TurboCharge
Junior Member
- Dec 5, 2017
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Traffic value jumped up to $14,1k as of two days ago (from $12k)
Is "fluff" SEO-content still important in 2025?
- Thread starter TurboCharge
- Start date
TurboCharge
Junior Member
- Dec 5, 2017
- 128
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$15k today. 
I'll be quiet from now on – will see where it goes.
I'll be quiet from now on – will see where it goes.
TurboCharge
Junior Member
- Dec 5, 2017
- 128
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Absolutely, but filler content is still evidently necessary. It is, with hindsight obviously, a requirement to cover a subject fully.
ULTRA FLY
BANNED
- May 5, 2025
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Yes I agree @TurboCharge but I also think in 2025, content needs to be more focused.
Google and users are looking for real value and not just extra words.
It is better to be clear and helpful than being long for the sake of it.
- Jan 16, 2017
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TurboCharge
Junior Member
- Dec 5, 2017
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Absolutely. The definition of "fluff" today, I would say, is information you could easily get from ChatGPT. There is not much uniqueness you could add to "What is a home insurance?", but you definitely appear to need it to cover the topic of "Home insurance" completely. I conclude each filler content with unique value offered by the site.
Clicks crashed 50% yesterday and today. Ahrefs shows all-time high traffic value ($15,2k). Perhaps there is a temporary indexing issue after the changed site structure.
- Jun 23, 2021
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i wish i saw this post earlier.
fluff content is of course necessary.
Let's use a real life example. Many businesses sell 100 products, but only 1 or 2 of them are bring the 80% profit. In this case, will the company remove all the low-marign products?
No, the rest of the low-margin products are just to build your trust, authority, or "topical authority" in the sense of websites.
They are just showing custoemrs, oh you are a serious business.
hope you understand.
fluff content is of course necessary.
Let's use a real life example. Many businesses sell 100 products, but only 1 or 2 of them are bring the 80% profit. In this case, will the company remove all the low-marign products?
No, the rest of the low-margin products are just to build your trust, authority, or "topical authority" in the sense of websites.
They are just showing custoemrs, oh you are a serious business.
hope you understand.
indianphotoacademy
BANNED
- Nov 26, 2024
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Delivering excellent, user-focused content that complies with Google's E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines will be crucial for SEO success in 2025. Articles that are generic and overflowing with keywords are no longer adequate. Rather, concentrate on producing insightful, well-researched content that answers user questions directly and offers original perspectives. In addition to improving user experience, this strategy supports search engines' emphasis on authority and relevancy.
Totally get your frustration. We’ve shifted from fluff to unique, data-driven content too — answering queries directly with real value. But yeah, rankings didn’t magically improve. Truth is, SEO fluff still works in 2025 if it’s bulked out with keywords and backed by authority. Google still leans on signals like backlinks and domain age. Quality content should win, but without authority or topical depth, it’s tough. Best bet? Blend both: create strategic keyword content that funnels users to your high-value pages. It’s not fair, but gaming the system a little still helps while you build long-term trust.
TurboCharge
Junior Member
- Dec 5, 2017
- 128
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As of three days ago, outgoing clicks crashed an additional 50%. Since starting this thread, they went from an average of 80/day to 200+/day (300 at the most), then crashed to 100 and as of today, they are at 60, maybe they will finish at 100 after all by the end of the day. Demoralizing. I suspect the changed site structure is causing indexing issues, so I will wait it out, but as of right now, I am absolutely drained. Will see how it goes when Google begins indexing the new site structure. Traffic value right now is $14k – will probably dip as well when Ahrefs refreshes the keywords.
TurboCharge
Junior Member
- Dec 5, 2017
- 128
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After all this and clicks are still down another 20%. Google either hates my domain, despite years of activity, or I just absolutely suck at this. In every metric, my website beats the competitors by a large margin, on and off page and more importantly, the website beats itself from March by a millionfold. It is night and day. Yet, do my rankings increase? Sure, by 2x and then they proceed to go back down, ”crashing”. Ranks I’ve held first position in since 2023 are now declining to second or third position. Outgoing clicks went from 50->100->200/300->100->80. Conversions are at 0. I make no conversions.
This is soul crushing. The final thing I’ve considered is changing domain names but I struggle to see how that could hold the site back this much. I will think of a new name today and make the transfer.
This is soul crushing. The final thing I’ve considered is changing domain names but I struggle to see how that could hold the site back this much. I will think of a new name today and make the transfer.
TurboCharge
Junior Member
- Dec 5, 2017
- 128
- 51
Learned that removing content using request removal of content tool on GSC could speed up trust recovery process so that is what I've done, seeing positive movements taking place already
- Apr 10, 2020
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Such type of content will not work in 2025. Average viewer or visitor is also very smart now.
- Jan 31, 2014
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I agree with you that people are getting smarter but it still might work with Google: I’m in the middle of testing it right now.
I’m working on a neighborhood site and wrote a batch of posts so fluffy they could double as throw pillows: all AI-generated, keyword-stuffed nonsense like “What makes Name Of a Town" special?” (spoiler: nothing that would impress locals). Total filler written for bots, not humans, the owner of the site (a local) would lose all credibility if actual residents saw that stuff LOL
It's too early to say if it’s working long-term, but here’s what I see so far:
- Google indexed them fast
- Some long-tail terms started surfacing
- The internal linking helped push juice to my “real” pages which have useful relevant content.
- And I buried the fluff with a plugin so readers don’t even see it ( it’s basically a cloaked welcome mat for crawlers) because it would be embarrassing to be associated with such nonsense
I agree users are smarter now : that’s why I’m hiding the garbage. But Google? If your site is small or new, and you’re trying to compete with legacy domains, fluff still gives you a toehold.
Did it help with indexing and keyword presence? Yep. Do I want real people reading it? Hell no.
So I cloaked the content with tags and footers, used a plugin to hide it from normal blog navigation, and made sure that if someone does stumble on it, they’ll either laugh or bounce to a useful page through strong internal linking. I also added the page where those posts are featured under a very boring name to the footer menu: Google sees it but no one in their right mind ever reads that stuff . I even added a running joke (our site’s mascot cat) to help differentiate the “SEO hoes pages” from the human-friendly stuff.
My point: if you want the SEO brownie points without sounding like a bot-brained bumpkin, hide your fluff from users. Let Google eat it, let humans skip it....if stuffing AI fluff in the basement helps the good stuff rank, I’m not above using at worst, I’ll 301 it later. At best, it works.
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Last edited:
- Jan 4, 2021
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In 2025, fluff still works to some extent-mainly because google still relies on signals like content length and keyword coverage. But you're on the right track, unique, data-driven content is the future. It just takes longer to gain trust and links. Combine both -brief keyword-optimized intros+ original value - to balance ranking and UX.