that you’ve avoided overloading content with irrelevant information, which diminishes user experience and can harm SEO.
Monitor different performance metrics than you used to track. Instead of celebrating “word count increased,” watch time on page, engagement through Google Analytics, the number of related queries you rank for, and whether entities from your content appear in search results and AI overviews. Track your bounce rate as a measure of content satisfaction.
Tools That Support This Approach
SurferSEO’s Coverage Booster is purpose-built for this model. It identifies gaps in your content compared to top-performing pages. Other semantic SEO tools have emerged with similar capabilities. Entity extraction plugins can help you ensure you’re including the right terms.
Google Analytics shows you which pages hold attention and which ones people abandon quickly. These insights matter more than the ideal word count you might have targeted.
The tools matter less than the mindset shift. Stop optimizing for word count. Start optimizing for completeness. Focus on creating an SEO strategy that prioritizes relevance over length.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
The biggest mistake is assuming longer is always better. That leads to fluff, waffling, and poor user experience. People can tell when you’re stretching content to hit a number. It erodes trust. Remember that quality trumps quantity in every aspect of content creation.
Another trap is confusing word count with depth. A 500-word article that includes specific examples, data, and expert insights has more depth than a 2,000-word article that repeats the same basic points in different ways. A clear answer beats a long answer every time.
Some writers ignore entities and subtopics because they think they’ve “covered the main keyword.” But search engines look at the full context. If you write about email marketing without mentioning deliverability, spam filters, or authentication protocols, you’ve left gaps in your coverage. More keywords doesn’t mean better rankings if those keywords don’t add value.
Setting word count as a KPI for writers creates the wrong incentives. It pushes quantity over quality. Instead, set breadth and depth KPIs. Measure coverage metrics. Review drafts for context, not length. Add a QA stage specifically for entity completeness. Use common sense when evaluating content quality.
Some content marketers try to rank higher by simply adding more words. That’s the wrong approach. Better rankings come from creating content that satisfies user needs, not from hitting a target number. SEO professionals who understand this create more organic traffic by focusing on content quality and content strategy rather than length.
Understanding Search Intent And Content Relevance
Understanding search intent is essential for effective content strategy. When someone searches for information, they have a specific need. Your content should align with users’ needs to improve engagement and search rankings.
Creating high-quality content that satisfies user queries can help you achieve better rankings. This isn’t about writing content to a particular word count. It’s about providing substantial value to your target audience.
Featured snippets reward concise, accurate answers. These special SERP features often contain fewer than 100 words. Yet they appear at the top of search results. That’s because they provide exactly what users need without extra fluff.
More backlinks come from creating genuinely useful content that other websites want to reference. A well-written 800-word guide can earn more backlinks than a poorly written 3,000-word guide. The definitive answer isn’t always the longest one.
Why This Shift Will Get Stronger
Search engines will continue moving toward AI and large language model driven results. These systems parse content meaning and understand entity networks. Length becomes an increasingly weak proxy for value as algorithms get smarter.
Voice search, smart assistants, and generative search favor concise, well-structured, entity-rich content. When someone asks their phone a question, they want a simple answer, not a 2,000-word essay.
For UK brands and global content teams, the future is about topic authority and entity prominence. Agencies and SEO professionals who adapt to this shift early will have a clear competitive edge. Those still writing “500 words per blog post” into their briefs will fall behind.
The evolution of search means we need to think differently about everything from blog posts to product pages. Whether you’re writing a longer post for your website or brief descriptions for product pages, relevance matters more than length. Creating quality content means understanding what users want and providing exactly that, in as many or as few words as necessary.
What You Should Do Now
Stop specifying word counts in your content briefs. Start specifying “must include these entities and subtopics,” “must link these internal pages,” and “must answer these user questions.”
If you use SurferSEO or similar tools, lean into their newer models like Coverage Booster. Let them guide your content creation toward coverage rather than length. Focus on SEO purposes that actually matter: relevance, comprehensiveness, and user satisfaction.
Take action this week. Pick one of your top-performing pages. Audit it for entity coverage. Are you missing important subtopics? Are there related phrases you haven’t included? Refresh the page based on coverage, not by adding more words.
For your next piece of content, create a brief based on entity coverage instead of word count. See how it performs. I predict you’ll notice users engage more and search engines reward the content more consistently.
The era of word count for SEO is over. The era of meaningful, complete, entity-rich content has arrived. Those who understand this will create better content that serves users and performs well in search results. Those who cling to the old model will wonder why their rankings plateau despite hitting every word count target.
Quality trumps quantity. Context beats length. Coverage matters more than size. That’s the simple answer to what’s changed in SEO, and the best answer for where we go next. There is no definitive answer to “how many words should my content be?” because that’s the wrong question. The right question is: “Does my content fully satisfy what users are searching for?”
When you focus on creating content that provides substantial value through well-researched entities, proper keyword usage at around 1 to 2% density, and comprehensive coverage of user queries, you’ll create content that ranks well regardless of whether it’s 600 words or 2,600 words. That’s the future of SEO success, and it’s available to anyone willing to shift their content strategy from counting words to creating value.
About the evidence behind this shift: The research from SurferSEO analyzed content across roughly 1 million pages. Their correlational measurement using Spearman’s coefficient found text-length factors carried zero weight after rebuilding their model. When pages used at least 50% of suggested relevant terms, text length stopped mattering and shorter content sometimes performed better. As their analysis stated: “Google isn’t evaluating content the way it used to. It evaluates meaning, relevance and topical completeness.”
