Early in my career, I wrote a lot of mediocre content. At the time, I was building websites for small businesses on WordPress, doing light keyword research, and writing website content based on what I knew would rank in Google. And at the time – average content ranked. It would perform as long as it was written thoughtfully with search engines in mind. 

Today, Google would eat my 2015 website content for breakfast. The standards for content quality have gone up 100x over the last few years, most notably in the previous two with the introduction of generative AI. 

What made my content so middle of the road? A few things but the biggest elements were that it lacked substance and tried too hard to sell. I’ll dive into each of these factors, but before getting into the characteristics of low-quality content let’s answer the basics.

What is low-quality content?

Low-quality content is marketing that doesn’t deliver value. This can be because it’s sensationalized, poorly written, or overly promotional. There are many other potential reasons, but it’s ineffective because it lacks purpose – ultimately wasting the reader’s time.

Why is low-quality content bad for marketing?

Low-quality content has serious potential to damage your brand and push prospects away. Here are a few reasons why:

• It poses a reputational risk: Unprofessional content reflects badly on your business. It undermines your credibility and makes you appear careless.
• It makes you seem untrustworthy: If your content is full of empty promises or overly salesy, it builds distrust with potential customers. People care about how you can help them, not what you can sell to them.
• It reduces audience engagement: Lackluster content discourages audience interaction. People won’t share your content, comment, or take action on what you’re offering. 

8 ways to spot low-quality content

Low-quality content can come in many forms. Here, I’ll explain eight of the top culprits so you can recognize lifeless marketing in the wild. It’ll also help you ensure your marketing isn’t guilty of these.

1. Clickbait headlines

One of the most common examples of low-quality content is clickbait. These misleading headlines pull readers in with sensationalized titles… but rarely deliver. Think: The National Enquirer in digital marketing format.

Content that doesn’t deliver value leaves users annoyed. Marketing fail. Everything your business creates should come with credible information based on research or real experience. 

2. Thin content

Next, thin content. This type of content lacks depth or substance. 

For instance, if you advertise a “ Comprehensive guide on nutrition” on your website and shell out a 100-word chicken recipe, this would be an example of thin content. Content like this provides minimal value to the reader. 

Essentially, thin content doesn’t answer search queries or guide users to accomplish tasks. 

Insufficient information like this leads to a lack of trust from prospective customers.

3. Poorly written content

I’m a copywriter, so I have high standards for written content.

But at a minimum, your content should be free of grammatical errors and typos. Period. Grammarly is a free tool that corrects common written mistakes.

Beyond these basics, your content should also avoid awkward sentences. Good news – there’s another free tool for this. Ever heard of Hemmingway Editor? It analyzes your writing and identifies sentences that are hard to read. This makes it easy to see where to simplify your writing.

Lastly, your writing should be easy to follow. Set a clear structure so your readers can skim and gain a lot of value. For blogs and other long-form content like eBooks and lead magnets, set a clear structure (like an outline) before you start writing. This will help you stay on track with your topic.

4. Has no clear purpose

If you read a landing page and end up thinking “Now, what?”… it’s low-quality content.

All marketing should have a clear purpose. Some common examples of purpose are to drive brand awareness, attract customers, or educate prospects. Content that lacks purpose often feels random or off-topic.

Ultimately, this type of content is skipped over. And we all know that creating content takes a lot of effort – so make it worth it.

5. Keyword stuffing

Flashback to SEO in the 1990s and early 2000s. During this internet era, search engines like Google relied heavily on exact word matches. This type of content manipulated search engines into a higher ranking (showing up as the top listing in Google search). 

It’s no surprise that overusing keywords on pages sounds spammy and unnatural (very unlike how a human would speak). Eventually, search engines updated their algorithms and started penalizing websites that took this approach.  

Now, content that uses keyword-stuffing techniques demonstrates two things. First, they’re not up-to-date with recent digital marketing. Keyword stuffing stopped becoming effective in 2011. Get with the times. Second, it’s a lazy approach to content – contributing to its low quality.

6. Poorly researched

Your high school language arts teacher is scolding you right now. Do. Your. Research. As a business, everything you publish should be accurate. 

Double-check that your content contains reliable sources and up-to-date information. This will help build trust with your readers and establish credibility in your niche.

7. Too salesy

Sleazy sales are gross. And overlay promotional content that sells too hard backfires quickly. People are smart. They can see right through your content that’s overly focused on selling with no genuine value.

Content with the sole intent of selling damages trust with your audience. No one wants to deal with a real-life assertive salesperson. Why would your digital marketing be any different?

8. Repetitive

Repetitive content isn’t always a bad thing. Repurposed content is an excellent way to save yourself time. This means taking the content from one channel (like your blog) and republishing it on your social media. Then, posting it again in a different format a few months later.

Repetitive content is an issue when it becomes so similar that users don’t gain new insights. And it’s so similar to other content published by you or others online, that it doesn’t offer value.

The solution: Invest in high-quality content

So you know that publishing low-quality content poses risks for your business and won’t move the needle on leads. The solution? Creating high-quality content. This could mean investing your time in writing blogs, developing social videos, or nurturing a weekly email. Or if you’re a growing business, hire a content marketing manager to help you build your digital presence. Whatever you choose – successful content marketing requires your time or support from someone with time. Choose your path and be consistent. 

If you need a freelance content marketing manager to support your website, social, or emails, I’m here! Fill out this short form and we’ll plan a content strategy that’ll help you stand out in this saturated market.