How the heck long can my main page be?

Hi, I had a 20-page main index page for a domain, could that be why it isn't listed in the SEs? I want to be careful about length now but not be scared not to write more than a page.

Is this stuff listed in SE guidelines? I couldn't find it. Thanks!

Squish7

Generally a main page should not require to much scrolling if thats what you are referring to as your '20 page main index'.

There are alternative ways to structure you content so it is informative and inviting to the reader. If is has to be long then that is not ap roblem but not many people will take the time to scrol down the main page on a web site.

It is more the content and your meta tags that will effect listing is SE's.

This is true, but let me expand a little.

Text content affects search engine ranking. You can have the longest web page in the world filled with images and flash animations and not get ranked at all. Keep in mind that search engines can't "see". They only care about text. If you provide sufficient text you will be well on your way to getting indexed properly.

>> If you provide sufficient text you will be well on your way to getting indexed properly.

But what's *too much*? I googled myself (ha) and the top pages that came up were either a one screen page with my name listed 20 times or a 30 screen string with it listed 60 times. All these dumb posts of mine are listed long before my actual site, so I guess I have to just insert my name a billion times to get my own site at the top of a search for me?

But what's 1) too long, and 2) too high a word density per screen?

Thanks