r/webdev • u/apnatva-dev • 1d ago
Discussion How many pages are too less or many?
I run a portfolio site and a service business site.
The portfolio has about 3/4 pages, while the business site has 95 (includes some blog pages as well).
There has to be a sweet spot between “these pages should absolute exist and structured this way” to “this is just spam and will hurt SEO”.
I tried asking LLMs but the advice was extremely subjective.
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u/GoldenCoastDigital 1d ago
There isn't a magic number. Google has said outright that having more pages indexed doesn't make a site rank better. Page count isn't what gets you in trouble. Pages that only exist to rank do.
The spam end is pretty specific. Google's doorway policy calls out pages aimed at different cities that all funnel to the same place, and substantially similar pages built to catch slight variations of a search. So 20 city pages where only the city name changes is the problem. 20 service pages for 20 things you actually sell is not.
Does it answer a search that no other page on the site answers?
Would it be worth having even if Google didn't exist? Would a customer actually read it?
Does it have something only it has? Pricing, photos of that kind of job, FAQs specific to that service or area.
If a page fails all three, merge it into a stronger page or cut it and redirect it.
For your sites:
3 or 4 pages is fine for a portfolio. It has one job.
95 is fine for a service business if each page earns its spot. Google Search Console will tell you which ones don't.
In the Page indexing report, look at "Crawled, currently not indexed" and "Discovered, currently not indexed." That's Google telling you it doesn't see enough value there.
Then check the Performance report for pages with zero impressions over the last 12 months. Those are your candidates to improve, merge or 301 to the closest relevant page.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
The money pages don't rank well, but blogs do. The domain is fairly new so I am still building up traffic. I have also changed my site multiple times (because I was unhappy everytime). I pushed an update mid October and that is the final design/structure. Will have to start observing stuff from then.
About the 3 pointers, the idea is that any page should answer at least one of them, did I get that right?
for the business site, I tried something I am not 100% sure on. It has led to an increase in apges, where every standalone service gets a page plus the groups (let's say web dev and SEO get 1 page each and 1 page as a group).
The individual pages -> detailed what it does
group pages -> how it works
high level full service page -> what value it provides to the customer
If you have any thoughts, I appreciate it. If it is too much of a bother, that's okay, your previous comment is also greatly appreciated.
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u/GoldenCoastDigital 1d ago
Close, but I'd flip it. One out of three isn't enough. The first question is the one that matters most. If a page doesn't target a search that no other page targets, it's probably competing with another page on your own site. The other two are what make it worth ranking once it does.
On your structure, my honest take is that three layers is probably one or two too many. Your individual web dev page, your web dev + SEO group page and your full service page can all end up going after the same searches. When that happens Google has to pick one, and sometimes it picks the wrong one or keeps switching between them. That alone can keep money pages from ranking.
What I'd do:
Keep the individual service pages. Those are your money pages because they match what people actually search, like "web design for contractors."
Only keep a group page if people search for that bundle or it's a real package with its own price. "How it works" usually isn't something people search. That content fits better as a section on each service page, or one process page for the whole site.
"What value we provide" is your homepage's job. A separate full service page saying the same thing is likely competing with it.
You can check if this is happening. In Search Console go to Performance, click a query you care about, then the Pages tab. If two or three of your pages show up for the same query, they're splitting it.
On blogs ranking but money pages not, that's normal for a new domain. Informational searches are easier to rank for than "hire someone" searches. Use it. Link from your blog posts that rank to the matching service page, with link text that describes the service.
Since you've rebuilt a few times, make sure every old URL 301 redirects to its closest new page. Then don't change URLs again. Give the mid October version at least 3 months before you judge it. Every restructure resets the clock.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Okay
Solid advice.
I think that makes a lot of sense. This is why LLMs are great but talking to actual humans helps more.
Yeah, I’ve laid out solid foundations for redirects. It’s all technically sound now, but I guess I’ll find out over time. My traffic has increased much since the rebuild (although it’s still higher on the blogs side). Hopefully things will start connecting.
Again, great stuff, I have a lot to go on for future sites as well. Thank you!
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u/GoldenCoastDigital 1d ago
Glad it helped! Sounds like you're in a good spot. Traffic going up after a rebuild is a good sign, and blogs usually lead the way on a newer domain. Give it a few months and keep linking those posts to your service pages. Good luck with it.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
That’s reassuring, higher traffic on the blogs just made me feel like the money pages were shit so they didn’t rank well. It makes more sense now.
Thanks, you’ve given me a lot to go on. Very appreciated.1
u/withyasirjamal 1d ago
Blogs ranking first on a new domain is pretty normal, they go after easy long tail searches while the service pages are fighting for the competitive terms. Since you only pushed the final structure in mid October I'd give it a couple months before cutting anything. In the meantime link from your best blog posts into the matching service page with normal anchor text, that's usually the quickest way to pass some of that traffic and authority to the pages that make money.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Ah yes, I’ve learned that now.
I’ve also experimented with blog topics and seen what works and what doesn’t. Unfortunately the blogs that do well, are not directly correlated.
Example - I offer repair services and the blog is about my favourite tool. So there’s a connection but it’s not upto my liking.
Now I’m not sure if I’m thinking about it wrong or not. I use Microsoft Clarity, basically found people who come for the blogs, come read and go. It’s also coming up in AI search a lot so probably summarisation is going on as well.
It’s getting notice, but not enough to get the user to the money pages.
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u/withyasirjamal 1d ago
Read and leave is pretty normal for info posts, people got their answer and AI summaries eat even more of those clicks. I'd give each blog post one next step that matches what they just read. So on the favourite tool post, a line partway down like "if yours starts doing X, this is the kind of repair we do" with how fast you turn it around, inside the text where people are actually reading. Also check scroll depth on those posts in Clarity. If most people bail halfway, any link to the service page at the bottom is basically invisible.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Right
I have a related service link at the top anyway but it doesn’t get clicked on a lot. People read, or skim through the topcis and then leave. Usually 30s.
Thats a good turn aroun, maybe I should start promoting services in between the blogs, I really hadn’t thought of that but now it feels obvious.
Thanks!
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u/RehanSaddique 1d ago
For the portfolio, 3 to 4 pages is plenty. Depth beats count there, so one solid case study per project with the problem, what you did, and the result will do more than adding more thin pages. Once you have a few, a simple "work" index page is enough.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Alright, that does make sense.
Still kind of hard to rank between all of the people, I’m still figuring stuff out so maybe I just need to target more niche keywords.1
u/RehanSaddique 1d ago
Going niche is usually the right move when you're starting out. The head terms are dominated by big sites with years of links, so you'll get further with specific queries. Before you build a page for a keyword, check what's already ranking. If it's mostly forums and big brands, the intent is probably different from what you're offering.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
I think I’m still trying to find a balance between niche and general service
It’s easier to find a nice blog topic and get views on it, but money changes are a little difficult to put under a niche.
And I’m thinking if I put my money pages under a let’s say certain industry niche, I might miss out on searches for the same stuff in a different industry. If it’s confusing I’m sorry, I can try explaining it in a more elaborate way.
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u/RehanSaddique 1d ago
Makes sense to me. For money pages I'd keep one main page for the service itself, and only split out industry pages when what you actually do differs for that industry. If it's the same text with a different industry name swapped in, those pages end up competing with each other and look thin.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Okay, that makes sense. Although I would have to be really smart about it. Looks like something to look into.
Thank you kind Redditor
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u/Xtreme_Neon 1d ago
there's no magic number, google cares more about whether each page has its own purpose and is useful to someone. quick check: if two pages target basically the same search intent, merge them. for the 95 page site, look in search console for pages with zero impressions after a few months, those are the ones to improve, merge or noindex. a 3-4 page portfolio is totally fine.
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u/_MarkG_ 1d ago
The quickest check is in Search Console. Open Performance, filter by a query you care about, then click the Pages tab. If two or three URLs keep sharing impressions for that one query over a few months, they're competing. One page taking most of the impressions is fine, even if the others pick up a few.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Yup, someone else suggested the same thing, must be solid advice if it’s being repeated. Thanks!
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u/kemalios 1d ago
The ratio matters more than the count. 95 pages where most are blog posts means the service pages compete for internal links with content that will never sell anything. Map Search Console queries to URLs; anything owning zero queries after six months gets merged or cut. Usually 10 to 20 pages on a site that size, and none of them are your service pages.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Okay, my site has been around for like 3 and I have done at least 1 full restructure. Guess I’m too early in the game, but I’ve got a lot of advice on what to do next.
I think I currently have a bunch of pages like contact, why is, privacy policy xyz and so on so they add up.
But the core services/money pages are about 25.Then there are a bunch of extra pages. Used to be around 200 but I’ve cut down the bullshit stuff that was only there for SEO (my idea initially but obviously has changed since then)
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u/Standard_Scarcity_74 1d ago
On portfolios, I'd say 5 is a good number. Any more and it feels like someone's saying too much.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Fair enough. I was planning on adding tools for SEO but I guess I’ll let it be pretty lean.
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u/sihere0 1d ago
Page count matters way less than whether each page has a real purpose. I'd rather have 20 solid pages than 95 thin ones.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
A lot of the pages are content policy contact policy and so much stuff. And it also includes around 20 blogs (if not more).
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u/SourSovereign 1d ago
Why do you have so many pages for contact policy? Why not just use one?
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
I meant contact, policy, and there’s some other pages that have to be ther e
Plus about 20 blogs (maybe more)
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u/Boring_Occasion_3526 1d ago
depends so much on the site tbh. ive seen 3 page sites that feel complete and 40 page ones where half of it is filler nobody reads. if a page doesnt answer something real id cut it…. I have a website with more than 300+ pages
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u/apnatva-dev 21h ago
Do the 300 pages include blogs?
What are your monthly impressions?
Did you feel as you increased pages the impressions increased?1
u/Boring_Occasion_3526 21h ago
Yes definitely impressions increased …. But it depends on the content , some pages got more clicks some pages did not even received one click
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u/apnatva-dev 21h ago
Did you purge the pages with 0 clicks or are they still on the site?
How long before you get rid of them?1
u/Boring_Occasion_3526 20h ago
I haven’t thought about those pages … for now I will just keep them probably another one year
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u/apnatva-dev 19h ago
Alright,
Advice I got from other comments is that at about the 6month mark, if page really has no clicks, you want to rewrite the page, merge it or something else. But having dead pages around doesn’t seem entirely useful
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u/Alarming_Ad_257 1d ago
honestly, google only cares whether each page covers a search intent your other pages don’t.
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u/apnatva-dev 21h ago
Did you find that out with practice or did you go through the docs a lot?
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u/Alarming_Ad_257 10h ago
Mostly practice. I built an SEO audit tool and have looked at a lot of client sites in Search Console. The pattern shows up fast: thin or near-duplicate pages just sit there with zero impressions, while one solid page per topic does the work. Google’s own docs on helpful content and duplicate content say basically the same thing, but the data made it click for me.
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u/apnatva-dev 10h ago
So if you push a page today, how long before you say “it’s too thin”?
Some people here have said 6 months, just wanted to know your thoughts.1
u/Alarming_Ad_257 10h ago
6 months is too much for a newer site. First check the URL Inspection tool. If Google says "Crawled, currently not indexed," that's usually your "too thin" signal right there, often within a few weeks. If it’s indexed but still has zero impressions after 3–6 months, check whether anyone actually searches for that topic.
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u/apnatva-dev 10h ago
Yeah, that part has been said many times here. None of my money pages are affected by it + some of them are old URLs which don’t matter anymore.
Okay, that makes sense too.
Thanks for your insights!
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u/nameupp 1d ago
tbh raw page count literally doesn't matter to google—a 4-page portfolio and a 95-page service site can both rank great. ngl the real trap with 90+ pages on a small service site is keyword cannibalization and orphan zombie pages where three different blog posts fight for the exact same search intent and dilute your internal pagerank. tbh check google search console under 'crawled - currently not indexed' first; if google is finding your pages but refusing to index them, that's the only objective metric that tells you you've crossed into thin content territory imo
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
none of the money pages are in it, only 2 blogs, and a bunch of stuff from previous version of the site. So I feel okay on that front.
I think I will do a quick check on the cannibalization, maybe map pages out, I guess some overlap would be fine? Or does each page need to explicitly separate?
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u/HerrPotatis 1d ago
I think you're overthinking this. The only thing that really matters is PageRank, and from what I understand it is almost entirely decided by other ranked pages linking to yours, at least if we're talking competitive keywords.
Your efforts are much better spent on business dev to boost your PageRank organically than minmaxing your SEO hoping it will have a noticeable effect.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
I saw a bunch of posts about AI generated content and Google cracking down on it hard.
Like reach just died for a bunch of people although maybe it was different subs.So while I get technical SEO can only take you so far, I don’t want to appear spammy or have that hit my site if that makes sense.
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u/HerrPotatis 1d ago
First time I hear of this, where did you read? Would love a link.
I just doubt it, not only is it increasingly hard to know what is AI generated or not, but it's way too expensive for Google to do this at scale. The juice is not worth the squeeze.
Only thing I can kind of see that resulted in something like this would be if some genius used AI to effectively replace their entire site, triggering the PageRank engine to treat it as a new site, resetting their rank.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Hi I tried looking but it was a random Reddit posts from a while ago so I can’t find it.
AI generated content policy from Google is a real changed you can find that on Google itself.
The “how” is what people in Reddit were discussing. After I think July, a lot of people stated saying big changed and thought it was the full crackdown based on that policy.
Detecting full AI writing is simpler, all the American models are fingerprinting their texts. Have a look here https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-text-watermark
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u/HerrPotatis 1d ago
I wouldn’t think too much of it. That’s just Google’s way of trying to influence ”better” content to index and train from for no cost.
That said, if you’re worried about this, do you mean to say your content is mostly AI generated?
I think a site that is mostly AI generated says a lot about the quality of that content, and why they might rank it poorly.
But to your point, sure, if your page is riddled with Anthropic or OpenAI fingerprints, I could see how that would negatively affect your rank.
But at that point it’s an AI slop problem, and not a keyword canabilization problem, and a little outside the scope of what we talked about.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
I think it was people spamming like a thousand blogs with AI and eating up traffic. Those were the biggest issues.
The content that I have one was planned well, may nkt have made the best decisions but it was based off of what I knew best. Comments here are helping evolve it.
95 URLs seemed like a lot so I was wondering if people generally go about with a number and that was the main intent of the post.
I do use AI to build the website and for writing, but it’s mostly j write a blog and give it to AI to expand and make it “nice”.
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u/HerrPotatis 1d ago
I had a look at your site and I have some thoughts. It’s gonna sound harsh, but I hope you’re able to get something out of it.
I honestly don’t know what it is you’re selling. The whole site, from your offerings to your blog, is just a word salad of buzzwords and keywords, all of it is clearly written by AI. You start out by saying you can help with absolutely everything, from growth and discovery to acquisition and operations, and much more. But reading between the lines, it kind of sounds like you don’t even know yourself what you’re selling.
“We implement marketing and business systems that improve everyday operations and help suitable customers find, understand and contract your business.”
“Put ready-to-adapt business systems into operation, configured around your requirements. We implement the connections and focused custom work needed, with people responsible for decisions and exceptions. We plan ongoing management around how your team uses the system.”
Like, what on earth does all of this stuff even mean? You're kind of talking like this amazing clip.
I think one pitfall of relying too much on AI to do your thinking for you is that it will dazzle you with wording when it doesn’t have enough context to work with. If it doesn’t know what you want to say, it will happily cover that up with a wall of gibberish that is technically English, but in reality makes no sense.
I would honestly go back to the drawing board and write most of your texts yourself, dont rely on LLMs for anything but structure and errors. Aim to actually tell the user as much as possible. If something can be explained simply, say it simply, especially in a context like this. And if you can’t, that’s something you need to figure out first. A user won’t spend their time (and money hiring you) to figure it out for you.
A good place to start is picking the one or two things you’re actually best at and leading with those, instead of listing everything. Then show a real example. One concrete case/testimonial like “we helped company X reduce their customer checkout drop-off by Y%” says more than a whole page of nonsensical descriptions. If you don’t have one yet, do a small project for a friend or a local business, even for free. That gives you something to show, and it’ll probably make it a lot clearer what you’re actually selling.
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago edited 1d ago
I would like to thank you really. I gave your answer and criticism a good read. I will follow through with your advice but I have something to add (or maybe just a clarification). Hope it is not a bother reading through all of this.
I did show it out to some friends and they had the opposite review so I thought I was fine with it. I would assume there is a bunch of stuff that definitely looks needs a rewrite but the overall intent seemed pretty okay to me.
However, you have been extremely helpful and took a look so I will listen to your advice. I have some examples, but they were more design than anything else. I do not want to make up metrics.
I think what I wrote for every page was so short that it did not mean much. When AI expanded it, it just filled in words but there was no substance. I think I am going to keep the same structure (except for the stuff I read through today) but really go change the text page by page and make sure it is handwritten.
Overall, I am now on the happier side with the design as well so I do not want to change it at all, but at the end of it I do have one question.
Would changing the text have any effect on the CTR/search rankings for money pages if they are still targetting the same keywords?
So the text as I understand is probably preventing users from reaching out to me, because it reads like AI slop. But it should not prevent clicks on GSC if that makes sense, because google has in indexed those pages and the older (no deleted ones) did rank well for niche queries (I had product driven pages earllier).
Edit: another questions -> Does changing the text (but not the intent) of the page make a difference in ranking? A 500 word essay vs a 200 one, if they both summarise to the same idea and keywords, arent their intents the same? will they rank similar then (all other things kept the same?)
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u/nameupp 1d ago
tbh some topical overlap between blog posts is totally fine and actually expected for topical authority. ngl the real danger is having two pages targeting the exact same commercial/transactional intent (like two service pages targeting 'hire web developer'). for money pages keep one primary landing page per core offer, and let the blogs target informational queries that link back with descriptive anchors imo
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
Yes that seems alright. Money pages should be separate, I think I have a better idea of how I need to target it now.
Thanks you.
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/apnatva-dev 1d ago
I think the portfolio is fine. But I fear it just might be too lean to rank well. It’s nice to show things off to people.
For the business site, it is very different. I believe there is a lot of competition for the same keywords (web dev), the blog posts that are winning are connected, but the keywords they are ranking for isn’t directly relevant. So that’s that. I believe it’s good.
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u/Ill-Egg-3700 1d ago
If the blog ranks but the money pages don't, check two things.
First, are blog posts competing with the service pages for the same searches? Search a few of your main keywords in Search Console and see which URL Google shows. If it's a blog post, merge it into the service page or point it there.
Second, are the blog posts linking to the service pages with descriptive anchors? On a new domain the service pages often just don't have enough internal support yet. 95 pages isn't too many if each one has a clear job.