What we see on the websites we audit
Our audit engine measures the content volume of the homepage and the internal pages. The same pattern keeps coming back: a decent homepage, and service pages at 150 or 250 words. One introductory sentence, three generic bullets, a "Contact us" button. The owner paid for these pages, they exist, but they are not working: they rank for no specific query and no AI engine can recommend them.
Why does depth matter?
Not because Google counts words, it does not. But because depth is correlated with everything it actually measures:
- Query coverage. A 600-word page about a service mechanically answers more questions (price, timelines, method, service area) than a 150-word page. Every question covered is an entry door.
- Differentiation. At 150 words, your page says the same thing as your competitor's. Ranking then comes down to authority, where the biggest player wins. At 700 precise words, you are playing on a field where almost nobody shows up.
- AI citability. ChatGPT or Perplexity cite passages: clear answers, numbers, lists. A thin page has literally nothing extractable. It is one of the 4 conditions of GEO.
The outline of a service page
To go from 150 to 600 words and beyond without padding, follow the questions a prospect actually asks, in order:
- What you do, in one sentence, on the first screen. The visitor must know within 5 seconds that they are in the right place.
- For whom and in which situations. Your 2-3 typical customer scenarios. This is where the prospect recognizes themselves.
- How it works. Your process in steps: first contact, quote, delivery, follow-up. It reassures, and it generates extractable passages.
- Prices, or at least a range. "From X euros" filters out the curious and gets the serious ones to click. If your prices are quote-based, say what they depend on.
- Why you. Facts: years in business, certifications, volume, guarantees, service area.
- Frequently asked questions. 3 to 5 real questions with real answers. Material for a FAQ, material for AI engines, material for FAQPage schema.
Where do you find the material?
You already have it. It is everything you answer on the phone: the recurring questions, the objections, the explanations you repeat ten times a week. Dictate your answers as if you were talking to a customer, have the text cleaned up, publish. One hour of dictation provides the material for three pages. AI can help structure and rephrase, on one non-negotiable condition: the raw material comes from you. A 100% generated text with no real expertise produces exactly the generic content the 600-word bar was meant to eliminate.
What 600 words does not mean
The number is a working floor, not a target to stuff. Three clarifications: a contact or legal notice page does not need 600 words (the threshold applies to pages that are supposed to bring in customers); 600 words of filler are worth less than 300 dense words (padding shows, and AI engines do not cite emptiness); and beyond 1,500 words on a service page, split it into linked child pages instead. Our free audit measures the content volume of your internal pages and flags the thin ones, with the site's median.