Yes, page length matters for GEO, but in the sense of depth — not measured as many traditional SEOs have in the past. By depth, we mean substance: quotable claim density and topical density.

Quotable claim density describes how often a quotable claim — something an LLM can quickly extract, transform, or quote and present to the user — appears in content. For multiple quotable claims to be included naturally in content, it must be of a certain length. At OpenLens, we refer to this as substance. The opposite of content substance is content thinness.

With conflicting advice in online forums, LinkedIn posts, and even Slack threads, SEOs have been on the fence about page length for years. The status quo was always more text = longer dwell time and more scroll depth = good SEO.

TL;DR: Word count doesn't matter. Depth does.

Is Word Count Important?

No. In fact, this topic was the subject of so much squabbling that Google's John Mueller had to step in and set the record straight:

"nobody at Google counts the links or the words on your blog posts."

He called worrying about word count for SEO comparable to

"getting to the moon by collecting USB chargers."

Also, in 2023, Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan posted:

"Reminder. The best word count needed to succeed in Google Search is ... not a thing! It doesn't exist. Write as long or short as needed for people who read your content. That's aligned with what our ranking systems aim to reward."

A last, damning piece of evidence from the Google gods: a Reddit thread where Mueller again confirmed that word count isn't a thing for ranking.

All those hours spent typing away to hit 3,000 words on a how-to post when you were a junior SEO? Not wasted. Look at you now!

So What Is Important for On-Page GEO?

Quotable claim density and page substance are paramount to on-page GEO.

Quotable Claim Density

Specific numbers, named entities (like people, institutions, etc.), concrete numbers (like prices, statistics) per section.

Page Substance

Enough substance (facts, expertise, know-how, topical depth) for multiple quotable claims.

Page Length in Traditional Search vs AI Search

Does page length contribute to better rankings in traditional search rather than in AI search or LLM citations?

Page Substance and Rankings

The thing about focusing on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content over "getting to the moon by collecting USB chargers" is that rank usually follows. Especially when you provide non-commercial expertise on a niche or under-explored topic.

When you do this, and other sites need an expert to refer to you, you earn backlinks and get PageRank passed to you.

Topical Depth and Citation Likelihood

When you demonstrate deep topical expertise, you're more likely to be cited because LLMs actively search for these signals when looking for sources to cite.

As Google's Danny Sullivan put it in 2025:

"Good GEO is good SEO."

How to Add Depth to Your Pages

Some ways to add substance to your pages include:

Original research or statistics: This provides LLMs with concrete evidence to quote.
Clear E-E-A-T: Content written by verified, expert authors with track records that demonstrate expertise.
Freshness signals: Content published recently is always scored as relevant.
Context clues: specialized vocabulary relevant to the niche or topic you're discussing.

How to Decide on Content Depth for LLMs

To get an idea of how much depth you should discuss a topic with, consider the search intent you're trying to meet with it.

Transactional Queries

"I want to buy" queries. In transactional copy, speed and clarity are of the essence, and so topical depth here isn't too important.

Navigational Queries

"I want to find". Navigational query copy is best kept short and to the point, so there isn't much room for topical depth.

Product Pages

On product pages, specifications and clear value proposition matter most. For more feature-rich products, like software or complex e-commerce products, more depth may be necessary.

Informational Queries

"I want to know" queries. These queries are where you can let your knowledge of the subject matter shine. When creating content to meet informational or comparison queries, consider the number of topics and angles you must discuss to properly meet search intent.

What to Focus on Instead of Length for AEO

After analyzing over 872,300 AI responses and tracking over 7 million (yes, million) citations, we've learned a few lessons about what makes LLMs reach for some content over others.

Readily Retrievable Information

Consider the last time you wanted to bake literally anything and had to Google a recipe. The huffing and puffing as you had to scroll past the author's life story about his trip to Tuscany as a wee young lad, yada yada yada.

LLMs are the same. When they have to spend lots of computing power trying to retrieve information from walls of text, it leaves and goes to another source with information that's easier to find. Just like we do.

The information and points you're trying to make should be easily retrievable. In practice, that means you should:

Have a headline answer: Preferably formatted in bold. The page should open with a sentence that directly answers the query before your opening paragraphs.
Format content for extraction shape: Use bullet points, comparison tables, FAQ blocks, named tiers, and bolded factor lists. This is the machine-readable structure that LLMs prefer to retrieve and present content with.

Confidence

Yes, confidence. Your content should be written with an opinionated voice, include attributable data and not overclaim anything.

Some ways to indicate confidence in your writing include:

Using direct verbs instead of hesitant lead-ins.
Omitting the use of the word "very" and other qualifiers. Find a better synonym.
Use active voice, not passive voice.

Site Readiness

Beyond on-page GEO optimization, there are a number of actions you can take to ensure the red carpet is rolled out for Claude, Groq, ChatGPT, and other models:

Agentic browsing: How easy it is for agents to use your site.
Agentic commerce: Protocols by Stripe and Google for agentic purchase flows.
Protocol discovery: Discoverable protocols and endpoints (like WebMCP).
Bot access control: Whether LLM bots are allowed to crawl your site.
Content accessibility: Whether content is retrievable in agent-friendly form.
Discoverability: How agents and crawlers find and index content.

Take Control with Research-Grade GEO

OpenLens helps you optimize your and your clients' sites for LLM recommendations and citations. We just shipped an agent (called Iris) you can talk to like you would another SEO and started a Discord server, where you can connect with like-minded marketers about how to implement the fixes we just discussed.

Take control of what LLMs say about you. Use OpenLens for free and enjoy research-grade GEO visibility software.