Today we are proud to announce our latest WordPress plugin: Minimum Word Count.
With this plugin, administrators of a WordPress site can require new posts to contain a minimum number of words before the post can be published. This minimum is configurable through the WordPress administration control panel.
The plugin adds a few key features to WordPress:
- Require a minimum word count to publish a post
- Option to allow administrators to publish below the minimum
- Adds a Word Count column to post listing pages
- Changes ‘Word Count’ to ‘Live Word Count’ on post edit pages
Why is word count so important?
In recent months, search engines have updated their algorithms to give higher rankings to pages with more content. This means the more words a page contains, the high it is likely to perform in search engine results.
Most notably Google’s Panda update, which launched in February of 2011, brought this search engine optimization rule to the mainstream. Pages with thinner content were pushed down in the search engine result pages, while pages with more words were given higher rankings.
As more and more search engines follow this “content is king” SEO tactic, it is becoming increasingly important to write full and original post content. Part of that process is to keep your new pages and posts above a minimum word count. Set your own word count requirement with this plugin and let WordPress help you stay at the top of the search engine result pages.
Sounds Great, Now What?
Visit the Minimum Word Count plugin’s home page, and follow the installation instructions. Please feel free to leave a comment, or use the form on that page to request new features. We’re always improving our software.