What is thin content in SEO and why you should avoid it

Not all content that can be found on the Internet has the same quality, and  Google usually penalizes websites ( thin sites ) that contain it . Therefore, the concept  thin content  refers to this type of content. We are going to analyze  what it is and how it affects SEO positioning, how it is classified and how to avoid it .   

  

What is thin content 

Thin content is a term coined by Google to refer to poor or low-quality content with little value for the user, either because it is too short, because it is copied from another website, or because it has been generated automatically. .    

When it is said that the content of a web page or a blog is thin , Google is referring to it as low-quality content , that is, it provides practically nothing to the user, as it does not respond to their user intentions. search.  

Thin content  and SEO

The greatest efforts made by search engines like Google are to offer users quality content that fits the purpose of their browsing . The search engine better positions websites whose content meets quality standards. 

On the other hand, there is the desire of websites to practically generate traffic at all costs . It is very common to find content of little value, whose sole purpose is to attract visits to a page ( clickbait ), and which usually work in organic positioning campaigns .  

However, with SEO this does not work like that: if Google detects that a website frequently practices thin content , it will penalize its SEO positioning , so it could be said that this strategy is bread for today and hunger for tomorrow .  

Types of thin content 

  • Short contents . Normally, Google penalizes the notoriety of sites whose pages have content of less than 300 words. It is very common to find them on product or category pages of online stores.

  • Copied contents . Google’s Panda algorithm crawls the web looking for duplicate content, that is, content that has been copied (stolen) from other pages.

  • Automatic content . Google can also detect with its algorithm when content has been created through automatic generation. It is easily seen when meaningless phrases are mixed, translated without logic or texts are modified using synonyms without adapting to the content.

Keys to avoid thin content 

Quality writing from the beginning

The most convenient thing to avoid this content is to invest in a quality copywriting service , capable of creating original texts from the first moment, written with meaning and without overusing the inclusion of main keywords.   

Unique content creation

Not only does Google penalize thin content , users who encounter this content while browsing will expose the website to a high bounce rate. The solution is to create content from scratch, without plagiarizing or automatically generating any text. 

If the duplicate content is on your own website, you can always make a canonical link to tell Google which content is important and you want it to be indexed.  

The proliferation of thin content on the Internet only contributes to hindering user searches and, sometimes, to usurping the original content that others have created to attract traffic indiscriminately. It is important that you know that Google penalizes pages where this type of content resides.