Thin Content
Thin content is defined as web pages that provide little or no value to site visitors — whether by not offering enough content, or offering content that doesn’t really satisfy a user’s search intent. In order to ensure users receive a good experience, search engine algorithms aim to distinguish between high and low-quality content.
Want to explore thin content issues in more depth? Check out our additional resource: Thin Pages: Why Thin Content Hinders SEO.
Our SEO Office Hours notes below cover insights into how Google, in particular, views pages with thin content, along with further advice collected from Google’s regular Office Hours sessions for managing thin content.
For even more on website content best practices for SEO, read our Guide to Optimizing Website Content for Search — or explore our Website Intelligence Academy resources on SEO & Content.
Return 404 or Noindex for Empty Pages
Google prefers you to return a 404 status or add a noindex for empty pages, like category pages with no items listed, even if temporary.
Soft 404 Errors Can Identify Thin Pages
The Soft 404 errors report in Webmaster Tools is a good way of identifying thin pages which Google don’t think have any original content.
Add Content to Thin Content Pages
A case study involving Matt Cutts found very thin content pages (e.g. regional branch pages) were not ranking. After adding more unqiue content, the pages performed better. So Google still requires a minimum amount of unique content per page.