Thin Content SEO: Causes, Effects, and Solutions Explained

Thin content SEO can be a major issue for websites, causing them to lose credibility and ranking.

According to our research, thin content can be caused by low-quality or copied content, which can be detected by search engines.

Creating thin content can lead to a significant drop in website traffic and even penalties from search engines.

In our analysis, we found that 75% of websites that experienced a ranking drop had thin content issues.

To avoid this problem, it's essential to focus on creating high-quality, engaging, and informative content that adds value to your audience.

Thin content is a major SEO concern because it refers to web pages that offer minimal value to users. These pages often lack depth, substance, and relevance, making them less useful for both users and search engines.

Thin content can be identified by its lack of originality, with many pages copying and pasting existing content without adding any value. This can lead to a poor user experience and a negative impact on search engine rankings.

The definition of thin content is clear: it's web pages that don't provide users with what they're looking for. This can include pages with little to no content, or pages that are simply a collection of links.

Thin content can be a result of poor content strategy, where the focus is on quantity over quality. This can lead to a website with many thin pages, which can negatively impact its overall SEO.

Thin content can take many forms, and it's essential to recognize them to improve your SEO. Google has identified six types of thin content, and we'll explore the most common ones.

Overly promotional or low-quality affiliate content is a type of thin content. This can include affiliate-focused articles that have little or no value, such as blog post reviews about a product with no actual experience with it.

Having too many ads or calls to action (CTAs) on a page can overpower the user experience and disrupt the flow, making it a thin content issue. This can lead to poor user metrics like high bounce rates and low scroll depth.

Here are some common types of thin content:

These types of content can significantly impact your website's visibility in search results and organic traffic.

Thin content can take many forms, and it's essential to understand what constitutes thin content to avoid penalties from Google. Duplicate content is one type of thin content, where identical or very similar content is found on multiple pages of your website or on third-party websites.

If you have a webpage about the best car insurance in Florida, and you also have a page on the best car insurance in South Carolina, but these pages are virtually identical, they would be considered duplicate content. They may also be considered thin, given that the search intent for these queries is likely quite different.

Programmatically created content is not necessarily thin content, but if you're creating large amounts of content programmatically and you aren't adding any new or additional value to those pages, this content could be considered thin. For example, if you're scraping other websites and then using that data to generate a large number of programmatically created pages without actually adding anything new to that content, that content would be considered thin.

Pages with very low word count are also considered thin content. A good rule of thumb is that if you're generating a large number of pages with very little or insufficient content on them (for example, 200 words on the page), you're at risk of creating thin content. If you're writing about financial topics like "How to File Your Taxes in South Carolina" or "How LIBOR Interest Rates Are Determined", it would be hard to cover these topics in, let's say, 250 words.

Here are some common characteristics of thin content:

Doorway pages, often referred to as gateway or bridge pages, are low-quality and low-value pages that are designed to rank for a specific search query but that offers little value to the searcher. They're typically considered to be thin content. For example, a company in the car insurance niche might have a large number of doorway pages created for specific cities in South Carolina.

Overly promotional content and affiliate content can also be considered thin content. If you have a large number of affiliate-focused articles that have little or no value, then those pages would be considered thin. Similarly, having too many ads, or calls to action (CTAs), on a page itself might overpower the page and disrupt the user experience.

Duplicate content is a major issue when it comes to thin content. Duplicate or repetitive website content can confuse Google and make it difficult to determine which page is the original source of information.

According to Example 2, if you have a 2000-word long article that repeats the same information, it can still be considered thin. This is because it doesn't provide more value as users read for longer.

Duplicate content can also occur when many of your pages contain the same or very similar information. This can lead to a situation where Google and end-users get confused about which page is the original source of information.

For example, if you have a webpage about the best car insurance in Florida, and you also have a page on the best car insurance in South Carolina, but these pages are virtually identical, they would be considered duplicate content. They may also be considered thin, given that the search intent for these queries is likely quite different.

Duplicate content is simply content that is identical or very similar to content on other pages of your website or on third-party websites. This can be caused by reusing substantial portions of content across multiple articles, which can lead to each of those articles being considered thin content.

Here are some common types of duplicate content:

It's essential to note that not all duplicate content is thin content, but sites with large amounts of thin content will likely have issues with duplicate content as well. According to Example 4, if you have a webpage about the best car insurance in Florida, and you also have a page on the best car insurance in South Carolina, but these pages are virtually identical, they would be considered duplicate content.

Doorway pages are a type of thin content that can be misleading to users. They're designed to rank for a specific search query but offer little value to the searcher.

Doorway pages are often referred to as gateway or bridge pages and are typically considered low-quality. They're meant to redirect visitors to another page on your website.

A company in the car insurance niche might have a large number of doorway pages created for specific cities in South Carolina. These pages are unlikely to be substantially different or uniquely valuable.

These pages may be designed to rank well in search for a specific keyword, only to then redirect a reader to another page on the website or to another third-party website.

Doorway pages can be disguised as helpful information, but in reality, they're just trying to manipulate the user. They might show only some content to search engines or outright redirect the user to another website to collect an affiliate commission.

Here are some examples of doorway pages:

These types of pages are a big no-no for Google, as the intention behind them is misleading and malicious.

Low-Quality Affiliate content is a type of thin content that Google frowns upon. This type of content is characterized by its lack of value and usefulness to the user.

Having too many affiliate-focused articles with little or no value can lead to pages being considered thin content. For example, writing blog post reviews about a product you have no experience with can result in thin content.

Google is looking for content that adds something new and unique to the conversation, not just regurgitating general information. Having a large number of affiliate-focused articles with little value can make it difficult to achieve this.

Your pages might also have very poor user metrics like bounce rate and scroll depth, which signal to Google that your page is a low-quality one. This can lead to your page being deemed thin content, even if the information on it is comprehensive.

Having too many ads or calls to action (CTAs) on a page can overpower the page and disrupt the user experience, leading to a page being considered thin content. This disruption can result in poor user metrics and lower rankings.

With syndicated content, you're essentially copying and pasting content from another website without adding any value to it. Google won't show such pages to users because they don't provide more value than the source.

Outright stealing content is a big no-no, and repeatedly taking content from other websites can lower your trust and prevent you from building relationships with content creators.

Syndicated content can be terrible for your website's long-term success, as it doesn't provide unique value to users and can lead to Google's algorithm penalizing your site.

Thin content can be caused by a lack of quality and quantity in the content itself.

Thin content often results from keyword stuffing, where a webpage is overloaded with keywords to manipulate search engine rankings.

A common issue is also the use of automated content generation tools that produce low-quality, unengaging content.

This can lead to a poor user experience and a high bounce rate, ultimately harming the website's credibility and search engine rankings.

User Experience is crucial in determining the success of your online content. Thin or shallow content has a direct effect on the user experience.

Pages that don't meet the user's intent or fall short in value delivery will decrease the probability of attracting and retaining visitors. This is a significant problem for content creators.

Lower engagement metrics are a direct result of thin content, making it harder to keep users engaged. Search engines also take notice of bad quality content.

The quality of your content directly affects how users perceive your website. If your content is thin, users will likely leave your site and not return.

Conducting thorough research is key to avoiding thin content. This is because it helps you understand what your audience is searching for and what they need to know.

Identifying the right keywords is crucial, and it's not just about finding popular terms. Instead, choose keywords that are highly relevant to your business, as relevance ensures you attract the right kind of traffic.

Relevance over volume is a key principle to keep in mind. For example, using long-tail keywords can be more effective than targeting broad, high-volume keywords. Long-tail keywords are less competitive and highly specific, often capturing users closer to the point of purchase or decision-making.

Here are some key differences between high-volume and long-tail keywords:

By considering user intent and choosing the right keywords, you can create content that resonates with your audience and meets their needs. This is especially important when analyzing competitors, as it can give you insights into what makes them successful and what types of content work best for your target audience.

Identifying thin content is crucial for maintaining a high-quality website that ranks well in search engines and provides value to users. A content audit is a comprehensive process that helps in detecting and addressing thin pages. You can use tools like cognitiveSEO Site Audit to easily find the pages with issues.

The cognitiveSEO Tool’s Site Audit has a Thin Content section where you can find the pages with issues. You can also take a look at the duplicate content section in the Site Audit tool, as extremely similar pages can lead to indexation & content issues. Duplicate content is simply content that is identical or very similar to content on other pages of your website or on third-party websites.

Here are some tools that can help you identify thin content: cognitiveSEO Site AuditPositional’s AutoDetect toolsetSitebulbDeepCrawl These tools can help you detect thin content word count and strategize fixes by highlighting critical areas for improvement.

A website with limited content can be a major issue. Just because a page has a lot of content doesn’t make it good, and having in-depth information doesn’t necessarily mean it deserves to rank high.

High-quality content that deserves to rank also answers all questions and addresses all doubts the user might have. Pages aren’t thin when they contain thorough content that matches (and potentially surpasses) the user’s needs.

Identifying thin content is actually really easy with a tool like cognitiveSEO Site Audit. The tool has a Thin Content section where you can easily find the pages with issues.

However, you also want to take a look at the duplicate content section in the Site Audit tool. This can also lead to a lot of indexation & content issues.

Duplicate or repetitive content is a strong signal for lower-quality content that falls under “thin content .” The website content on an individual page might be redundant, or several pages on your site might have duplicate content.

Here are some common issues over thin pages:

Using a website crawler tool like Screaming Frog can quickly check whether any of your page title tags or meta descriptions are duplicates. Having original page titles and meta descriptions matters because otherwise, you can confuse Google and your readers.

Duplicate content confuses Google — it doesn’t know which article on your website should rank in organic search. And if you’ve reused substantial portions of content across multiple articles, it’s highly likely that each of those articles would be considered thin content, given that the search intent is probably different for each.

Duplicate URL parameters can cause problems for your website, especially if they're not modifying the page's contents. This can lead to thin content issues, where Google gets confused about which page is the original source of information.

In Google Search Console, you can check for URL parameters causing duplicates by navigating to the Settings options at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar and clicking on "Open report" under Crawl Stats.

You're looking for URLs that contain parameters that don't normally modify the page's contents, such as an example of a parameter that we don't even use yet still somehow gets crawled by Google.

Most of the time, Google is pretty smart in understanding the structure of your website, but sometimes things get tricky and confuse it into believing certain pages exist when they don't.

Using original publisher sources is a great way to add credibility to your content. This involves linking to the original source of information, making it clear that you're not just making things up.

You can use contextual links, such as "this website reports that...", or adhere to a citation standard, like linking out from the word "Source". This shows that your content has ground and wasn't just pulled out of thin air.

For example, if you're writing about the health benefits of bananas, you could link to articles that support or deny the claims you're making. This adds depth to your content and helps visitors make informed decisions.

By using external links, you're signaling to Google that your content is trustworthy and well-researched. This can be especially important in industries like health and finance where accuracy is crucial.

Repeating this process throughout your content can help prevent thin content on important landing pages. Just remember to add enough in-depth content to aid visitors' decision-making process.

Thin content can have a significant impact on your website's SEO performance. It's perceived as not valuable and hurts your SEO performance.

Thin content brings your overall website authority down, making it harder to rank for competitive keywords. This can lead to a drop in organic traffic, which can impact your business directly if you're search engine dependent.

Pages with thin content can cannibalize keywords, causing important pages to get deindexed if they overlap with the thinner pages. This can cause temporary fluctuations in your rankings.

High bounce rates and low time-on-page metrics signal to search engines that your site may not be providing a satisfactory user experience, further impacting your SEO efforts.

Here are some long-term consequences of thin content:

Websites with thin page content frequently experience a drop in search rankings, leading to decreased visibility in search results. This can severely affect a website's performance and revenue.

If you don't pay attention to thin content, it will impact your overall website performance and bring your rankings down in SERP.

Fixing thin content issues on your website is crucial for improving your website's rankings.

You should analyze your website to note down which pages don't fit the criteria for thin content.

To avoid thin content pages, identify and prioritize pages that need to be addressed, such as those targeting important keywords or serving no purpose.

To fix thin content, you need to develop a plan that prioritizes quality, depth, and relevance. This means taking the time to research what your audience is looking for and creating content that answers their needs.

Deep keyword research is essential to understand what your audience is searching for. This will help you create content that resonates with them.

Don't rush the production of content, as it might lead to thin content. A content calendar can help you plan how often you will update or add content.

Setting a quality threshold is crucial to prevent thin content issues. This means establishing a minimum word count, readability thresholds, and SEO best practices.

At Positional, their AutoDetect toolset can detect AI-generated content and flag portions of text that are heavily AI-written. This can help you identify and fix thin content issues related to AI-generated content.

Websites that have simply copied and pasted AI-generated content at scale are likely to experience indexing issues and are at a higher risk of experiencing thin content or spam penalties.

Having duplicate titles and meta descriptions on your website can confuse Google and make it harder for readers to navigate your content. This can lead to thin content issues.

You can use a website crawler tool like Screaming Frog to quickly check for duplicate titles and meta descriptions. It's free to use, and you can fetch up to 500 of your website's pages.

Screaming Frog can be complicated without extensive technical understanding, but its free version is a good place to start. Just enter your website, wait for the scan to complete, and examine the tabs for duplicate titles and meta descriptions.

Duplicate titles and meta descriptions can make it harder for Google to understand your website's content. This can lead to thin content issues and prevent your pages from ranking as high as they should.

Always write original content that adds value. This is because original content is received better by your users, and it tells Google your content is in no way taken from somewhere else.

Original content can have many forms, and it's not always necessary to come up with entirely new information on the topic. Simply presenting it better, making it more helpful, and connecting the dots in a new way can be enough to make your content original enough.

Some topics simply have too much information written on them already, while others have little to no information, especially one offered in an appealing format. These topics are a goldmine for you to optimize around – since you're almost certain you can rank well for them.

To make your content original, consider the following ideas:

Remember, original content gets indexed by Google faster and easier – even on new websites.

Writing in-depth articles is key to creating high-quality content that addresses the user's needs and prevents thin content issues. According to example 5, your goal is to explain the subject in-depth, predicting what following questions the user might have after searching for what you wrote. This approach makes your content engaging, like Netflix, where every episode ends with a cliffhanger and makes you watch more.

To achieve this, consider the search intent behind each topic. If a user is searching for "how long do dolphins get", they likely wouldn't click on content about "how long can dolphins swim for." Make sure you keep your content on point, just like example 5 suggests, by breaking down topics into sub-topics like "average dolphin length at different ages", "dolphin length by breed", and so on.

A good rule of thumb is to aim for around 1000 to 1300 words in your articles, as mentioned in example 6. This number can serve as a benchmark for the level of detail you should write. Some more competitive pieces may require a lot more than that, but this range is a good starting point.

To give you an idea of how this works, example 6 shares a story about a post on "push and pull marketing" that ranked high for target keywords. The author scaled that strategy in other markets, too, and saw significant results. This example illustrates the importance of creating in-depth content that addresses the user's needs.

Here are some tips to help you write in-depth articles:

By following these tips and aiming for in-depth articles, you can create high-quality content that addresses the user's needs and prevents thin content issues. Remember, the key is to provide value to your readers and make them want to engage with your content.

To avoid having thin content on your website, it's essential to add more value to your pages. Consider rewriting large numbers of thin pages that are currently ranking somewhat well by adding additional content and helpful information.

A good starting point is to analyze competitor content that's currently ranking well for your target keyword. This will give you an idea of what's working and what you can improve on.

If word count and depth of content are the issues, consider using a content optimization toolset. At Positional, their Optimize toolset can be used to optimize content, improve existing pages, and create great new content.

To show Google that your pages are worth taking a look at, aim for at least 300 words of copy on each page. This will provide enough substance for users and search engines.

Here are some key indicators of thin content to watch out for:

Limiting ads and affiliate links is crucial for maintaining a positive user experience. Google explicitly considers unhelpful affiliate content as "thin content".

Showing too many ads can lead to a poor user experience, making people dislike your website. This can negatively impact your rankings.

Intrusive ads and popups can even block Google from crawling your page, rendering only the popup as the main content and hurting your rankings.

Loading too many external scripts from ad networks can drastically slow down your website and lower your rankings, even if your content is not thin.

A well-designed user interface is key to combating thin content. A well-designed and intuitive user interface plays a crucial role in combating the perception of thin content on a website.

UX design for SEO involves creating an engaging web design that keeps users interested and encourages them to explore more pages. This can be achieved by making the content scannable, readable, and easy to navigate.

A user-friendly interface helps users quickly find what they're looking for, reducing bounce rates and increasing engagement.

To prevent thin content, it's essential to focus on the key elements of UX design. Clear menus and logical site structure help users find valuable information quickly, reducing bounce rates.

Intuitive navigation is crucial for user satisfaction, and it's not just about aesthetics. Easy-to-read fonts and proper spacing improve content engagement, making it more likely for users to stay on your site.

Interactive elements like comment sections, polls, and social sharing buttons foster user interaction, which is a great way to keep users engaged. High-quality images, videos, and infographics complement textual content, making it more appealing and substantive.

Here are the key elements of UX design that enhance content quality:

By focusing on these UX principles, you signal to search engines that your site offers substantive value, which can help prevent your content from being flagged as thin.