How to audit and fix thin content with no value

Stephen Kenwright, Senior Search Strategist@stekenwright

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Time to long click

Time to long click by AJ Kohn:

http://b3.io/BlindFiveYearOld

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Google thinks these aren’t the pages they’re looking for

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Content Inventory

#1 Take a sample of pages on your site and add them to a spread sheet

#1 Add all the pages on your site to a spreadsheet

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Use a crawler…

Try this: http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/screaming-frog-guide

…and export to .csvStatus Code Title 1 Title 1 Length Meta Description 1 Meta Description Length1 H1-1 Meta Data 1 Canonical Link Element 1 Word Count

404 0 0 0

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Export from Analytics

#1 Behavior > Site Content > All Pages(Remember to change date range!)

#2 Export to .csv and copy into workbook (new sheet)

#3 =VLOOKUP

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Bounce Rate

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Page Views

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Bounce rate improved by 31%Average Time on Site

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Bounce rate improved by 31%Conversions

£

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Audit Content

Add columns to ExcelKeep Needs Rewrite Issues Actions

Y Y Poor copy Rewrite copy

Y Y Poor copy under tabs Rewrite copy under tabs

Y N

Y N No quotes from senior team Add 2 quotes

Y N

Y N

Y N

Y Y Copy is shorter than other pages / no quotes from senior team Extend copy / Add 2 quotes

N N

N N

N N Add paragraph breaks

N N Similar page already exists 301

Y N

Y Y Language too colloquial Formalise copy

Y N

N N

Y Y Thin content Provide additional information about the link

Y Y Irrelevant copy Move copy to relevant page / create new copy

Y N Copy is too dense Create additional paragraph breaks

N N Weak introductory copy

N N Similar page already exists 301

N N Doorway page 301

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ColumnsMust have:• Title 1 (Title tag) Screaming Frog

• URL Screaming Frog

• Status Code Screaming Frog

• Canonical Link Element 1 Screaming Frog

• Pageviews Analytics

• Avg. Time on Page Analytics

• Bounce Rate Analytics

Nice to have:• Title 1 Length Screaming Frog

• Title 1 Pixel Width Screaming Frog

• Meta Description Screaming Frog

• Meta Robots Screaming Frog

• Word Count Screaming Frog

• Social shares www.socialtally.co.uk

• Backlinks Open Site Explorer / Ahrefs / Webmaster Tools

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What is the most important factor in the design of a website?

The website makes it easy for me to find what I want

The website offers a cutting edge interactive experience

The website has a beautiful appearance

Other

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How long do you have to engage a user?

3.8 secondsJacob Nielson – useit.com

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Your content has 3.8 seconds to establish…

Relevance• Are you right for me?• Have you answered my

question?

Trust• Do you look credible?• Can I trust you with my

money?

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Inverted triangle

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Most web content…

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This is how users read web content

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Content

Content

Content

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+2,800%TRAFFIC

INCREASE

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What you should look for

Indexation

How to find out:site:search

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DuplicationAlso watch out for:• Duplicate titles and meta descriptions

• Aggregation pages e.g., tags, categories

• Content that has to be duplicated across pages e.g., disclaimers, “the small print” –make sure it’s up to date!

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Top heavy

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Cite your sources

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Trust signals

#1 Contact information / address clearly displayed on the page

#2 About Us (not just for conversions – Panda too)

#3 Author name / photo

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When was this fresh?

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High quality images =

Higher CTR, more salesEconsultancy

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+5-7%Increase in conversions on pages with user

generated contentSource: CMO.com

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You’re not going to like this…

Exact Match Domains

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Highly regulated sectors

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Doorway Pages ≠

search traffic

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Thank you!Please email any questions to stephen.kenwright@branded3.com or get in touch on Twitter: @stekenwright

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