{"id":42462,"date":"2017-04-25T04:10:33","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T11:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/?p=42462"},"modified":"2020-06-18T13:32:19","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T20:32:19","slug":"thin-content-still-top-seo-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/blog\/thin-content-still-top-seo-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Thin Content Still Ranks as a Top SEO Issue to Solve"},"content":{"rendered":"

It struck me the other day, while I was reviewing a client project with one of our SEO analysts, that the old problem of thin content<\/strong> is still an insidious revenue killer for many websites.<\/p>\n

Or put another way, until you have content worth ranking, do not be surprised if you don\u2019t rank well.<\/p>\n

By way of example, the client, a B2B lead gen site for industrial parts, is receiving 150% more traffic this year compared to last and getting a record number of inquiries. We\u2019re seeing these stellar results after many months of work that focused heavily on fixing thin content \u2014 until content was improved, the traffic suffered!<\/p>\n

\"Fixing
By focusing on improving content quality, our client is seeing 150% more traffic this year compared to last and getting a record number of inquiries. (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then looking at some mobile and newer sites reminded me that low-quality or \u201cthin\u201d content remains a serious problem for many websites, whether they know it or not. A majority of sales inquiries are sites with this problem.<\/p>\n

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“What a powerful weapon we wield as SEOs when we help a site raise content quality.” Bruce Clay<\/a><\/div>\n

Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

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SEO<\/a> changes set the right course for a site, but content improvements give it long-term lift.<\/p>\n

Why We\u2019re Still Concerned with Thin Content Long After the 2011 Panda Update<\/h2>\n

Thin content is not a new<\/em> search engine optimization issue.<\/p>\n

It was February 2011 when Google introduced the first Panda update, which targeted low-quality sites and lowered their rankings. In addition to the algorithmic hits from Panda, countless sites have received manual actions penalizing them for having \u201cThin content with little or no added value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Google has only elevated the importance of quality content since then.<\/p>\n

An unconfirmed update in early February<\/a> and the Google Fred Update on March 7<\/a> both targeted low-quality content.<\/p>\n

Sites that got hit by Fred included content-driven sites with heavy placement of ads, according to reporting by Barry Schwartz<\/a>. These sites \u201csaw 50% or higher drops in Google organic traffic overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the algorithms, Google has an army of people reviewing sites manually for signs of quality. Periodically, Google releases its Quality Rater Guidelines<\/a>, a document used to train these quality raters to spot low- vs. high-quality content. I unconditionally recommend that you read this entire document from Google!<\/p>\n

The search engines clearly intend to keep ratcheting down their quality tolerance. The recent updates and penalties further stress the need for websites to fix thin content without delay.<\/p>\n

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“You cannot afford to ignore thin content on your site and expect to survive.” -Bruce Clay<\/a><\/div>\n

Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

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Solutions for Thin Content<\/h2>\n

Identifying thin content on a site is crucial to SEO health, yet it\u2019s only the first step.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once thin content is diagnosed on your site (whether by a Google manual action notice or through an SEO audit), you need a strategic plan for fixing it. And if you\u2019re uncertain, then your content is probably low quality, too terse, or likely both.<\/p>\n

The trick is knowing WHICH strategy is right to fix your unique situation.<\/p>\n

The solution has to address your site\u2019s situation uniquely, taking into consideration the scope of the problem AND the resources available to you to do the work.<\/p>\n

Remove or Improve?<\/h3>\n

Site owners often react to the news that their sites have many thin content pages with a surgical approach: Cut it all out!<\/em><\/p>\n

Removing or no-indexing low-value pages can fix thin content problems some of the time, enabling a site to get back on its feet and start regaining lost rankings with minimal time and effort. For instance, Marie Haynes cites one Panda-penalized site<\/a> that recovered by removing a forum it had hosted, accounting for several thousand low-quality posts that were separate enough from the main site content to be easily detached.<\/p>\n

However, removing content can have a negative SEO effect instead. Cutting off whole sections of a site at once could amputate the legs the website needs to stand on, from an SEO perspective.<\/p>\n

Another approach is to simply elevate the quality and depth of the content. It is hard to be a \u201csubject matter expert\u201d in only a few words. And if your content is written poorly, then you gain no love from others \u2014 the kiss of death for content.<\/p>\n

We prefer this latter approach (as does Google, per Gary Illyes’s tweet below), but we use both at the same time quite often.<\/p>\n

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@Marie_Haynes<\/a> Thin content: make it better, make it … thick, and ADD more highQ stuff. @jenstar<\/a> @shendison<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Gary Illyes \u1555( \u141b )\u1557 (@methode) October 7, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n