skewcheck

All 30 checks Too little text on the page

Too little text on the page

Updated

A page whose HTML carries almost no readable text gives search engines, link-preview bots and visitors with scripts disabled very little to go on, and it is often a sign that content is missing or only appears after JavaScript runs.

Fails: Page that is nearly empty in the HTML
<body>
  <div id="root"></div>
  <script src="/app.js"></script>
</body>
Fix: Real copy in the HTML
<body>
  <h1>Plumbing and heating in Leeds</h1>
  <p>We repair boilers, fit bathrooms and handle emergency call-outs across Leeds. ...</p>
</body>

Why thin pages are a problem

Search engines work out what a page is about from its text. A page with a headline and a button and nothing else offers little to match against a search, and a launch page that is little more than a logo and a contact link tends to stay invisible. Link-preview bots and some crawlers do not run scripts at all, so for them the page is what the server sent, nothing more.

Thin text also hints at unfinished work. A section that was meant to hold the about text, the service list or the product description may be empty because a content field was not filled in, a collection was not published, or the real copy lives on a staging copy. Catching it before the client does is the point of the check.

How Skewcheck detects it

Skewcheck reads the HTML the server sends and counts the words in the visible text, leaving out scripts, styles and similar non-content. A count of 80 or more passes. A lower count warns with low severity and removes 2 points from the score. The detail line states the count it found.

The limit is deliberate: this is the HTML as served, not the page after scripts run. A single-page app that builds its content in the browser can look empty here even though visitors see plenty, and that is itself a finding, because crawlers that do not run scripts see the same thing. The threshold is a rough floor, not a target. A short contact page can legitimately fall below it, in which case you can accept the warning.

Rough word count of the served HTML
curl -s https://example.com | sed -e 's/<script.*<\/script>//g' -e 's/<[^>]*>//g' | wc -w

Adding real copy

Write a short paragraph under the main heading that says who the site is for, what it offers and what the visitor should do next, and add sections for the details people look for: services, pricing basics, location, how to get in touch. Aim to be useful, not to reach a number. Fill any empty content fields and publish collections or CMS items that are still drafts.

If the page is built in the browser, render the main content on the server or at build time so it appears in the HTML. In Next.js, server components and static generation do this by default. In WordPress, Webflow and Framer, content added in the editor is normally part of the published HTML, so a low count usually means copy is missing, not hidden. Re-check after publishing.

Before and after

Before
Only 23 words of visible copy were found in the HTML.
After
312 words of visible copy.

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