What does 500 words mean?

Hi guys,

It's often to read that a good article should be about 500 words. Could someone tell me if this means all of the words in an article (including for example: in, to, the, a, etc.) should be about 500 or some specific set of words shoud be about 500?

 

500 words means that the total count of the all words in an article should be equal to 500.

 

Think about half a page to a page, double spaced.

 

Those aren't words???

Yes, it includes ALL text, including the title.

But when they say "500 words," it can be say, 510 words, or 478..... It doesn't have to be exactly 500 words.

 

Not sure what font you're using when you type, but 500 words (ranging from 475 to 525 in my personal definition) is well over half a page single-spaced. It would closer to two full pages double-spaced.

 

Of course, it means that the total count of words in an article is about 500. However, in my opinion, I think the length of an article is not more important than the quality.

 

When I'm hired to write a 500 word article, I've found it's best
to over-deliver and give the buyer an extra 50 to 100 words in
the event they want to change the article around or delete a
phrase or two.

In my opinion, the 500 word count does not include the title.

 

As a writer myself, I've found that at times in the past, aiming too much for 500 words reduces the overall quality. It is best to write as much quality content as possible, and as close as you can to the 475-525 word limit range as previously suggested.

 

Don't read too much into it. 500 words is not a magic number. 300 quality words and phrases is better than 1000 words of rubbish.

 

if you ask me the same 500 or 400 it's all that matters but the quality and lots of little means thank you that's all I know

 

500 words is how many words that it is recommended you write articles to. However, it's not a hard and fast rule, so don't worry too much if you contribute articles that are less than that.

 

Thanks everyone for the answers!
Of course, "in, to, the, a" are also words but I was wondering if they contribute enough to the overall length of an article if for example not only words but also characters do matter.

 

When it comes to hiring someone to write content, all of the words count. Copy/paste it into Word and look in the bottom-left corner. There's your word count.

 

A 500-word count, while inclusive of every word in your content even the sub-titles, should never include the title and the description as well as the author resource box if you have this in your article. The count should start from the first line of the body of your article until the end. If you are gearing towards making a 500-word article, if you get a word count of 525 - 575, that is still okay.

 

It means that you need to made an article containing 500 words (in, to, the, a) are words, so they are included.

 

second that. you just had to play around the keyword to get maximum result on SEO

 

Certain article directories do not accept posts that are less than 450 words in length, hence the requirement of 500 words' articles. However, whatever you have pointed out is correct too.

 

I hate word counts with a passion. Typically I only promise that the copy will be "as long as it has to".

With article writing, it's even worse. Most of the stuff ends up being fluffed or artificially cut short. If you do need to provide a word count for reference, try at least to use a range, the larger the better. Freedom usually shines through and the readers will feel it.

Regards,
George

 

total number of words, including all symbols

 

Thank you all for the answers.

And is there some problem if the article is longer than 500-600 words?