Thin content is written content on a website that has little or no value to your readers and customers. Google will therefore also consider the content on a page to be of little value and therefore not rank your page or worse, penalise you across your site. But what is thin content? Many people think it’s just to do with word count but this isn’t the case. Although word count is still an important ranking factor, thin content is a focus on quality rather than quantity.
Thin Content – 3 Things to Avoid
Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can consist of:
- Your own site where you have used the same content multiple times. This can happen if you don’t have anything new to say on a page and are just regurgitating the same information. If this is the case, condense your website pages down if possible or re-write content.
- Your own website where technical errors in the setup are causing duplicate pages. Examples of this include:
- Where you have a web page with and without a file extension (example.co.uk/shop & example.co.uk/shop.html).
- When your category and tag pages are paginated, this causes duplicate content.
- Someone else’s website where you have copied the content directly. This often happens when online retailers scrape manufacturers’ or other retail product descriptions.
Google provides great information on duplicate content removal. Identify if your site is being penalised for duplicate content, then work through the technical modifications to resolve them.
Poor Spelling & Grammar
Content that is free from poor grammar and spelling mistakes is considered by Google a basic requirement for SEO. If you are producing content for your website, whether web page copy or blog posts, you need to ensure the quality of your writing. Poor spelling and grammatical errors will put customers off. You will appear neither experienced nor knowledgeable about your industry or niche. Google understands this and will penalise companies for repeatedly poor written content.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing or including irrelevant keywords on your page is a surefire way to be penalised by Google. This old fashioned approach to SEO should be avoided because:
- It adds no value to your customers and will likely make your writing appear juvenile.
- Google will easily spot this tactic, even when you ‘hide’ keywords on a page, and will then penalise you.
- It’s a waste of time and effort as it will no longer improve your keyword rankings.
Do I have thin content on my website?
To assess if you have thin content on your site, invest in an SEO audit to determine problem areas. An audit with an SEO specialist will show you whether you have thin content. They will also highlight other poor practices as well as provide you with a content overview for written improvements. I offer SEO audits as part of all my SEO packages but I also provide one-off SEO audits. If you are interested in identifying SEO improvements, get in touch to help your business grow.
