Content · Beginner

Thin content

Thin content is a page with little or no useful value for visitors, such as very short pages, auto-generated text, doorway pages or copies of content found elsewhere. It rarely ranks and can drag down how a site is judged.

By Thryv StudioUpdated

Category
Content
Level
Beginner
Examples
Doorway pages, scraped or spun text, empty category pages
Fix
Improve, merge, noindex or remove

What is thin content?

Thin doesn't only mean short. A short page that perfectly answers a simple question is fine. Thin content is content that doesn't help: location pages that differ only by city name, affiliate pages that repeat the manufacturer's description, auto-generated text, or pages with almost nothing on them.

Why it matters

Such pages rarely rank, and a large share of them can affect how search engines judge the whole site's quality.

How to fix it

  1. Improve pages that deserve to exist with real, specific content.
  2. Merge near-duplicates into one strong page and redirect the rest.
  3. Noindex pages that are useful to visitors but not to searchers.
  4. Delete pages with no value.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a minimum word count?

No. Usefulness matters, not length.

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