For those SEOs who have long struggled with Panda issues, the dispute surrounding the removal of low-quality pages versus simply improving the content is a hot-button topic.
Gary Illyes shared his intelligence surrounding this debate. When asked if the removal of low-quality content would be a quick rankings fix, his answer revealed that that wasn’t always the case.
Illyes shared that individuals who remove this type of content may see no positive effect. His explanation was that if you have many poor quality content pages, you likely won’t rank. However, if you do rank on those pages and then noindex them, you are simply lowering your own traffic by this action.
He went on to warn against the practice of noindexing pages. Instead, Illyes recommended that site owners improve their website content on pages that show in search results, as the pages that don’t show in search results are typically not impacting the overall site ranking.
However, before removing content, SEOs should first check to see if those problem pages receive visitors or if there are Google search referrals to them. If those pages do in fact receive visitors or have referrals, Google already considers them high enough quality to keep in search results.
In the cases where SEOs are concerned that their sites have been hacked or subjected to spam, pages should be considered for removal. Pages that have experienced such examples of corruption can negatively impact search results.
Overall, the removal of low-quality content won’t immediately fix or improve your search engine results. The best way to improve overall rankings is by creating high-quality content.
Is your business struggling with search engine rankings? If so, reach out to Hall Analysis. Our expert team is committed to helping you and your company take your business to the next level.