Today, Google sets extremely high demands on the quality of sites. If your project or its individual pages fall under the YMYL concept, where the information posted can affect the life, health, well-being, finances of the visitor, then these resources should correspond to unprecedentedly high requirements for the quality, reliability, authority, and expertise of the content.

Over the past year, many sites that have neglected Google’s quality requirements have lost their positions. However, it is possible to correct the mistakes and improve the organic ranking of the site, using the recommendations and experience of the professionals. So, how much is your website worth?

Website Quality Assessment

Site quality assessment is an analysis of hundreds of interdependent indicators, such as the following:

•  information reliability,
•  usability,
•  loading speed,
•  absence of errors,
•  good technical condition of the site,
•  the authority of the resource and authors, etc.

The criteria for evaluating the site are poorly formalized and require a thoughtful approach to the analysis of each indicator. Before you start improving the quality of the site, you need to understand what its current state is. First, familiarize yourself with what YMYL sites are and what are the E-A-T rules. Then download the Google Quality Assessment Guide to keep it close to you.

        1. Checking E-A-T Information on the Main Page

It is necessary to add info to the home page of the site that confirms that the content was created by reputable experts. These can be short BIOs of specialists, photos of their diplomas, certificates, links to official registers confirming the credentials of the company, site, and experts. The truthfulness of the content can be confirmed by customer reviews or regular visitors. The most important thing is that any user can identify the website as professional, filled with reliable quality content, and can understand why he should trust it.

        2. Validation of Prices and Ads

Advertising on the site is accurate, prices are final, without additional charges and taxes — all this is called “Advertising Disclosure”. Thus, information about goods and advertising of services must clearly and fully disclose all data that may affect the decision to purchase a product or service. Sellers and advertisers should not use pop-ups or hyperlinks to other electronic pages to display information about the cost of a product or service. Hyperlinks can be useful for educating consumers about less critical conditions of the offer, especially when the information can be extensive.

Any significant statement in advertising texts and offers on the site must be justified. This requires the use of expert evidence, professional tests, studies, certificates, diplomas, etc. False advertising statements that may influence the decision to purchase and/or use the product or service offered on the site are completely unacceptable.

        3. Terms and Conditions

Add the “Terms and Conditions” or “User Agreement” section. The page needs to familiarize the site users with the rules, conditions, and guidelines they need to follow to access your website. It will protect your rights and exclude certain users who may abuse your site or not follow the rules you set.

Besides, the Terms of Service may legally protect your site or e-commerce store. In this type of legal agreement, you must establish the rules that will be followed by your customers at the time of the purchase, or limit liability in the event of any failure or force majeure.

        4. Privacy Policy

Add a webpage with the “Privacy Policy”. Personal data operators are the companies that collect, store, process, and perform other actions with personal data. The owner of an Internet resource can be attributed to operators if the site has order forms, comments, registration, and feedback, in which a person enters a name, surname, email address, phone number, etc. There are a significant number of online generators of “Privacy Policy”, so you can use such a generator to configure these settings.

 

        5. Other Significant Pages

 

The site has to contain all the significant pages, the list of which may vary from sphere to sphere. In particular, we mean the following pages:

• About the company — the information about the website, company, clinic, online store is clearly stated. The scope of activity and principles of work are described. The advantages of the company’s products or services are indicated. The information about the history of your company, its founder, and CEOs is also an advantage. Sometimes it is worth creating a separate page “Our Team” so that site visitors can check the managers and employees of the company better.
• Company details — all significant legal details about the company are indicated (name of the organization, certificate of registration, license, legal and actual addresses of the company, bank details, etc.).
• Contact page — contact information both electronic and physical, addresses of the offices, photos of the office, and the building, accounts in social networks. It is very important to ensure the consistency of NAP data (name, address, phone number) with the information posted in business directories, press releases, etc.
• Delivery — conditions and options for the delivery of goods, fares, documentation, and the procedure of receiving.
• Payment — options for accepting payments in cash, cards, electronic money, barter, etc.
• Order — custom page for working with an order. A list of the required ordering documentation is provided.
• Public offer — a proposal of the site owner (seller) to conclude a contract for the sale of goods or services.
• Warranty obligations — disclosure of information about warranty service, the procedure for returning goods.
• Blog — this page allows you not only to sell goods and services but build a strong relationship with your customers via your expert advice and useful recommendations. Check the vivid blog examples here.

This list of the required pages is far from complete and depends on the specifics of the site. An important factor of the quality website is its technical side and SEO. We believe that these recommendations will help you to objectively evaluate your website.  Good luck!