SEO Thin Content
Marketing your business has never been more important. Competition is tough and the slow economic recovery makes it critical for any business, whatever their size, to market themselves properly.
A website is possibly the cheapest and most effective sales tool and also possibly the most important marketing tool as well. However, most small businesses overlook the importance of their website being easily found on Google. We also admit this is a minefield. Search Engines are becoming more advanced and strict. Google will only reward websites with high ranking positions if they meet closely guarded rules.
Finding out what the rules are, is complex but one thing for certain is that sites must have good quality content.
Our definition of “High Content”
Most SEO companies preach high quality content and content is king! What is high quality content? That’s quite hard to answer because high quality could consist of a paragraph or a couple of thousand words. We would recommend a minimum around six hundred words.
However it is really down to the user to determine what is, or is not, high quality. Good quality content needs to be something that captivates readers. It should inspire them to read more and find out more about what you’ve written on the subject. If it is really good the user will share this with others. As Google is run by academics, they will really expect those wanting the highest positions to have high quality researched content, which helps and engages the users.
Our definition of “Thin content”
“Thin content” in our view is basically wording of a blog with a count of around three hundred words of less. Google and Bing are also smart enough to spot poor grammar and spelling mistakes. Remember your website is your shop window. If you have an empty shop front but thousands of products hidden in the back store room, you cannot expect to attract many customers. To save time businesses often copy text from competitor’s websites. Not only does this breach copyright, but is easily detected by the search engines. In their eyes this is viewed very dimly.
What does Google want?
Google does have rules and requirements and they are closely guarded. However you should not build your website or content on what Google wants. Simply put, no one knows exactly what Google wants. We can guess and research what can give you high rankings, but really you should think about what your users want. The real difference are websites which people share, spend lots of time on and love coming back to, as the design, content and usability of the site really appealing and does work. So, if your website has “Thin Content” then your users will spend seconds on it. If your competitor has well written content then they will naturally rank higher or receive more traffic to their site.
With Google “Panda” update, website owners need to really think about the content of their website. Google Panda is about high quality original content. Websites with low “thin content” can actually drag a whole site down the rankings.
How often to write/what to write?
As a part of any marketing strategy for your website, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is now key, but how you manage the process is paramount.
A content strategy is the one of the most important processes for your website and is a must. Do not worry too much about what Google wants, but rather about what can you offer your existing clients, and for your new visitors what can help make them want to use your services. Often writing “How to Guides” or “Case Studies” can be excellent ways to develop high quality content but they also help to drive more traffic to your website.
When to write is often a big question, but the more often you update your website the better. If you are writing a “How to Guide” do something which helps the user and solves his questions. Keep it simple do not pad out the article. If it needs 5 points then plan this into your content strategy.
Conclusion
With Google Panda we always advise our clients not to worry about what they’re looking for, but what their audience is looking for. Make your content useful, sharable and unique. To make it even stronger, reference your articles with other industry experts or websites which backup or oreinforce your articles. Also don’t forget to share it on social media; this is the easiest way to persuade people to read your content.
If you require any advice on Content Strategy or SEO please get in touch with one of our experts or follow us on Twitter. We are often tweeting out tips and tricks to make your website a success.