SEO Content Word Counter with Keyword Density

Paste a draft to see its length, reading time and which terms carry the most weight. Useful for checking depth against what already ranks, and for catching a keyword you have repeated more often than you realised.

Word count is not a ranking factor

This needs saying plainly, because the industry repeats the opposite. Google has stated directly that it does not have a word-count threshold and that longer is not better. The studies showing longer pages ranking higher are measuring a correlation: pages that answer a question fully tend to be longer, and they rank because they answer it fully.

The practical consequence is that adding words to reach a target actively hurts. Padding pushes the answer further down the page, and a reader who leaves without finding it is a signal that does matter.

The right target is set by the query, not by a number. Look at what currently ranks: if the results answer in 900 words, that is the depth the query needs.

Where length does help

A page that is genuinely thin — a couple of hundred words on a subject that needs more — has a real problem, and it is the problem behind most "Crawled, currently not indexed" verdicts. Google is not refusing the page because it is short; it is refusing it because there is not enough there to be worth a slot.

Depth also creates surface area for long-tail queries. A thorough page naturally covers sub-questions that short pages skip, and those sub-questions are often where a newer site can rank first.

  • Thin pages fail — but padding does not fix thin
  • Match the depth of what already ranks for the query
  • Depth creates long-tail entry points a short page has no room for

Using keyword density sensibly

There is no percentage to hit. Search engines have not used raw density as a ranking signal for many years, and writing toward a figure produces sentences that read as though they were written toward a figure.

Its remaining use is diagnostic. If your main term is at four or five per cent, you have written repetitive prose and should read those sentences again. Under about two per cent is a comfortable range, but the sentences are the thing to judge, not the number.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many words should SEO content be?

As many as the query needs and no more. Look at the length of the pages currently ranking for it — that is a far better guide than any universal figure, and Google has said plainly that it has no word-count threshold.

Do longer articles rank better?

Longer articles correlate with better rankings because thorough answers tend to be longer. Length itself is not a ranking factor, and padding a page to reach a target makes it worse by pushing the answer further down.

What keyword density should I target?

None. Use the figure to catch accidental over-repetition rather than to hit a number — anything above about two per cent is worth re-reading, not because of a penalty but because it usually reads badly.

Why are my pages not being indexed?

Thin content is the most common cause. A page with a couple of hundred words on a subject that needs more gives Google little reason to spend an index slot on it. The fix is genuine depth, not padding.

Does reading time matter for SEO?

Not directly. It matters for whether people stay, and that does feed back into how the page performs. It is calculated here at 200 to 250 words a minute, which is typical for reading on screen.

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