Kamil Jasiński
Apr 4
The saying “ content is king” has been a dominant trend in the world of internet marketing for several years now. This is because Google is making every effort to ensure that the content created and shared on its search engine is of the highest quality, in terms of subject matter, language, and other factors. To achieve this, Google has introduced a range of measures aimed at improving content creation, from initial algorithms assessing created content to the recent implementation of the Helpful Content Update, which prioritizes content that is created for people, not for search engines. However, “thin content” is still a problem in e-marketing.
Thin content – table of contents:
What is thin content?
Google’s algorithms, especially the Panda algorithm introduced in 2016, emphasize the importance of high-quality content on the Internet. But what does this really mean? Essentially, content must not only be valuable to the reader by providing necessary information, answering questions, persuading them to make a purchase, and covering the topic thoroughly, but it must also be linguistically correct and unique. If the content we create fails to meet these requirements, search engine robots will classify it as “thin content” – low-quality content that reflects poorly on our website’s overall content quality.
Consequently, our website will rank lower in search engine results, reducing the chances of users finding our website and making a purchase. In other words, high-quality content is crucial for maintaining a good search engine ranking and attracting potential customers.
Why is thin content bad for your website?
When your website contains thin content, its visibility in search engines decreases, which undermines your efforts in search engine optimization, including technical optimization that you perform on your own or with the help of an external agency. But why does this happen? There are several key reasons for this, which we’ll outline below:
- High bounce rate
- Keyword cannibalization
- Lack of internal linking
If there is too much low-quality content on your website, it can lead to a significant decrease in the amount of time that internet users spend on your site. This will, in turn, increase the bounce rate, which is a metric that measures the number of exits from a page without any interaction. Although a high bounce rate doesn’t always indicate a negative situation, it can result from thin content on your website that fails to meet the user’s needs, causing them to quickly leave the site. This is especially true if they were redirected from a paid advertisement. Ultimately, this can lead to Google lowering the site’s ranking.
In the past, it was believed that the more keywords on a page, the higher the chances of a website appearing higher in search results. However, Google now emphasizes the importance of creating unique content that is created for users and not just for search engines. If you excessively repeat a keyword (especially in an unnatural form that is not reader-friendly), search engine robots will consider the content to be of low quality, and this will lead to a drop in your website’s position in search results. Additionally, if you repeat the same keyword too frequently on multiple subpages, you will create duplicate content, which is also disapproved since it does not provide any value to the user.
Effective SEO (Search Engine Optimization) involves incorporating both internal and external linking strategies. Internal links that connect different pages within your website, as well as external links from other websites, can help to enhance your website’s visibility in Google. While it’s important to have other sites link back to your own, this will only happen if you offer users valuable and relevant content that they would be interested in sharing.
If your website has thin content or lacks substance, you risk missing out on opportunities for external websites to engage with your content, which could ultimately affect your search engine rankings. Additionally, if users are unable to find valuable content on your website, they are less likely to return or convert in the desired way.
Summary
If you want your website to be highly ranked by Google’s algorithms and appear at the top of search engine results, it’s important to have high-quality descriptions on your homepage, category, or product pages, blog articles, and other content. They should not only be informative, but also free of grammatical errors. Consider working with an experienced SEO copywriter who can help you avoid thin content and keyword cannibalization. However, it’s important to first commission an SEO audit for your website to find out which elements should be first improved and optimized.
Read also: How to optimize your website for SEO?
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Author: Kamil Jasiński
A SEO Specialist In love with words. Constantly surprising others with ways to use them for one's advantage. Wake her up in the middle of the night, and she’ll start discussing her latest SEO positioning idea with you.
