Boilerplate is standard text that is reused with little change in many documents. In law it is the standardized clauses of a contract, in programming repeated code sections, in PR the closing paragraph of a press release. In SEO, boilerplate content is what appears identically on many pages of a website: header, navigation, sidebars, footer and recurring text blocks.
Boilerplate and main content
HTML separates these areas with elements such as <header>, <nav>, <main> and <footer>. MDN defines <main> as the dominant content of the document, related to its central topic. Sidebars, navigation links, copyright information, logos and search forms do not belong inside it because they repeat across documents, and the content of <main> should be unique to the document.
The word itself has a history. Wikipedia traces it to rolled steel for boilers, then to metal printing plates that supplied pre-made stories and ads to newspapers.
When does boilerplate become a problem?
Repeated page elements belong to nearly every site. A problem arises when a page has little content of its own apart from the template. Google’s spam policies mention cookie-cutter sites and templates with the same or similar content in the context of thin affiliate pages, and describe doorway pages as very similar pages made to rank for different queries. Applying that to boilerplate is an interpretation, since Google has no dedicated statement on the term.
Example
<header>Logo, search, cart</header>
<nav>Categories</nav>
<main>
<h1>Alpine 2 trail running shoe</h1>
<p>Own product description, dimensions, experiences ...</p>
</main>
<footer>Imprint, terms, shipping notes</footer>
Header, navigation and footer are boilerplate. The description inside <main> is the page’s own content.
Common mistakes
- Long identical text blocks under every product, so the unique text is a small share (opinion).
- Main content outside
<main>, hard to tell apart from the rest in the source. - Templates for city or industry pages where only the name changes.
FAQ
What is boilerplate content? Content repeated across pages, such as navigation, footers and standard text blocks.
Is boilerplate duplicate content? Navigation and footers are normal on almost every site. Pages that consist mostly of template are the concern.
Sources
- The Main content element – MDN Web Docsdeveloper.mozilla.org
- Spam policies for Google web search (thin affiliation, doorway) – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- Boilerplate text – Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
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