Thin Content

Pages with little original value — low word count, duplicated content, or auto-generated text that provides minimal user value.

Thin content was directly targeted by Google's Panda algorithm update (2011) and continues to be evaluated by Google's quality raters and algorithms. Thin content does not simply mean "short pages" — a 200-word FAQ answer that perfectly addresses a question is not thin. Thin content is pages that add no original value: boilerplate, auto-generated text, scraped content, doorway pages, and affiliate pages with no original review content.

Types of thin content: affiliate sites with manufacturer descriptions and no original reviews, location pages generated from templates with minimal local content differences, auto-generated content from keyword databases, syndicated articles with no added value, and paginated archive pages for small blogs.

Solutions: consolidate thin pages (301 redirect to a comprehensive page), add substantial original content, implement noindex on thin pages that serve a function (search result pages, filter pages), or delete pages that have no traffic and no purpose. Use Google Analytics to identify pages with high bounce rates and no organic traffic as thin content candidates.