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Page length
Old 05-23-2007, 03:06 PM Page length
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Hi there

I hear all kinds of myths about seo, im sure this is another one but i will ask anyway lol, is there a maximum size for a web page, or a maximum number of characters, i have seen sites that recommend that you keep ur page lenght to 500 words, is this just somthing you shouldnt worry about ?

Woc

Last edited by usearchme : 05-23-2007 at 06:24 PM.
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Old 05-23-2007, 06:52 PM Re: Page lenght
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Well if the html itself is dozens of MB, like a very long report of some kind, the spiders might get tired of crawling and move on. Otherwise, general advice is that search engines like content, but they like it even more when people build pages for humans and not for robots.
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Old 05-24-2007, 12:58 AM Re: Page lenght
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I wouldn't worry about it. The perfect length for your page is however long it takes to say what you need to say.

In the not too distant past some search spiders wouldn't crawl beyond a certain file size or number of characters, but that was then. They probably all stop crawling a page at some point, but it's not worth worrying about.

There are some very long pages that also rank very well for a variety of queries. Try this search and click on the #1 result. You can see it's a long page. I chose that search both because I knew the top result was a long page and also because I'm pretty sure you'll find the content informative.
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Old 05-24-2007, 02:12 AM Re: Page lenght
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5. The maximum length for a page should be 5.

Not KB, not words, not sentences, not paragraphs, not images, not divs. Just plain old regular 5. NEVER QUESTION 5. 5 IS UNQUESTIONABLE.

Seriously, write it in such a way as to keep your users happy and the SEO will usually follow.
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Old 05-24-2007, 03:45 AM Re: Page lenght
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try to use css as an extension file.
It decreased your site size.
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Old 05-24-2007, 04:03 AM Re: Page lenght
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Somebody at sitepoint ran an experiment to find out indexing limits. They found that Google indexes 520 Kb, Yahoo 210 Kb and MSN 1020 Kb of text.

That was over a year ago though, so things might have changed.
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Old 05-24-2007, 04:08 AM Re: Page lenght
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You can make as large pages as you need, but you have to remmber, that google won't index hole
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Old 05-24-2007, 02:38 PM Re: Page lenght
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To paraphrase the Reverend Ronald Knox,

"A good page should be like a woman's skirt: short enough to arouse interest, but long enough to cover the essentials"
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Old 05-25-2007, 10:23 AM Re: Page lenght
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Chris, all I can say to that is:

"Best. post. ever!"
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Old 05-25-2007, 09:30 PM Re: Page lenght
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Agree with Mr Beer! Great line, Chris, that was da bomb.
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Old 05-30-2007, 05:13 AM Re: Page length
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Originally Posted by usearchme View Post
Hi there

is there a maximum size for a web page, or a maximum number of characters, i have seen sites that recommend that you keep ur page lenght to 500 words, is this just somthing you shouldnt worry about ?

Woc
The question is, is it required or recommended to have max 500 words? I think no one (not even Google) can forbid you write as many words as you can. Another question is, if you write only for Google, is there any point in writing long copies (spiders are reported to crawl only first 500 words, I can't be sure if it is true). If you write for your readers, then you should write as many words as you want and feel necessary.
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Old 05-30-2007, 05:26 AM Re: Page length
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IMO, it's not about the length but the content. i mean as long as your content is of good quality and it make sense then it will be good enough
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Old 05-30-2007, 06:27 AM Re: Page length
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IMO, it's not about the length but the content. i mean as long as your content is of good quality and it make sense then it will be good enough
Right, but no need to go to extremes, why should your visitor's hand ache from scrolling?
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Old 05-30-2007, 03:46 PM Re: Page length
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Hi there

I think the conclusion really is its not true that there is an optimum length in page size which i have been told before by other Seos !!

To me it sounds like use your common sense if your page is getting too long then move content onto another etc !!

Woc
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Old 06-04-2007, 02:30 PM Re: Page length
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I totally agree with Vangogh, you should not worry about page lengh today. As long as it is original, quality content.
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Old 06-10-2007, 01:31 AM Re: Page lenght
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try to use css as an extension file.
It decreased your site size.
How do you feel about javascript? Should it be called, (as much as possible), for the same reasons?
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Old 06-10-2007, 06:07 PM Re: Page length
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You want to keep your javascript in external files too and call them as needed.
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Old 06-10-2007, 10:42 PM Re: Page length
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You want to keep your javascript in external files too and call them as needed.
Thanks for verifying my gut on this one...
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Old 06-11-2007, 02:05 PM