Thin pages and what to do with them, one decision at a time

Aug 29
3 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

Introduction

An audit returns a list of ninety pages marked thin. Most were created years ago for reasons nobody remembers, several are automatic archives the platform generated, and a few are short pages that work perfectly well.

The instinct is either to ignore the whole list or to delete everything on it, and both are wrong. A thin page is not a page below a word count; it is a page that does not do enough for anybody who lands on it. Each one has four possible outcomes, and choosing correctly takes about a minute per page.

1. Thin pages and what to do with them starts with a better definition

Word count is a poor test.

A short page that answers a specific question completely is not thin. A long page repeating itself without answering anything is. Judge by whether a visitor arriving from search gets what they came for, not by length.

2. Separate the pages people actually reach

Data before judgement.

Export the pages that received any search traffic or entrances in the last year. A short page bringing in steady enquiries is doing its job, and the list of genuinely unused pages is usually far smaller than the audit suggested.

3. Improve the ones with a real purpose

The first and best outcome.

Where the page targets something people search for and the business genuinely offers, expand it properly: what the service includes, who it suits, what it costs, what happens next. This is the option to prefer whenever the page has a reason to exist.

4. Merge overlapping pages into one strong page

The most common right answer.

Six short pages circling the same subject compete with each other and satisfy nobody. Combining them into one thorough page, then redirecting the old addresses to it, consolidates both the content and whatever authority the individual pages had.

5. Redirect rather than delete when something links in

Preserve what the page earned.

If another site links to a page, or it has been in search results for years, deleting it discards that. A redirect to the closest relevant page keeps the value and avoids sending anybody to an error.

6. Remove what genuinely has no use

Sometimes deletion is correct.

Pages for services withdrawn long ago, test pages, duplicate drafts and empty placeholders should go. If nothing links to them and nobody visits them, removing them is simply tidying.

7. Deal with automatic archives separately

Platform-generated pages need a different decision.

Tag pages, date archives and author pages with one item each are created by the software, not by you. Deciding centrally whether they should be indexed at all is one action that resolves dozens of findings.

8. Do not add words for the sake of length

Padding makes the page worse.

Expanding a page with restated introductions and generic filler produces something longer that serves the reader less well. If there is nothing more of substance to say, the page should be merged or left alone.

9. Work through it in priority order

Do not attempt the whole list.

Start with pages related to what you sell, then pages with existing traffic or links, then everything else. Most of the available benefit sits in the first fraction of the list, and the tail can wait indefinitely.

Record what you did to each address as you go. Six months later, when traffic to a section changes, knowing which pages were merged and where they were redirected is the difference between a quick explanation and an afternoon of archaeology.

Conclusion

Define thin by whether a visitor gets what they came for rather than by word count, because short pages are frequently fine.

Pull the traffic data before judging anything, expand pages that target something real, merge overlapping pages into one strong page and redirect the originals, redirect rather than delete whenever something links in, remove genuine dead weight, decide centrally what to do with platform-generated archives, refuse to pad pages for length alone, work in priority order starting with what you sell, and keep a record of every change you make.