Q: 'Does adding a paragraph of text above the product grid actually do anything?'

Q: 'Does adding a paragraph of text above the product grid actually do anything?'

Short answer: Yes — but placement and intent-match matter more than word count.

The longer version: A home goods site added 120-150 word intro blocks to 90 category pages. First attempt: generic 'Welcome to our collection of...' filler placed above the fold. Zero movement after 8 weeks. They rewrote them to answer the actual buying questions ('What thread count should you choose?', 'Sateen vs percale') and moved the long-form version BELOW the grid, keeping one tight sentence on top. Result: 28 of those categories gained featured snippets within 60 days, and average position on the set improved from 14.2 to 8.9.

Rule of thumb: Category text earns rankings when it answers a question, not when it describes the grid. Keep the keyword-rich part out of the user's way.

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