Real Questions Google Uses to Judge a High Quality Website

Google is constantly changing the way they determine which sites are high qaulity.

They then change and tweak their alogorithm so lower quality sites appear less and less in the search results and higher quality sites appear more.

Here’s some idea of what Google use’s to judge a high quality website which you can also use to improve the quality of your own if needed.

Would you trust the information presented in this article?

There’s different ways to build and gain trust. You can always test it and find out or do your research and get a second opinion.

If you’re a regular reader of a blog then you’ll have a pretty good idea whether you trust the information you read or not.

Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?

How do you prove you are an expert? Personally i base my posts on my experience and do testing on a locally installed demo site.

WP Sites is included in several lists of the top 100 blogs about WordPress.

If your test out your theories and know your tutorials work then its not shallow.

Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?

If you do have duplicate content, you can either re write older posts to improve the quality it or redirect one page to the another which is more recent and better quality.

Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?

What you could do is include a donate button on your site and prove to Google your readers use a credit card to give you money.

An eCommerce system which accepts credit cards would also prove to Google that your site visitors trust you and want to buy your products.

I guess that you need to ask yourself, regardless of whether the content is interesting, useful or written by a trusted author, do you really trust the site enough to hand over financial details to pay them for a service or product they offer?

Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?

It’s not hard to fix spelling mistakes and stylistic errors can also be fixed as well using different tools. I think Google is referring to CSS errors which you’ll know about if you have them.

Opinion and fact are 2 different thing so you can write about both.

Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?

Always a great idea to research what your readers are interested in. One way to do this is to use a survey or poll.

Comments and direct contact from your readers is a great indication of what they are interested in and need help with or want your opinion on.

Large amounts of comments aren’t always an good indication of what your readers are interested in as sometimes they are all praise and don’t include constructive debate. This helps get to the bottom of the problem and find the real needs and solutions.

Putting all your cards on the table and speaking your mind is genuine without being rude or offensive.

Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?

There seems to be lot’s of writers basing their content on research of keyword competitors in their niche. It’s always a good idea to create content based on your own personal authentic experience.

Personally i think its better to research your audience and find your own solutions to help them solve problems.

I’ve also found it’s a good idea to write about what hasn’t already be written.

Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?

If you’re content solves real problems and helps your readers then its valuable. Testing out your theories for real can then be compared to other peoples pages in the search results.

We’ve all found content in the search results that isn’t the best so if you can’t find a decent article on a subject in your niche why not do some work on it yourself so you know its better then what your found in the search results.

How much quality control is done on content?

Not a bad idea to go back over your posts at some stage and update them. Improving the quality of your content should improve your search engine rankings as well.

Wikimedia on quality control and improving content.

Does the article describe both sides of a story?

Honest reviews, comparisons, pro’s and cons are all great ways to describe both sides of the story. Transparency is important especially when writing about products and services of a commercial nature.

I give credit where credits due and i also let authors know when i don’t agree with what they have written.

An example of this could be Hostgator have helpful friendly staff and a yearly plan is dirt cheap but the speed sucks once you’ve added a few hundred posts and your site can get throttled when this happens.

Honesty works fine in my opinion.

Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?

You can always find lists of the top 100 blogs in your niche. Its a great way to keep up with the latest news and comment on other sites like yours.

This will help you built trust and respect in your community so you can become a recognized authority and expert in your field or on a specific field in your industry or niche.

Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?

There seems to be some sites which focus too much on producing large lists of mass produced content purely aimed at competing against keyword competitor and gaining higher search engine ranking.

Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?

Never rush to publish a new article. Always better to leave it in the drafts for a while so you can think about it and make it more useful.

Personally, i know i’m normally feeling a bit exhausted after writing a posts and take a short break and review it the next day before i publish.

This gives me time to review the content when i’m in a different state of mind and add more value or make positive changes.

For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?

Well this doesn’t relate to everyone but i know we all have built in BS detectors.

Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?

Ask your audience if they recognize your site as an authoritative source of quality content.

Experience gives you the opportunity to find out which names are really authoritative.

Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?

I guess the topic needs to be explained in full otherwise you can also link to others which do cover all bases on your own site and other peoples sites.

I think its a great idea to research the best sites to link to after you have finished writing your posts.

Its also a good idea to link to others if you’re not an expert on everything covered in your articles.

Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

Use different tools to explain your story like graphs etc. does will help your readers understand more about what you’re on about..

Facts, figures and stats are interesting to most people especially when displayed in different forms of media like Infographics.

Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?

Compelling content that’s useful and solves problems is quality content. You’ll be more likely to bookmark, share and recommend it if you know its valuable and can help others.

If it helped you then it can help others so you’ll be more likely to recommend it.

Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?

Nothing turns people off more than ads stuck right in the middle of a post and all over the site. It looks like you’re only interested in driving more traffic to your site to make money.

On the other hand there’s nothing wrong with ads merchants you have bought from yourself and products you use and highly recommend.

Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?

Depends on the contacts you have to a certain degree. You’re doing pretty well if this happens to you.

Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?

Some short posts can still be very useful so short articles aren’t always shallow or lacking in helpful information.

Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?

If you have blogging buddies that will give it to you straight, then you can get some feedback before you hit the publish button

Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

Well i put my hand up. I have written some scathing articles about some services which i think can cause a lot of damage but its in the best interest of protecting my readers.

I always like to warn them of potential pitfalls which some people may complain about but i’m not stopping it.

Questions Sourced from: Google

Google’s not the only one that has drawn up a list of questions to check for high quality content.

Further Reading

1. Check out what Shout Me Loud has produced.
2. Signals of Quality Content

You Be The Judge

• Love to know what your answers are to these questions in the comments if you don’t mind.
• Alternatively, you may prefer to judge the quality of  this site by completing this short survey. Thanks