Table of contents on long informational top-5 pages, by length
| Parsed words | Pages | Has TOC | TOC container found |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,501 to 2,500 | 2,098 | 38.5% | 7.3% |
| 2,501 to 4,000 | 993 | 51.0% | 15.7% |
| Over 4,000 | 676 | 63.6% | 33.4% |
| All over 1,500 | 3,767 | 46.3% | 14.2% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. Has TOC means 3 or more working jump links or a TOC container.
Summary
A table of contents is a common recommendation for long guides: it lets readers jump straight to the part they need. We checked how many long, informational pages that rank in Google's top 5 actually have one.
Just under half. Of 3,767 informational top-5 ranking pages over 1,500 words, 46.3% have a table of contents, and 47.4% of those at #1 do. Length is the strongest pattern in the data: the longer the page, the more likely it has one.
What we measured
We started from the top 5 Google US results for 10,019 keywords in October 2026: 49,855 pages, of which 29,776 had readable text. We kept pages whose keyword has a primary search intent of informational, as labeled by a model, and that have more than 1,500 parsed words. That leaves 3,767 pages.
A page counts as having a table of contents when the rendered page has 3 or more working jump links, meaning in-page anchor links whose targets exist on the page, or a recognisable table of contents container.
Collapsed or JavaScript-only tables of contents may be missed, so treat 46.3% as a floor. We did not try to tell which tool or plugin built a table of contents, and we make no claims about that.
Nearly half of long guides have a table of contents
46.3% of the 3,767 long informational pages in the top 5 have a table of contents. By this measure, more than half of long ranking guides show no table of contents. A recognisable table of contents container was found on 14.2% of these pages.
So most of the tables of contents we found were detected through their working jump links, not through a recognisable container. A plain list of working anchor links is the most common form.
46.3%
Share of 3,767 informational top-5 ranking pages over 1,500 words that have a table of contents.
Longer pages use one more often
Length is the clearest pattern. 38.5% of 2,098 informational pages at 1,501 to 2,500 words have a table of contents. That rises to 51.0% of 993 pages at 2,501 to 4,000 words and 63.6% of 676 pages above 4,000 words.
The container share climbs the same way, from 7.3% to 15.7% to 33.4%. On very long pages, a table of contents is the norm rather than the exception, which fits its purpose: the more there is to scroll through, the more a reader gains from jump links.
Position and intent barely move the rate
Position makes little difference. 47.4% of 715 #1 pages have a table of contents, against 46.0% of 3,052 pages at #2 to #5. The lowest is #5, at 43.6% of 775 pages. Having one is not what separates the #1 result from the rest.
Intent barely moves the rate either, once pages are long. 46.3% of informational pages (3,767), 45.9% of commercial pages (2,069) and 44.6% of transactional pages (1,036) over 1,500 words have one. Navigational pages are slightly higher at 51.0% of 457, likely because long navigational results include documentation and help pages, which are often built with section links.
Recipes lead, real estate and SaaS comparisons lag
Among informational verticals with 30 or more long pages, recipes lead by a wide margin: 76.9% of 307 long recipe pages have a table of contents, likely because long recipe posts split the story, ingredients and steps into sections that readers want to skip between.
Real estate (22.7% of 44) and SaaS comparison pages (25.5% of 94) rarely use one. Those groups are small, so read them as directional. Real estate guides are likely to be local market pages, and SaaS comparison pages are often built around feature tables, two formats where a list of jump links is less common.
What this means for your site
A table of contents is a reader feature first. The data shows it is common on long ranking pages and found on most pages above 4,000 words, but it does not show that adding one moves a page up.
- Add a table of contents to guides long enough that readers need to jump around, especially above 2,500 words.
- Use real anchor links to your H2 headings, with matching IDs, so the links work without JavaScript.
- Keep it short: link to main sections, not every subheading.
- Write headings that describe each section, since they double as the table of contents labels.
- Check that a collapsed table of contents still has its links in the rendered HTML.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of Google US top 5 results for 10,019 keywords, with model-assigned search intent labels, October 2026
- MDN Web Docs, linking to an element on the same page: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/a
Embed this research
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/table-of-contents-usage">Table of Contents Usage: 46.3% of Long Top Guides - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
How many top-ranking pages have a table of contents?
46.3% of 3,767 informational top-5 ranking pages over 1,500 words have one, and 47.4% of those at #1 do. Because collapsed or JavaScript-only versions may be missed, that is a floor.
How long should a page be before it needs a table of contents?
Use rises with length. 38.5% of long informational pages at 1,501 to 2,500 words have one, 51.0% at 2,501 to 4,000 words and 63.6% above 4,000 words.
Does a table of contents help a page rank #1?
Our data does not show that. 47.4% of #1 pages have one against 46.0% of pages at #2 to #5, a very small gap.
A working table of contents is a small template change that makes long guides easier to use. Need help with this? See our on-page SEO services.