diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index 51514d145e..59725d48fa 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Changelog
  * Fix: Ensure that JS slugify function strips Unicode characters disallowed by Django slug validation (Atif Khan)
  * Fix: Do not show notices about root / unroutable pages when searching or filtering in the page explorer (Matt Westcott)
  * Fix: Resolve contrast issue for page deletion warning (Sanjeev Holla S)
+ * Fix: Make sure content metrics falls back to body element only when intended (Sage Abdullah)
  * Docs: Upgrade Sphinx to 7.3 (Matt Westcott)
  * Docs: Document how to customize date/time format settings (Vince Salvino)
  * Docs: Create a new documentation section for deployment and move fly.io deployment from the tutorial to this section (Vince Salvino)
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ Changelog
 
  * Fix: Fix various instances of `USE_THOUSAND_SEPARATOR` formatting numbers where formatting is invalid (Sébastien Corbin, Matt Westcott)
  * Fix: Fix broken link to user search (Shlomo Markowitz)
+ * Fix: Make sure content metrics falls back to body element only when intended (Sage Abdullah)
  * Docs: Clarify process for UserViewSet customisation (Sage Abdullah)
 
 
diff --git a/client/src/controllers/PreviewController.ts b/client/src/controllers/PreviewController.ts
index 502c34c10e..e4ece271f3 100644
--- a/client/src/controllers/PreviewController.ts
+++ b/client/src/controllers/PreviewController.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ const runContentChecks = async () => {
   axe.registerPlugin(wagtailPreviewPlugin);
 
   const contentMetrics = await getPreviewContentMetrics({
-    targetElement: 'main, [role="main"], body',
+    targetElement: 'main, [role="main"]',
   });
 
   // This requires Wagtail's preview plugin for axe to be registered in the
diff --git a/client/src/includes/contentMetrics.test.ts b/client/src/includes/contentMetrics.test.ts
index 9e55df2cd6..7437f7f30a 100644
--- a/client/src/includes/contentMetrics.test.ts
+++ b/client/src/includes/contentMetrics.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-import { getWordCount, getReadingTime } from './contentMetrics';
+import {
+  getWordCount,
+  getReadingTime,
+  contentMetricsPluginInstance,
+} from './contentMetrics';
 
 describe.each`
   text                                               | lang         | wordCount
@@ -38,3 +42,50 @@ describe.each`
     expect(getReadingTime(lang, wordCount)).toBe(readingTime);
   });
 });
+
+describe('contentMetricsPluginInstance', () => {
+  let originalInnerText;
+  beforeAll(() => {
+    originalInnerText = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(
+      HTMLElement.prototype,
+      'innerText',
+    );
+  });
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    document.body.innerHTML = `
+      <main>
+        <p>Test content</p>
+      </main>
+      <div>Something else</div>
+    `;
+
+    // innerText is not implemented in JSDOM
+    // https://github.com/jsdom/jsdom/issues/1245
+    Object.defineProperty(HTMLElement.prototype, 'innerText', {
+      configurable: true,
+      get() {
+        return this.textContent;
+      },
+    });
+  });
+
+  afterAll(() => {
+    Object.defineProperty(HTMLElement.prototype, 'innerText', {
+      configurable: true,
+      value: originalInnerText,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('should use the specified selector', () => {
+    const done = jest.fn();
+    contentMetricsPluginInstance.getMetrics({ targetElement: 'main' }, done);
+    expect(done).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ wordCount: 2, readingTime: 0 });
+  });
+
+  it('should fall back to the body element if the selector does not match any elements', () => {
+    const done = jest.fn();
+    contentMetricsPluginInstance.getMetrics({ targetElement: 'article' }, done);
+    expect(done).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ wordCount: 4, readingTime: 0 });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/client/src/includes/contentMetrics.ts b/client/src/includes/contentMetrics.ts
index 97bc531153..cd2cae3cba 100644
--- a/client/src/includes/contentMetrics.ts
+++ b/client/src/includes/contentMetrics.ts
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ export const contentMetricsPluginInstance = {
     options: ContentMetricsOptions,
     done: (metrics: ContentMetrics) => void,
   ) {
-    const main = document.querySelector<HTMLElement>(options.targetElement);
+    const main =
+      document.querySelector<HTMLElement>(options.targetElement) ||
+      document.body; // Fallback to the body only if the target element is not found
     const text = main?.innerText || '';
     const lang = document.documentElement.lang || 'en';
     const wordCount = getWordCount(lang, text);
diff --git a/docs/releases/6.2.2.md b/docs/releases/6.2.2.md
index 53779ce74a..e976175b75 100644
--- a/docs/releases/6.2.2.md
+++ b/docs/releases/6.2.2.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ depth: 1
 
  * Fix various instances of `USE_THOUSAND_SEPARATOR` formatting numbers where formatting is invalid (Sébastien Corbin, Matt Westcott)
  * Fix broken link to user search (Shlomo Markowitz)
+ * Make sure content metrics falls back to body element only when intended (Sage Abdullah)
 
 
 ### Documentation
diff --git a/docs/releases/6.3.md b/docs/releases/6.3.md
index 55987491da..0671b9032b 100644
--- a/docs/releases/6.3.md
+++ b/docs/releases/6.3.md
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ This release adds formal support for Django 5.1.
  * Ensure that JS slugify function strips Unicode characters disallowed by Django slug validation (Atif Khan)
  * Do not show notices about root / unroutable pages when searching or filtering in the page explorer (Matt Westcott)
  * Resolve contrast issue for page deletion warning (Sanjeev Holla S)
+ * Make sure content metrics falls back to body element only when intended (Sage Abdullah)
 
 ### Documentation