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Guy Saikhum Are you wondering, “Are empty pages bad for SEO?“
You’ve come to the right place.
As website owners and digital marketing professionals, understanding the impact of empty pages on SEO efforts is crucial for maintaining strong search engine rankings and improving your overall SEO strategy.
Let’s dive in.
Let’s break down how empty pages can hurt your SEO strategy:
Search engines like Google have a limited crawl budget for each website.
Empty pages act as speed bumps for search engine bots, wasting valuable crawl time that could be spent on your high-quality content.
This can negatively impact your technical SEO efforts.
Imagine a user landing on an empty blog post or landing page.
What do they do? They bounce quickly.
High bounce rates send negative signals to search engines, indicating that your content isn’t meeting user expectations or search intent.
This can harm your search rankings and overall SEO performance.
Empty pages can trigger soft 404 errors.
Unlike regular 404s, these pages return a 200 OK status code without content.
This confuses search engines and can lead to indexing issues, potentially affecting your SEO rankings.
Sometimes, empty pages can result from duplicate content, where the same content appears on multiple URLs.
This can dilute your SEO efforts and confuse search engines about which page to rank.
It’s important to note that the impact of empty pages on SEO can vary depending on:
Whether they’re intentional or accidental
If they’re temporary or permanent
The amount of content they have
Their role in your internal linking structure
How they relate to your landing pages and critical conversion points
Keeping empty pages around can invite trouble to your digital doorstep. You’re looking at:
Decreased search visibility
Lower domain authority
Reduced user trust
Potential search engine penalties
Wasted link equity
Content issues that affect your entire site’s performance
Here are some SEO tactics and practices to tackle those pesky empty pages:
Redirect low-quality content to relevant content or your homepage.
Use proper status codes (implement 404 codes for genuinely non-existent pages.)
Preserve link equity by redirecting old pages to new content.
If you use WordPress, it would be a good idea to use a tool like “301 Redirects.“
Instead of deleting thin content, you can rewrite and optimise it.
I would recommend using Rankability.
Make sure to conduct proper keyword research to improve content relevance.
Avoid keyword stuffing and focus on creating valuable content to help users.
Address duplicate page issues by consolidating or differentiating content.
I would also include internal links to guide users to relevant content like this:
Use no-index tags for necessary but low-value pages to prevent them from appearing in search results pages (SERPs)
When appropriate, include external links to authoritative sources to provide additional value to your readers.
An example of this is my article “SEO For Estate Agents.”
This article has lots of external links that provides great value.
Use social media to drive traffic to your high-quality pages rather than empty or low-value pages.
To identify and fix empty pages, use these tools:
Google Search Console: Spot crawl errors, soft 404s, and duplicate content issues
Google Analytics: Identify pages with high bounce rates and low engagement
Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Crawl your site for thin content and analyse individual pages
Ahrefs Site Audit: Comprehensive site audits, including empty page detection
SEMrush Site Audit: Detailed reports on various SEO issues and content problems
Here’s a real-world example:
We tackled our client’s empty category pages and product pages.
Here are the results:
20% increase in organic traffic
15% improvement in average time on page
25% reduction in bounce rate
Improved Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) on key landing pages
If you want SEO done the right way, we offer unique SEO services that will make a difference.
John Mueller, Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, says:
“Thin content is something that Google algorithms look out for. If you have pages that don’t add any unique value, I’d noindex or remove them.”
To avoid the empty page headache altogether, try these best practices:
Regular content audits to identify and address content issues
Proper 404 handling
SEO training for your content team
Smart use of content management systems
Implement a solid internal linking strategy
Focus on creating high-quality, original content for all pages, including landing pages
Regularly update meta tags and optimize for search intent
Monitor your site for duplicate content and address it promptly
The short answer is yes.
The long answer is complicated, but addressing empty pages improves overall SEO health.
While not all empty pages are equally harmful, they generally pose more risks than benefits for your SEO strategy.
The best way forward is to:
Regularly audit your site
Remove, redirect, or improve empty pages
Focus on creating high-quality content for all individual pages
Optimise your content marketing efforts
Pay attention to technical SEO aspects
Address duplicate content and other content issues promptly
Remember: Content is king in SEO.
So, don’t let empty pages be missed opportunities in your SEO strategy.
Your website content is your chance to shine in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Make every page count, whether it’s your homepage, blog posts, or landing pages.
By addressing empty pages and creating valuable, relevant content, you’ll improve your SEO performance, boost your search rankings, and provide a better user experience for your visitors. I
It’s a win-win situation for both your website and your audience.
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