Is it better to publish poor content now than wait to add informative content later?

Question

I'm working on a site and plan on creating dynamic information via PHP pages for each item in a list of approximately 10,000 titles.

Right now all I have is the list itself, which IS kind of interesting for users coming from specific search queries. But this will mean a page which is basically just a list of item-titles (1 to 2 words long).

SEO-wise, should I wait till I can link each item with an informative individual page, or should I go ahead and publish the list even though it's very poor in content?

Answer 1

SEO-wise, should I wait till I can link each item with an informative individual page, or should I go ahead and publish the list even though it's very poor in content?

Search engines like Google may view a site with little or no original content as a violation of their Webmaster Guidelines:

One of the most important steps in improving your site's ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content.

However, some webmasters attempt to improve their pages’ ranking and attract visitors by creating pages with many words but little or no authentic content. Google will take action against domains that try to rank more highly by just showing scraped or other cookie-cutter pages that don't add substantial value to users.

So yes, you should wait until you can provide pages that you wouldn't consider "very poor in content" and contain relevant subject matter to search engine users, otherwise you may risk penalties.