Also known as “thin content”, this describes content whose quality is below average. This content offers users no added value and has little relevance in the search results. It is usually not geared to the needs of users and is of low quality. They are also classified as irrelevant by Google, insofar as they do not comply with the Webmaster´s guidelines.
These include, for example: Duplicate Content, automatically generated content, Doorway Pages, and pages with too little text. Some of these terms happen unintentionally due to a lack of knowledge in dealing with content management systems. In the case of automatically generated content or doorway pages, however, a certain intent is often hidden, so that these strategies belong to Black Hat SEO.
Panda update: A significant impact on Low Quality Content
With the Panda Update 2011, Google has attached a significant importance to low quality content. In order to gradually optimize the SERPs and make them more user-friendly, low-quality pages have been penalized or rated as irrelevant since this update. These are then removed from the search results.
Achtung: even a single page rated as “thin content” can negatively influence the ranking of an entire website..
The following types of pages fall under the categorization of low quality content:
- Blank pages
- Duplicate Content
- Machine-generated content
- Doorway pages or Bridge pages
- Irrelevant Content
- Affiliate Websites
