You’ve all seen those word count tools built-in to your WordPress post pages or Microsoft Word “Info” boxes. But do you think about keyword density (repetition), phrase repetition, density when writing your headlines, subhead, intro paragraph and body text? I’ll wager that answer will be – no.

You Must Pay Attention to Number of Words Used
It’s essential to think about body text word count, if not before writing, then after you write – but before clicking the “Publish” button. There are tools from Yoast SEO that help if you use that plug-in. But honestly, it should really take just a little thought for each page. Be sure to include your keywords in the headline without fail – then repeated within the first paragraph and possibly use that important phrase again further into the article.

What is optimal Word Count?
That’s a tough call and the subject of disagreement among SEO professionals. However, I’ve routinely recommended over 250 words of body text focused around a single keyword phrase. If your text is longer (300-500 words) then you can target another keyword phrase, possibly with variants. Both phrases must be within the first paragraph and then again further into the article. Let’s keep it simple and leave it at that for purposes of this tutorial and use of the javascript tool below.

Invest in Keyword Word Count thought
Feel free to take advantage of this tool if you find it useful for quick assessment of your content word count. Keep in mind that you should not be including page navigation footer text and links or any text that is repeated site-wide in shoulder text. This count should only include unique body text crafted specifically to improve search visibility for a single page.