Web pages with thin content do not rank well on Google’s search result pages. How do you identify thin content pages on your website, and what should you do with that content?
What is thin content?
Thin content pages are pages with less than 400-500 words that do not have a clear focus. Some people also consider unoptimized pages, duplicate pages and outdated pages thin content.
How to identify thin content on your web pages
The website audit tool in SEOprofiler helps you to find thin content pages on your website. Just run a website audit and then open the page ‘Content topics’ in the audit report:
The audit report shows thin content pages on your website, and it also shows the top keywords that are used on your web pages.
What you should do with your thin content pages
There are four strategies for dealing with thin content pages: do nothing, update the pages, redirect the pages, or removing the pages.
1. Do nothing
You don’t have to do anything if the page gets many website visitors and/or if the page is ranked well on Google and other search engines. Of course, the content of the page should be up-to-date.
2. Update the page
If the content of the page is relevant but not up to date, update the page to make sure that it is relevant to your current offerings.
If the content is relevant but not detailed enough, add more information about the topic on the page. Make sure that the web page plays a relevant role in converting visitors on your website.
Updating content is less work than creating new content. In additions, the old pages usually contain some backlinks. When updating a page, you can also add videos, infographics and other content that makes the page more linkworthy.
3. Redirect the page
If you have another page on your website that contains a better version of the same content, just redirect the thin content page to the rich-content page.
4. Remove the page
If the content of a page is outdated, or if it does not comply with current regulations, it might be a good idea to remove the page from your website.
This should only be done if it is not possible to redirect the old page to another page of your website that is up-to-date.
Other errors on your web pages
Your website can contain many more errors that have a negative impact on your search engine rankings. The website audit tool in SEOprofiler finds them:
Check your web pages regularly (with an automated tool)
Updating or replacing content that doesn’t provide value for your customers is always a good idea. You should also check the redirects on your website. One bad redirect can lead to massive problems.
The website audit tool in SEOprofiler automatically checks your web pages every week (and on-demand if you need it) and it informs you about all issues that can have a negative impact on your rankings:
