Blog · Jul 26, 2026
The thin-page problem: why pages under 100 words struggle with AI
About one in ten small business sites had under 100 words of readable text, which gives an AI assistant very little to work with.
Key takeaways
- 988 of the 9,243 sites with a measurable word count (10.7%) had fewer than 100 words of readable text on the page we checked. Those sites averaged 54.4 out of 100, against 77.5 for sites with 2,000+ words.
- Words inside images don't count, because AI can't read them either.
- The fix isn't padding: give every important page the facts a customer would ask about.
What a thin page looks like
A hero image, a headline like "Quality You Can Trust," three stock-photo cards with one-line descriptions and a "Contact Us" button. Readable text: about 60 words. It looks fine, and it says very little.
Now imagine an assistant asked "Who does affordable fence repair near Akron?" It opens that site and finds no mention of fences, Akron, prices or a description of the work. A competitor whose services page describes fence repair, materials and service area gives it something to use.
Why thin pages happen
- Template-first design. The template's placeholder text was replaced with something barely longer.
- "Call for details" habits. The site works as a brochure, and the details live in someone's head, not on the page.
- Text trapped in images. Our count is readable text. Words baked into banners and graphics don't count, so some thin-looking sites have plenty of words that sit in images.
- One-page sites. A single scrolling page can contain under 100 words of substance once you remove menus and filler.
Why it matters
If customers increasingly ask assistants about businesses, then details that exist only on the phone or in someone's head can't be used. A page with nothing to read gives an assistant nothing to quote, so it may use a business that explains itself instead.
The fix: a 100-word minimum per page
Give every important page at least 100 words of specific text, and give the homepage and service pages more. For each page, cover:
- What: the service, described concretely rather than as "solutions."
- How much: prices, ranges or what drives cost.
- Where: towns and neighborhoods served, named explicitly.
- How long: typical timelines and availability.
Free the trapped text
If your words are in images, put the same text on the page as real text and keep the image as decoration. A banner reading "Family Owned Since 2009, Call (555) 123-4567" should also exist as text. Alt text helps, but it isn't a substitute for page text.
Check yours
Paste your homepage text into a word counter and leave out menus. Under 100 words puts you in a group that is roughly the thinnest tenth of sites we scored. Under 300 is still thin. One focused afternoon of writing usually gets you out of the category.
About this data: 10,369 small business sites scored in October 2026. Word counts are readable text on the page we checked; 1,126 sites returned no measurable count and are excluded, leaving 9,243 — of those, 988 (10.7%) had under 100 words.