Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Does a "Read More" button to open up the full content affect SEO?
-
As we've been refining our metrics for gauging whether or not a blog is effective -- if people are engaging with it -- one of the strategies we've seen (e.g. NYT, WaPo, Yahoo!) is "Read More." I've read a few articles with some who advocate using it and others who discourage it. Does anyone have any history adding "Read More" to their content and the effect it had?
-
There was a great case study released by Reboot Online Marketing last week on exactly this topic: https://www.rebootonline.com/blog/hidden-text-experiment/
Basically, sites with visible text performed better; text in a textarea was treated as visible; and sites with text 'hidden' with CSS and JavaScript 'Read More' buttons didn't perform as well.
As Logan says above, Google is looking to give hidden content full weight with the release of the mobile first algorithm, but this algorithm hasn't been released yet and is likely not to be released this year: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-mobile-first-index-2017-23663.html
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
David
-
Hi,
Google used to weigh 'Read More', Tabbed, and accordioned content slightly less than immediately visible content. However, with the recently increased emphasis on user experience and their mobile-first mindset, they've since changed their stance on this type of content. More details including statements from Googlers can be found here: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-content-tabs-hidden-change-22950.html
-
Thank you for sharing that thread!
-
Hi,
I don't use read more link on my website. In below article few community members share their experience.
https://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/community/q/content-hidden-behind-a-read-all-more-etc-etc-button
Hope this helps!!
Thanks
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What to do with outdated and irrelevant content on a website?
Hi everyone, On our corporate website we have a blog where we publish articles which are directly related to our company (house heating systems and gas cylinders) and some articles which are completely irrelevant to our core business, but which might be of interest to our potential clients. Recently I've been told that it is not a good idea to include these not directly related posts to our core business, because Google might be somewhat confused at to what our core business is all about. I was advised to research this topic and think of completely removing blog posts that are irrelevant to our core business from our blog. By removing I mean completely removing pages and setting a 410 status to tell Google that it is not a 404 error but that these pages were intentionally removed. I would like to hear some independent advice from Moz community as to what I should do? Thank you very much in advance.
Content Development | | Intergaz0 -
Images & Duplicate Content Issues
Here's a scenario for you: The site is running WordPress and the images are uploaded to the media section. You can set image attributes there such as the Description & Alt Tag. Let's say you'd like to reuse the same image in two different blog posts. The image keeps the same Description & Alt Tag associated with it in the media section. Would this be considered duplicate content? What would be the best practice in this case to reuse the same image in multiple posts?
Content Development | | VicMarcusNWI0 -
Community Discussion - How do you create and distribute content?
Hi there, Moz Community! It's Thanksgiving here in the US, and this year I'm thankful for the release of Moz Content. 🙂 With that in mind, I'd like to revisit Kelsey Libert's November 5 Moz Blog post on creating and distributing content to kick of a community discussion to hold us over during this long weekend. Kelsey said: "Some content is designed to “go viral,” while other times a piece of content intended to stay among friends takes the Internet by storm. But whether planned or unplanned, rapidly-shared content has several commonalities. One of the key factors is that the content creates a strong emotional response in viewers." What do you think? How much effort do you put into getting your content distributed? Do you have particular strategies for creating your content? What are they?
Content Development | | MattRoney5 -
Can We Publish Duplicate Content on Multi Regional Website / Blogs?
Today, I was reading Google's official article on Multi Regional website and use of duplicate content. Right now, We are working on 4 different blogs for following regions. And, We're writing unique content for each blog. But, I am thinking to use one content / subject for all 4 region blogs. USA: http://www.bannerbuzz.com/blog/ UK: http://www.bannerbuzz.co.uk/blog/ AUS: http://www.bannerbuzz.com.au/blog/ CA: http://www.bannerbuzz.ca/blog/ Let me give you very clear ideas on it. Recently, We have published one article on USA website. http://www.bannerbuzz.com/blog/choosing-the-right-banner-for-your-advertisement/ And, We want to publish this article / blog on UK, AUS & CA blog without making any changes. I have read following paragraph on Google's official guidelines and It's inspire me to make it happen. Which is best solution for it? Websites that provide content for different regions and in different languages sometimes create content that is the same or similar but available on different URLs. This is generally not a problem as long as the content is for different users in different countries. While we strongly recommend that you provide unique content for each different group of users, we understand that this may not always be possible. There is generally no need to "hide" the duplicates by disallowing crawling in a robots.txt file or by using a "noindex" robots meta tag. However, if you're providing the same content to the same users on different URLs (for instance, if both example.de/ and example.com/de/ show German language content for users in Germany), you should pick a preferred version and redirect (or use the rel=canonical link element) appropriately. In addition, you should follow the guidelines on rel-alternate-hreflang to make sure that the correct language or regional URL is served to searchers.
Content Development | | CommercePundit0 -
How can I rank using translated content?
My friend has a website with similar content to mine, in a different language however. He has allowed me to translate his content if I link to it every post (can be nofollow). Does Google penalize me for clearly translated content? How can I make sure it ranks well? BTW, if I convince him that I don't link to him, is it better SEO-wise? Best,
Content Development | | kikocherman
Cherman0 -
Blog for SEO: embedded in the site or separate
Hello, For both ecommerce and sites that sell services, I've seen a lot of people recommending a blog for SEO. Should this blog be inside or separate from the main website for the most results? I can see how adding one to a site would create more unique content and an opportunity for link bait, but perhaps there is a reason to have a blog separate from the main site Thank you.
Content Development | | BobGW1 -
Duplicat Website Content? (UK, Ireland)
Hi, My website is based in Ireland on a .ie domain & now I would like to enter the UK market on a .co.uk Is it ok for me to duplicate my .ie website and provide all the information on a .co.uk OR is this considered duplicate content in terms of Google. (I'm led to believe that your own content on my domain's is not considered duplicate & this is only considered duplicate content when you go from .com to .ie, .co.uk etc). (all content, images, branding are my own).
Content Development | | GlenBOB0 -
Dashes / Slashes / Full Spots in Meta Tile.
Hello, I have a question how about how google sees dashes, slashes, full stops etc. I am new to SEO so this might be dumb. I sell refurbished printer parts. The majority of people search for the part number in google. A typical part number might be "04.F5/S3A YA50" . A customer might search for "04F5S3A YA50" or "04.F5/S3AYA50" or "04.F5/S3A YA50" or "04.F5/S3A-YA50". They aren't radically different but seem to effect the rankings. At the moment I use the following stucture for the meta tiles, descriptions etc 04.T5/S3A YA50 (04T5S3AYA50) by OEM | mysite Buy refurbished OEM 04.T5/S3A YA50 (04T5S3AYA50). Free next day delivery. 12 month warrnanty on all parts. www.mysite/4F5S3AYA50 Part number (Part number no spaces) by OEM | Mysite Generic text Part number (Part number no spaces) text www.mysite/(Part number no spaces My questions, should I try to include all the different ways a customer might search for a part number in my meta title, description, url etc. Or should I try to include within the content of the page. Many thanks
Content Development | | DavidLenehan0
