Whats the minimum article 'word count' the directories accept?

[innocent07]

What is the 'minimum' average word count that the article directories (lets say top 100) accept as the minimum amount of words your article can be, to get accepted?

if you were to give an average word count that the article should be, minimum that they would accept the article.. 200? 250? 320? 350?

[kelvin yeo]

The average is probably around 350.

However, if you're really targeting the top 100, an average is not going to help you becoz those with minimum counts above that average will just reject your article. If you really want to get accepted at almost any directory, then you're better off with a 500 word article.

[Alexa Smith]

It varies from article directory to article directory.

At EZA, they say articles must be a minimum of 250 words and no more than 5,000 words, and that they consider an "ideal article length" to be 400-750 words.

I'd guess that 250+ words wouldn't be rejected by many as "too short" (though it would be too short for me, I must say).

[Sheryl Polomka]

I believe its around 250, although some directories are higher. I usually aim to write about 350 to 400 when I submit articles.

[Matt M]

250 - 300 is a good guess.

They all have a TOS ( Terms Of Service ) that you should read before submitting.

Even if they accept your article, they could possibly pull it at a later date due to your not satisfying their criteria.

Then it's possible that you could get all twisted out of shape and come in here complaining about what jerks they are bent on getting them to respond to your demanding letters and possible phone calls only to find out that you were wrong to begin with.

See it everyday here.

Matt

[innocent07]

Somebody says 250, somebody says 500 lol. should i go straight down in the middle ?

[Matt M]

Somebody says 250, somebody says 500 lol. should i go straight down in the middle ?

I think the minimum that I have seen for most directories is 250. I definitely would not go below that.

As alexa has stated, 400-750 is where you want to be.

Without going into a big SEO debate, there is information out there to suggest that Google's algorithms are set to look for that range. particularly the 400.

They view anything less than that as a "post" as in blog, or forum. 400 and up to around 800 an article.

Again, without the big debate, this is what I have heard, read, tried, and it works for what I do when I'm niche blogging and writing.

So, just more info for you.

Matt

[Kay King]

No, you should read the terms for each article directory you use. There is no one answer.

To me, 250 words is a blog post and articles are 350 or more but it's just what I prefer.

[edhan]

Personally, I believe it should be around 400. That's roughly what I will approve for my article directory.

[Troy_Phillips]

Each directory is different . From my experience the search engines like my articles that are between 400 and 650 words .

Keyword saturation is different directory to directory . Some will accept your kw 3 to 4 times for 100 words while a lot of them will get picky with any thing over 1 in 100.

Set up a list of directories by word count , kw density, and which search engine likes them the most (There are ones liked more by each engine)

Once you have the list you will be able to decide which directory works best for you in each different situation

[Networking_now]

What quantity gets the most clickthrus to your signature links

[FifthDimension5]

The minimum word count differs from directory to directory, as explained in their terms of service or agreement, but I normally aim for a word count of around 500, not too small and not too long, and remains readable for information seekers.

[Matt M]

Originally Posted by Troy_Phillips

Keyword saturation is different directory to directory . Some will accept your kw 3 to 4 times for 100 words while a lot of them will get picky with any thing over 1 in 100.

I found that right around 2% density is about where you want to be.

Like you said, some directories won't accept that much so around 1.75% is the lowest I'll go and 2.25% the highest.

This is what I have found that works for getting me listed on the front page for my keywords.

If a directory does not want my article if it's between 1.75 and 2.25 then I won't submit it.

Ultimately, for me, the goal is to get on the front page of Google.

The top article directories let me in at those density numbers and if someone does not then I really don't need them as much as they need me.

That's just the way that I deal with it.

Matt

[Troy_Phillips]

Originally Posted by Networking_now

What quantity gets the most clickthrus to your signature links

The one that stays on googles first page the longest no matter what the word count .

[Troy_Phillips]

Originally Posted by Matt M

I found that right around 2% density is about where you want to be.

Like you said, some directories won't accept that much so around 1.75% is the lowest I'll go and 2.25% the highest.

This is what I have found that works for getting me listed on the front page for my keywords.

If a directory does not want my article if it's between 1.75 and 2.25 then I won't submit it.

Ultimately, for me, the goal is to get on the front page of Google.

The top article directories let me in at those density numbers and if someone does not then I really don't need them as much as they need me.

That's just the way that I deal with it.

Matt

I have found that an article of 1.75 pointed to my 3.0 landing page will get the landing page ranked . Articles on the first page is good . Your own site is a lot better :-)

[Michelle Strait]

I've found that articles between 350 - 400 words perform best for me. I used to always write articles that were 500 words or more. Then I decied to experiment with length. A shorter article with a strong resource box has worked well for me. You can test it yourself and see what you get.

Good luck!