Feature guide · 4 minute read
Review thin content
Find pages with very little extracted text, then decide whether something useful is missing. Content length gives you a review queue; page purpose, rendering, and indexability explain what to do next.
13.5-second workflow
Find the shortest pages, then read the context.
A local fixture crawl with deliberately short pages. These examples demonstrate the groups; they are not recommendations to add text to every flagged URL.
What happens in the demo
Start with the completed crawl
Keep the Issues panel open beside Pages so the content groups and their matching rows stay connected.
Open Extremely thin
Select the shortest content group. The table keeps only the affected successful HTML pages.
Compare content lengths
Sort Content Length from smallest to largest and compare the extracted bodies beside their URLs.
Review the Thin group
Switch to the next content-length band. The highlighted issue and the matching row stay visible together.
Select the page to investigate
Select the URL cell and compare its measured length with what the page is supposed to provide.
The groups measure extracted text, not usefulness.
In Issues, expand Content. Extremely thin and Thin divide successful HTML pages into two length bands. The word counts shown in their labels are approximate reading aids, not literal word counts or search-engine requirements.
| Group | Content-length value | Approximate label |
|---|---|---|
| Extremely thin | Below 500 | About 100 words |
| Thin | 500 to below 1,200 | About 250 words |
The crawler extracts visible text from the main content area where possible, excluding scripts, styles, and other boilerplate. If a successful rendered result is available, the content group uses its nonzero rendered length; otherwise it uses the original response. Compare like-for-like values, especially on JavaScript-heavy pages.
Keep the measurement beside the page.
- 1.
Start with a complete crawl
In Pages, show URL, Status Code, Indexability, and Content Length. Keep the Issues panel open. Clear unrelated table filters so they do not conceal matching rows.
- 2.
Select a content group
Choose Extremely thin or Thin under Content. Read the active issue and its table results together. Redirects and errors need a response-code investigation rather than a content-length comparison.
- 3.
Sort and inspect the evidence
Sort Content Length to bring the shortest bodies together. Read each URL and its indexability alongside that value. Use the horizontal scrollbar to reveal fields when necessary.
- 4.
Check the actual page
Select the URL and inspect its purpose and visible content. If the page is unexpectedly empty in the crawl, investigate rendering or resource access before assigning a writing task.
Choose an action that improves the page.
The page answers its purpose completely
Keep it concise. A contact page, calculator, or short factual answer does not need filler to cross a threshold.
A useful page is missing important information
Add the explanation, examples, specifications, or evidence a visitor needs. Give the content owner a concrete brief.
The browser shows content the crawl did not extract
Check rendering and blocked resources before rewriting. If available, compare the rendered content length with the original response.
Several pages repeat the same incomplete answer
Compare their intent and duplicate-content groups, then decide whether to differentiate or consolidate them.
If the exclusion from search is unexpected, check indexability first. For repeated pages, review duplicate body content. For missing rendered content, inspect robots-blocked resources.
Confirm the improvement after the next crawl.
After publishing a content or rendering fix, rerun the crawl with the same scope and rendering settings. Confirm the intended page is accessible, its content is extracted, and its indexing signals still match the plan. Leaving a length group is useful evidence, but does not by itself prove the page is better.
Record the URL, original length, page purpose, specific missing information or extraction issue, owner, and post-change result. An intentionally concise page can remain in the group with a documented decision to keep it.
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