How much content does a landing page need?
300 to 2000 words earns full credit on the depth check. Content has just three checks, totalling 3.5 in weight: word depth (1.5), heading structure (1.25) and meta description length (0.75). The taper outside the word range is very wide, 1700 words, so a 100 word page still scores about 0.88 on depth.
That wide taper is worth knowing about before you rewrite anything. Because the tolerance is the full width of the 300 to 2000 range, word count barely moves the score unless a page is nearly empty or enormously long. A 5000 word page is 3000 words past the maximum and scores zero, but a 200 word page scores about 0.94. Treat the depth check as a floor test, not as advice to write more.
Word count is read directly when the page inspection reports it. When it does not, the count is estimated from the total character count divided by 5.5, which is the usual rough characters-per-word ratio for English prose. That estimate is what gets scored.
Heading structure is a two-part check with three possible outcomes. Exactly one H1 is worth 0.5, and two or more H2s is worth another 0.5. A page scores 1.0 only when it has both, 0.5 when it has one of them, and 0.0 when it has neither. There is no credit for H3s or deeper.
The meta description appears in both this category and SEO, scored the same way against 70 to 160 characters, but at weight 0.75 here rather than 1.5. Content carries a weight of 1.0 in the composite score.
What is measured, and how it is scored
3 checks make up the Content score. Weights are relative within the category and sum to 3.50.
| Check | Rule | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Word count of the page's visible text | Full credit at 300 to 2000 words. Outside that range credit falls off over a 1700 word tolerance, so 100 words scores about 0.88 and 5000 words scores 0.0. When word count is not reported it is estimated as total characters divided by 5.5. | 1.5 |
| Whether the page has one H1 and at least two H2s | 0.5 for exactly one H1, plus 0.5 for two or more H2s. Only three outcomes are possible: 1.0, 0.5 or 0.0. H3 and deeper headings are not counted. | 1.25 |
| Length of the meta description, judged as a content summary | Full credit at 70 to 160 characters, with the same 45 character taper used in the SEO category. Scored here at weight 0.75 instead of 1.5. | 0.75 |
Content questions
How many words should a landing page have?+
This audit gives full credit for 300 to 2000 words. Below 300 the depth check loses credit slowly, over a 1700 word taper, so a short page is penalised far less than most word count advice implies. Above 2000 words the same taper applies, reaching zero at 3700 words.
How is heading structure scored?+
It is worth 0.5 for having exactly one H1 and another 0.5 for having two or more H2s, so the check returns 1.0, 0.5 or 0.0 and nothing else. Headings below H2 are not counted at all.
Does the audit judge whether the writing is any good?+
No. The three content checks measure word count, heading structure and meta description length. Tone, clarity, accuracy and persuasiveness are not scored, because nothing in the page's HTML measures them.
Why is the meta description scored in both Content and SEO?+
It does two jobs. In SEO it is a search result element, weighted 1.5 of 8.5. In Content it is the page's own summary of itself, weighted 0.75 of 3.5. Both use the same 70 to 160 character range.
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