How to Fix Low Text-to-HTML Ratio on Your Website (Step-by-Step)

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What Is Text-to-HTML Ratio?

Text-to-HTML ratio compares the actual visible content (text) to the code (HTML) used to render a web page. It’s typically calculated as:

(Size of Visible Text / Size of HTML Code) × 100

A healthy ratio is usually between 25% and 70%. Anything below 20% is considered low and may indicate:

  • Excessive inline code

  • Too many hidden elements

  • Heavy JavaScript or CSS

  • Not enough real content

Why Is a Low Text-to-HTML Ratio Bad?

A low ratio signals that your site may be:

  • Slow to load (due to bloated code)

  • Difficult for search engines to crawl

  • Less content-rich, affecting relevance

  • Potentially using hidden content or spammy scripts

It doesn’t directly affect rankings, but it indirectly harms SEO, UX, and crawl efficiency

Step-by-Step: How to Fix Low Text-to-HTML Ratio (with Clear Navigation)

Step 1: Audit the Current Ratio

Goal: Find out which pages have a low text-to-HTML ratio.

✅ Where to Go:

Option 1: Using Ahrefs Site Audit

  1. Log in to Ahrefs

  2. Go to “Site Audit”

  3. Select your project (or create one if not added)

  4. Let the crawl complete.

  5. Go to the “Content Quality” or “On-Page” section

  6. Look for issues like “Low Text-to-HTML Ratio” or “Thin Content”

Option 2: Using Screaming Frog (Free up to 500 URLs)

  1. Download & open Screaming Frog SEO Spider

  2. Enter your website URL and start the crawl

  3. Click on the “Content” tab → Filter by Low Text-to-HTML Ratio

  4. See the % ratio under the “Text-HTML Ratio” column

Step 2: Remove Unused Code

Goal: Clean up bloated HTML that increases page size.

✅ Where to Go:

If using WordPress:

  1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard

  2. Go to Plugins → Add New

  3. Search for: “Asset CleanUp” or “WP Optimize”

  4. Install and activate it

  5. Go to Asset CleanUp → Settings

  6. On each page, you’ll now see an option to disable unnecessary scripts

Example: If you’re not using Contact Form on the homepage, disable contact-form-7 JS/CSS for homepage only.

Manual Cleanup:

  • Ask your developer or inspect pages by right-clicking → “View Page Source”

  • Remove inline scripts or tracking scripts not needed

  • Remove unused HTML comments and empty <div>s

Step 3: Minify HTML, CSS, JS

Goal: Make your code lightweight.

✅ Where to Go:

WordPress Steps:

  1. Dashboard → Plugins → Add New

  2. Install Autoptimize or WP Rocket (Paid)

  3. Go to Settings → Autoptimize

  4. Enable:

    • Optimize HTML Code

    • Optimize JavaScript Code

    • Optimize CSS Code

  5. Save changes and clear cache

If NOT using WordPress:

Step 4: Use Semantic HTML Structure

Goal: Replace bloated divs with cleaner tags.

✅ What to Do:

If using Elementor or WPBakery:

  1. Open the page in Elementor

  2. Edit each section and column → Check for unnecessary inner sections

  3. Remove nested empty divs

  4. Use:

    • <header> for site heading

    • <main> for main content

    • <article> for blog content

    • <footer> for page footer

If hand-coding:

  • Open your page HTML and search for excessive <div class=""> structures

  • Replace them with <section>, <aside>, <nav>, etc.

Step 5: Add More High-Quality Text Content

Goal: Increase visible content on your page.

✅ Where to Go:

WordPress:

  1. Go to Pages → Edit the specific page

  2. Add content inside the main content editor (not inside hidden accordions or tabs)

  3. Use H2 and H3 subheadings for structure

  4. Add:

    • FAQs

    • Case studies

    • Testimonials

    • Processes, comparisons, benefits

Check Tip:
Text in accordions/tabs often doesn’t count for SEO if hidden by default—avoid overusing them.

Step 6: Compress Media and Remove Hidden Elements

Goal: Reduce file weight and unnecessary code.

✅ Where to Go:

Compress Images:

  1. Use TinyPNG.com

  2. Upload all homepage or heavy blog images

  3. Download and re-upload compressed versions

WordPress Specific:

  1. Use plugin: Smush or ShortPixel

  2. Go to Media → Bulk Smush

  3. Enable lazy load to delay image load until needed

Remove Hidden Elements:

  • Open page → Right-click → Inspect Element

  • Look for hidden <div style="display: none;"> or similar → Remove them from the editor or theme builder

Step 7: Avoid Excessive Plugin Use (WordPress)

Where to Go:

  1. Dashboard → Plugins

  2. Deactivate all plugins you don’t actively use

  3. Delete those you no longer need

  4. Replace 3–4 plugins with a single plugin like:

    • Rank Math SEO (instead of Yoast + Redirection + Schema)

    • Elementor Pro (instead of multiple widget plugins)

Step 8: Use Server-Side Rendering (SSR) or Static HTML

For Developers:

  • If you use React, Next.js, Vue:

    • Enable SSR to generate HTML server-side before delivering to browser

    • Use frameworks like Next.js with getServerSideProps() or getStaticProps()

If using WordPress + Hosting:

  1. Enable GZIP compression

    • Go to Hosting cPanel

    • Click on Optimize Website

    • Enable “Compress all content”

  2. Alternatively, use Cloudflare (Free CDN) → Login → Speed → Enable Auto Minify

Step 9: Retest Your Page

Where to Go:

Ahrefs / Screaming Frog / GTmetrix:

  • Re-run the site audit after you’ve made changes

  • Focus on:

    • Improved Text-to-HTML %

    • Lower HTML page size

    • Better loading time (under 2 seconds)

Final Maintenance Tips:

  • Set up monthly auto audits using Ahrefs Alerts or Semrush Projects

  • Use Google Search Console → Core Web Vitals tab

  • Track HTML size & content growth in each new article or page

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