General Guidelines March 28, 2016
1.1 The Purpose of Search Quality Rating.............................................................................................. 5
1.2 Raters Must Represent the User........................................................................................................ 5
1.3 Browser Requirements..................................................................................................................... 5
1.4 Ad Blocking Extensions................................................................................................................... 5
1.5 Internet Safety Information............................................................................................................... 5
1.6 Releasing Tasks............................................................................................................................... 6
1.0 Introduction
to Page Quality Rating......................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Understanding Webpages and Websites.................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Important Definitions....................................................................................................................... 7
2.3 What is the Purpose of a Webpage?................................................................................................. 8
2.4 Your Money or Your Life
(YMYL) Pages........................................................................................... 9
2.5 Understanding Webpage Content..................................................................................................... 9
2.6 Understanding the Website............................................................................................................. 11
2.7 Website Reputation........................................................................................................................ 14
3.1 Overall Page Quality Rating Scale.......................................................................................................... 17
3.2 Page Quality Rating: Most
Important Factors.................................................................................. 18
3.3 More about Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)........................................... 18
4.1 High Quality Pages................................................................................................................................ 19
4.2 Characteristics of High
Quality Pages............................................................................................. 19
4.3 A Satisfying Amount of High Quality Main Content......................................................................... 19
4.4 Clear and Satisfying Website Information: Who is
Responsible and Customer Service................... 20
4.5 Positive Reputation........................................................................................................................ 20
4.6 A High Level of Expertise/Authoritativeness/Trustworthiness (E-A-T).............................................. 20
4.7 Examples of High Quality Pages.................................................................................................... 20
5.1 Highest Quality Pages............................................................................................................................ 23
5.2 Very High Quality MC..................................................................................................................... 24
5.3 Very Positive Reputation................................................................................................................ 24
5.4 Very High Level of
E-A-T................................................................................................................ 24
5.5 Examples of Highest Quality Pages................................................................................................ 24
6.1 Low Quality Pages.................................................................................................................................. 29
6.2 Low Quality Main Content.............................................................................................................. 29
6.3 Unsatisfying Amount of Main Content............................................................................................ 30
General Guidelines Overview
Welcome
to the Search Quality Rating Program!
As a Search Quality evaluator,
you will work on many different types of rating projects. The General
Guidelines primarily cover Page Quality (PQ) rating and Needs Met (NM) rating;
however, the concepts are also important for many other types of rating tasks.
For brevity, we refer to “Search
Quality Evaluators” as “raters” in these guidelines.
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1.1
Introduction
to Search Quality Rating
1.2
The Purpose of
Search Quality Rating
Your ratings will be used to
evaluate search engine quality around the world. Good search engines give
results that are helpful for users in their specific language and locale.
It is important that you are
familiar with and comfortable using a search engine. We encourage you to be an
expert in Google search! For example, experiment with using operators (e.g., quotes or a dash) in your
searches or try using Google’s advanced search option.
1.3
Raters Must
Represent the User
It is very important for you to
represent users in the locale you evaluate. You must be very familiar with the
task language and location in order to represent the experience of users in
your locale. If you do not have the knowledge to do this, please inform your
vendor.
1.4
Browser Requirements
Check with your vendor for
browser requirements. You may use helpful browser add-ons or extensions, but
please do not use add-ons or extensions which interfere with or alter the user
experience of the page.
1.5
Ad Blocking Extensions
Do not use add-ons or extensions
that block ads for Needs Met rating or Page Quality rating. These add-ons or
extensions may cause you to give incorrect ratings. As a rater, only use an ad
blocking extension or add-on if specifically instructed to do so in the
project-specific instructions.
1.6
Internet Safety Information
In the course
of your work, you will visit many different webpages. Some of them may harm
your computer unless you are careful. Please do not download any executables,
applications, or other potentially dangerous files, or click on any links that
you are uncomfortable with.
It is strongly recommended that
you have antivirus and antispyware protection on your computer. This software
must be updated frequently or your computer will not be protected. There are
many free and for- purchase antivirus and antispyware products available on the
web.
We suggest that you only open
files with which you are comfortable. The file formats listed below are
generally considered safe if antivirus software is in place.
·
.txt (text file)
·
.ppt or .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint)
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.doc or .docx (Microsoft Word)
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.xls or .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)
·
.pdf (PDF) files
If you encounter a page with a
warning message, such as “Warning-visiting this web site may harm your
computer,” or if your antivirus software warns you about a page, you should not
try to visit the page to assign a rating.
You may also come across pages that
require RealPlayer or the Adobe Flash Player plug-in. These are generally safe
to download.
1.7
Releasing Tasks
Most raters have difficulty rating
some tasks now and then. Some queries are about highly technical topics (e.g.,
computer science or physics) or involve very specialized areas of interest
(e.g., gaming or torrents). Please release the task if, after research, you
don’t understand the query or user intent for the task or the content of the
landing page (LP).
You may release tasks for these
reasons:
·
Lack expertise: You feel that you
personally can’t rate the query.
·
Suspicious files: The task contains unknown
or suspect file formats.
·
Offensive content: You believe
that the LP will be offensive to you or you feel uncomfortable visiting
the LP.
·
Technical problem: The
query/instructions/results have obvious rendering or formatting issues.
·
Wrong language: The query/task is in the
wrong language, i.e., it cannot be understood by users in the locale you are rating.
·
Content behind a paywall: The content is behind a
paywall that you do not have access to.
Part 1: Page Quality Rating Guideline
1.1
Introduction to Page
Quality Rating
A Page Quality (PQ) rating task
consists of a URL and a grid to record your observations, in order to guide
your exploration of the landing page and the website associated with the URL.
Ultimately, the goal of Page Quality rating is to evaluate how well the page
achieves its purpose. Because different types of websites and webpages can have
very different purposes, our expectations and standards for different types of
pages are also different.
Here's what you'll need to be a
successful Page Quality rater:
·
Your experience using the web as an ordinary user in your rating locale.
·
In-depth knowledge of these guidelines.
·
And most importantly—practice doing PQ rating tasks!
The examples in these
guidelines are very important. Please view each one and keep in mind a few
notes about the examples:
·
Webpages and websites change rapidly, so we use images or
"snapshots" of webpages in most of our examples.
·
The information in the examples was accurate at the time it was added,
but content and websites may change over time.
·
Some examples show pages on desktop and some show pages on mobile devices.
2.1
Understanding
Webpages and Websites
PQ rating requires an in-depth
understanding of websites. We'll start with the basics. Along the way, we'll
share important information about Page Quality rating, so please read through
this section even if you are a website expert!
2.2
Important Definitions
Here are some important
definitions:
A webpage is connected to the World Wide Web and can be viewed or
"visited" using a web browser (e.g., Chrome), a browser on your
phone, or a search app. In the 1990s, webpage content was mostly text and
links. Today, webpage content includes
many forms of media (such as images, videos, etc.) and functionality (such as
online shopping features, email, calculator functionality, online games, etc.).
A URL is a character string which your web browser uses to “find” and
display a webpage. Page Quality rating doesn't require you to have in-depth
understanding of the structure of URLs, i.e., you don’t need to know the
difference between host, domain, etc.
But if you are interested, see here to read more.
A website or site is a
group of World Wide Web pages usually containing hyperlinks to each other and
made available online by an individual, company, educational institution,
government, or organization. Popular websites include Facebook, Wikipedia,
Yahoo, YouTube, etc.
Note: In these guidelines, we will
use the word “website” to refer to a collection of pages owned and controlled
by a single entity (individual, business, etc.). But we will also use “website”
to refer to major “independent” sections (or hosts) of some websites which were
created to achieve separate purposes. For example, the Yahoo website is
organized into different sections (or hosts), such as Yahoo Finance (finance.yahoo.com),
Yahoo Mail (mail.yahoo.com),
Yahoo Sports (sports.yahoo.com),
etc. Each of these has its own purpose.
It’s OK to refer to each of these sections as a website; for example,
the Yahoo Finance website and the Yahoo Sports website. You may also refer to
pages on Yahoo Finance or Yahoo Sports as belonging to the Yahoo website.
A homepage of a website is the main page of the site. It is usually
the first page that users see when the site loads. For example, http://www.apple.com is
the homepage of the Apple site, http://www.yahoo.com is the homepage of the Yahoo
company site, and http://finance.yahoo.com
is the homepage of Yahoo Finance. You can usually find the homepage
of a website by clicking on a “home” link or logo link on subpages of a
website.
A subpage on a website is any page on the site other than the
homepage. For example, http://www.apple.com/iphone is a subpage on the Apple website,
and http://finance.yahoo.com/options
is a subpage on the Yahoo Finance website.
A webmaster is the person who is responsible for maintaining a
website.
Important: You must be
very comfortable exploring websites, both by clicking links and modifying URLs
in the address bar of your web browser.
Become a website detective and explorer!
2.3
What is the Purpose
of a Webpage?
The purpose of a page is the
reason or reasons why the page was created. Every page on the Internet is
created for a purpose, or for multiple purposes. Most pages are created to be
helpful for users. Some pages are created merely to make money, with little or
no effort to help users. Some pages are even created to cause harm to
users. The first step in understanding a
page is figuring out its purpose.
Why is it important to determine
the purpose of the page for PQ rating?
·
The goal of PQ rating is to determine how well a page achieves its
purpose. In order to assign a rating, you must understand the purpose of the
page and sometimes the website.
·
By understanding the purpose of the page, you'll better understand what
criteria are important to consider when evaluating that particular page.
·
Websites and pages should be created to help users. Websites and pages
which are created with intent to harm users, deceive users, or make money with
no attempt to help users, should receive the Lowest PQ rating. More on
this later.
As long as the page is created
to help users, we will not consider any particular page purpose or type to be
higher quality than another. For example, encyclopedia pages are not
necessarily higher quality than humor pages.
Important: There are highest quality and lowest quality webpages of
all different types and purposes: shopping pages, news pages, forum pages,
video pages, pages with error messages, PDFs, images, gossip pages, humor
pages, homepages, and all other types of pages.
The type of page does not determine the PQ rating—you have to understand
the purpose of the page to determine the rating.
Common helpful page purposes
include (but are not limited to):
·
To share information about a topic.
·
To share personal or social information.
·
To share pictures, videos, or other forms of media.
·
To express an opinion or point of view.
·
To entertain.
·
To sell products or services.
·
To allow users to post questions for other users to answer.
·
To allow users to share files or to download software.
Here are a few examples where it
is easy to understand the purpose of the page:
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Type of Page
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Purpose of the Page
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To display news.
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To sell or give information about the product.
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To allow users to watch a video.
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To calculate equivalent amounts in different
currencies.
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Here are two examples of helpful
pages where the purpose of the page is not as obvious:
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Page with a Non- Obvious
Purpose
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Discussion
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This page looks as though
the purpose is to share factual information, but the page starts with the
text “Christopher Columbus was born in 1951 in Sydney, Australia.” This is
obviously inaccurate! Was this page created to help users or to trick and
confuse users?
In this case, exploring the website can help us
understand the purpose of the page. This website was built by educators to
teach about interpreting information found on the Internet.
After reading about the website on the About This Site page, it should be clear
that the purpose of the page is to serve as an educational tool. The
information on the page is deliberately inaccurate so that it can be used as
an example of misinformation on the Internet. This page and website do have a
helpful and beneficial purpose.
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At first glance, this page
may seem pointless or strange.
However, it is a page from a humorous site that encourages users to
post photos with mouths drawn on them. The purpose of the page is humor or
artistic expression. This page has a
helpful or beneficial purpose.
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2.4
Your Money or Your
Life (YMYL) Pages
Some types of
pages could potentially impact the future happiness, health, or financial
stability of users. We call such pages “Your Money or Your Life” pages, or
YMYL. The following are examples of YMYL
pages:
·
Shopping or financial
transaction pages: webpages which allow users to make purchases, transfer money, pay
bills, etc. online (such as online stores and online banking pages).
·
Financial information pages: webpages which provide
advice or information about investments, taxes, retirement planning, home
purchase, paying for college, buying insurance, etc.
·
Medical information pages: webpages which provide
advice or information about health, drugs, specific diseases or conditions,
mental health, nutrition, etc.
·
Legal information pages: webpages which provide
legal advice or information on topics such as divorce, child custody, creating
a will, becoming a citizen, etc.
·
Other: there are many other
topics which you may consider YMYL, such as child adoption, car safety
information, etc. Please use your judgment.
We have very
high Page Quality rating standards for YMYL pages because low quality YMYL
pages could potentially negatively impact users’ happiness, health, or
financial stability.
2.5
Understanding
Webpage Content
All of the
content on a webpage can be classified as one of the following: Main Content
(MC), Supplementary Content (SC), or Advertisements/Monetization (Ads). In
order to understand the purpose of a webpage and do PQ rating, you will need to
be able to distinguish among these different parts of the page.
Webpage design
can be complicated, so make sure to click around and explore the page. See what
kind of content is behind the tabs and test out the interactive page features.
Content behind the tabs may be considered part of the MC, SC, or Ads, depending
on what the content is.
2.4.1
Identifying the Main
Content (MC)
Main Content is any part of the
page that directly helps the page achieve its purpose. Webmasters directly
control the MC of the page (except for user-generated content). MC can be text,
images, videos, page features (e.g., calculators, games), or it can be
user-generated content such as videos, reviews, articles, etc. which users have
added or uploaded to the page. Note that tabs on some pages lead to even more
information (e.g., customer reviews) and can sometimes be considered part of
the MC of the page.
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Type of Page and Purpose
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MC
Highlighted in Yellow
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News website homepage: the purpose is to display
news.
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News article page: the purpose is to display a
news article.
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Store
product page: the purpose is to sell or give information about the product.
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Content behind the Reviews, Shipping, and Safety Information tabs are considered to be part of the MC
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Video page: the purpose is to allow users to view
a video.
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Currency converter page: the purpose is to
calculate equivalent amounts in different currencies.
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Blog post page: the purpose is to display a blog
post.
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Search engine homepage: the purpose is to allow
users to enter a query and search the Internet.
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Bank login page: the purpose is to allow users to
log in to bank online.
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2.4.2
Identifying the
Supplementary Content (SC)
Supplementary Content
contributes to a good user experience on the page, but does not directly help
the page achieve its purpose. SC is controlled by webmasters and is an
important part of the user experience. One common type of SC is navigation links
which allow users to visit other parts of the website. Note that in some cases,
content behind tabs may be considered part of the SC of the page.
Sometimes the easiest way to
identify SC is to look for the parts of the page which are not MC or Ads.
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Type of Page and Purpose
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SC
Highlighted in Blue
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News article page: the purpose is to display a
news article.
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Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give
information about the product.
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Video page: the purpose is to allow users to view
a video.
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Blog post page: the purpose is to display a blog
post.
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2.4.3
Identifying
Advertisements/Monetization (Ads)
Ads may contribute to a good
user experience. Advertisements/Monetization (Ads) is content and/or links that
are displayed for the purpose of monetizing (making money from) the page. The
presence or absence of Ads is not by itself a reason for a High or Low quality
rating. Without advertising and monetization, some webpages could not exist
because it costs money to maintain a website and create high quality content.
There are
several different ways to monetize a webpage, including advertisements and
affiliate programs. See here for more information on website monetization.
Note that monetization on mobile pages may be more subtle than monetization on
desktop pages.
The most common type of
monetization is advertisements. Ads may be labeled as "ads,"
"sponsored links," “sponsored listings,” “sponsored results,” etc.
Usually, you can click on the links or mouse over the content to determine
whether they are Ads, as they often refer to a URL outside of that website. Ads
may change when you reload the page, and different users may see different Ads
on the same page.
Webmasters can choose to display
Ads on their page (for example by joining an advertising network), but they may not always directly
control the content of the Ads. However,
we will consider a website responsible for the overall quality of the Ads displayed.
Important: For the purpose of this guideline, we will consider
monetized links of any type to be “Ads.” See here for different types of website monetization.
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Type of Page and Purpose
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Ads
Highlighted in Red
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News article page: the purpose is to display a
news article.
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Video page: the purpose is to allow users to view
a video.
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Blog post page: the purpose is to display a blog
post.
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Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give
information about the product.
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2.4.4
Summary of the Parts
of the Page
Let's put it all together.
·
Main Content (MC) is any part of the page that
directly helps the page achieve its purpose. MC is (or should be!) the reason
the page exists. The quality of the MC plays a very large role in the Page
Quality rating of a webpage.
·
Supplementary Content (SC) is also important. SC can
help a page better achieve its purpose or it can detract from the overall experience.
·
Many pages have advertisements/monetization
(Ads). Without advertising and monetization, some webpages could not exist
because it costs money to maintain a website and create high quality content.
The presence or absence of Ads is not by itself a reason for a High or Low quality rating.
On some pages, reviews may be
considered MC, and on other pages they may be considered SC. Use your best
judgment and think about the purpose of the page.
Do not worry too much about
identifying every little part of the page. Think about which parts of the page
are the MC. Next, look for the Ads.
Anything left over can be considered SC.
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Type of Page and Purpose
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MC, SC, and
Ads Highlighted
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News article page: the purpose is to display a
news article.
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Store product page: the purpose is to sell or give
information about the product.
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Video page: the purpose is to allow users to view
a video.
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Currency converter page: the purpose is to
calculate equivalent amounts in different currencies.
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Blog post page: the purpose is to display a blog
post.
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Bank login page: the purpose is to allow users to
log in to bank online.
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2.5
Understanding the Website
Pages often make more sense when
viewed as part of a website. Some of the criteria in Page Quality rating are
based on the website the page belongs to.
In order to understand a website,
look for information about the website on the website itself. Websites are
usually very eager to tell you all about themselves!
You must also look for reputation
information about the website. We need to find out what outside, independent
sources say about the website. When there is disagreement between what the
website says about itself and what reputable independent sources say about the
website, we’ll trust the independent sources.
2.5.1
Finding the Homepage
The homepage of a website
usually contains or has links to important information about the website.
Webmasters usually make it easy to get to the homepage of the website from any
page on the site.
Here's how to find the homepage
of a website:
·
Examine the landing page of the URL in your PQ rating task.
·
Find and click on the link labeled “home” or “main page.”
·
Having trouble finding it? Try using “Ctrl-F” (“command-F” on a Mac) to
search the page for the text “home” or “main.” You may also try clicking on the
website logo, which is usually at the top of the page.
Sometimes, you may be given a
webpage or website that appears to have no navigation links, no homepage link,
and no logo or other means to find the homepage. Even some High or Highest quality
pages lack a way to navigate to the homepage.
If you can't find a link to the homepage, modify the URL by removing
everything to the right of “.com,” “.org,” “.net,” “.info,” etc. and refresh
the page.
Occasionally, your rating task
will include a URL for which there are two or more justifiable “homepage”
candidates. For example, you may not be sure whether the homepage of the URL http://finance.yahoo.com/news/category-stocks is http://finance.yahoo.com
or http://www.yahoo.com.
Important: When you have more than one
homepage “candidate,” please use whichever one offers the most information
about the specific webpage in the rating task. Use your judgment. The goal is
to understand the webpage and the website(s) it is associated with, not find
the one unique, correct homepage.
In the following examples, we
have included the URL of the page to be evaluated in the rating task, as well
as the URL of its associated homepage.
We have also included an image that shows where to click on the landing
page to navigate to the homepage. In the image, you will see a red box around
the link or the logo you would click to navigate to the homepage.
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URL of the Task Page
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Homepage of the Website
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Image that shows where to click to get to the homepage
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This “WILLIAMS-SONOMA” logo shown in the upper
left part of the page is clickable and takes users to the homepage of the
website.
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In this case, we will consider http://answers.yahoo.com the homepage, rather than http://www.yahoo.com. Why?
Because clicking on the logo takes the user to http://answers.yahoo.com. In addition, http://answers.yahoo.com
has
information about the Yahoo Answers website.
It is very difficult to find specific information about http://answers.yahoo.com on the http://www.yahoo.com homepage.
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This “YAHOO ANSWERS” logo in the upper left part
of the page is clickable and takes users to the homepage of the website.
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In this case, we will consider the Harvard Medical
School page at http://hms.harvard.edu
to be the
homepage, rather than http://www.harvard.edu (which is the homepage of Harvard University). Clicking the logo at
the top of http://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/facts-figures takes users to http://hms.harvard.edu, not to http://www.harvard.edu.
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This “Harvard Medical
School” logo in the upper left part of the page is clickable and takes users
to the homepage of the Harvard Medical School website.
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2.5.2
Finding Who is
Responsible for the Website and Who Created the Content on the Page
Every page belongs to a
website, and it should be clear:
·
Who (what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) is
responsible for the website.
·
Who (what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) created the
content on the page you are evaluating.
Websites are usually very clear
about who created the content on the page. There are many reasons for this:
·
Commercial websites may have copyrighted material they want to protect.
·
Businesses want users to know who they
are.
·
Artists, authors, musicians, and other original
content creators usually
want to be known and appreciated.
·
Foundations often want support and even volunteers.
·
High quality stores want users to feel comfortable buying online.
Most websites have “contact us”
or “about us” or “about” pages which provide information about who owns the
site. Many companies have an entire website or blog devoted to who they are and
what they are doing, what jobs are available, etc. Google and Marriott are both examples of
this, and there are many others:
Often a business or organization
is responsible for the content of a website, not an individual person. The IBM
Corporation is responsible for the content on ibm.com. The Cleveland Clinic is
responsible for the content on clevelandclinic.org. An individual is not
responsible for the content on these websites, even though many individuals
contributed to creating and maintaining the content. In these cases, we will
view the business or organization as responsible for the content on every
single page, as well as maintenance of the website.
On
some websites, users create the MC of many pages, while the business or
organization itself maintains the website. The company Facebook is
responsible for the Facebook website, but individuals create the content on
their personal Facebook pages. The company Wikipedia is responsible for the
Wikipedia website, but individuals create article content. Other websites with user-generated
content include YouTube, Twitter, other social networking websites, other
article publishing websites, Q&A websites, forums, etc. For these websites,
you must look at each page to determine the author(s) or creator(s) of the
content on that page.
Finally, there are some websites
which show licensed or syndicated content. This means that the website has paid
money or has some business relationship with the creator of the content. In
these cases, we will consider the website itself to be responsible for the
licensed or syndicated content, even if it wasn’t created by the website.
2.5.3 Finding About Us, Contact Information, and Customer
Service Information
Many websites are interested in
communicating with their users. There are many reasons that users might have
for contacting a website, from reporting problems such as broken pages, to
asking for content removal. Many websites offer multiple ways for users to
contact the website: email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, web
contact forms, etc. Sometimes, this contact information is even organized by
department and provides the names of individuals to contact.
The types and amount of contact
information needed depend on the type of website. Contact information and
customer service information are extremely important for websites that handle
money, such as stores, banks, credit card companies, etc. Users need a way to ask questions or get help
when a problem occurs.
For shopping websites, we'll
ask you to do some special checks. Look for contact information—including the
store’s policies on payment, exchanges, and returns. Sometimes this information
is listed under “customer service.”
Some kinds of websites need fewer
details and a smaller amount of contact information for their purpose. For
example, humor websites may not need the level of detailed contact information
we would expect from online banking websites.
Occasionally, you may encounter a
website with a legitimate reason for anonymity. For example, personal websites
may not include personal contact information such as an individual’s home
address or phone number. Similarly, websites with user-generated content may
allow the author to identify him/herself with an alias or username only.
To find contact or customer
service information for a website, start with the homepage. Look for a “contact
us” or “customer service” link. Explore the website if you cannot find a
“contact us” page. Sometimes you will find the contact information on a
“corporate site” link or even on the company’s Facebook page. Be a detective!
Note that different locales may
have their own specific standards and requirements for what information should
be available on the website.
2.6 Website Reputation
A website's reputation is based
on the experience of real users, as well as the opinion of people who are
experts in the topic of the website. Keep in mind that websites often represent
real companies, organizations, and other entities.
Therefore, reputation research
applies to both the website and the actual company, organization, or entity
that the website is representing.
Many websites are eager to tell
users how great they are. Some webmasters have read these rating guidelines and
write “reviews” on various review websites. But for Page Quality rating, you
must also look for outside, independent reputation information about the
website. When the website says one thing about itself, but reputable external
sources disagree with what the website says, trust the external sources.
Your job is to truly evaluate the
Page Quality of the site, not just blindly accept information on one or two
pages of the website. Be skeptical of
claims that websites make about themselves.
2.6.1
Reputation Research
Use reputation research to find
out what real users, as well as experts, think about a website. Look for
reviews, references, recommendations by experts, news articles, and other
credible information created/written by individuals about the website.
Stores frequently have user
ratings, which can help you understand a store’s reputation based on the
reports of people who actually shop there. We consider a large number of
positive user reviews as evidence of positive reputation.
Many other kinds of websites have
reputations as well. For example, you might find that a newspaper website has
won journalistic awards. Prestigious awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize award,
are strong evidence of positive reputation.
When a high level of
authoritativeness or expertise is needed, the reputation of a website should be
judged on what expert opinions have to say. Recommendations from expert sources,
such as professional societies, are strong evidence of very positive
reputation.
Reputation research is necessary
for all websites you encounter. Do not just assume websites you personally
use have a good reputation. Please do research! You might be surprised at what you find.
2.6.2
Sources of
Reputation Information
Look for information written by a
person, not statistics or other machine-compiled information. News articles,
Wikipedia articles, blog posts, magazine articles, forum discussions, and
ratings from independent organizations can all be sources of reputation
information. Look for independent,
credible sources of information.
Sometimes, you
will find information about a website which is not related to its reputation.
For example, pages like Alexa have
information about Internet traffic to the website, but do not provide evidence
of positive or negative reputation. You
can ignore this information since it's not helpful for Page Quality rating.
2.6.3
Customer Reviews of Stores/Businesses
Customer
reviews can be helpful for assessing the reputation of a store or business.
However, you should interpret these reviews with care, particularly if there
are only a few. Be skeptical of both positive and negative user reviews. Anyone
can write them, including the creator of the website or someone the store or
business hires for this purpose. See here for a New York Times article on fake reviews
and here for a Guardian article on fake reviews.
When interpreting customer
reviews, try to find as many as possible. Any store or website can get a few
negative reviews. This is completely normal and expected. Large stores and
companies have thousands of reviews and most receive some negative ones.
It is also important to read the
reviews because the content of the reviews matter, not just the number.
Credible, convincing reports of fraud and financial wrongdoing is evidence of
extremely negative reputation. A single encounter with a rude clerk or the
delayed receipt of a single package should not be considered negative
reputation information. Please use your judgment.
2.6.4 How to Search for Reputation Information
Here is how to research the
reputation of the website:
1. Identify the “homepage” of
the website. For example, for the IBM
website, ibm.com is the homepage.
2.
Using ibm.com as an example, try one or more of the following searches
on Google:
·
[ibm -site:ibm.com]: A search for IBM which excludes pages on ibm.com.
·
[“ibm.com” -site:ibm.com]: A search for “ibm.com” which excludes pages
on ibm.com.
·
[ibm reviews -site:ibm.com] A search for reviews of IBM which excludes
pages on ibm.com.
·
[“ibm.com” reviews -site:ibm.com]: A search for reviews of “ibm.com”
which excludes pages on ibm.com.
3. Look for articles, reviews,
forum posts, discussions, etc. written by people about the website. For
businesses, there are many sources of reputation information and reviews. Here are some examples: Yelp, Better
Business Bureau (a nonprofit organization that focuses on the
trustworthiness of businesses and charities), Amazon, and Google
Shopping. You can try searching on
specific sites to find reviews. For example, you can try [ibm site:bbb.org] or
[“ibm.com” site:bbb.org].
Note: You will sometimes find
high ratings on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website because there is very
little data on the business, not because the business has a positive
reputation. However, very low ratings on BBB are usually the result of multiple
unresolved complaints. Please consider very low ratings on the BBB site to be
evidence for a negative reputation.
4.
See if there is a Wikipedia article or news article from a well-known
news site. Wikipedia can be a good source of information about companies and
organizations. For example, try [ibm site:en.wikipedia.org] or [“ibm.com”
site:en.wikipedia.org]. News articles and Wikipedia articles can help you learn
about a company and may include information specific to reputation, such as
awards and other forms of recognition, or also controversies and issues. Note
that some Wikipedia articles include a message warning users that there are
disagreements on some of the content, or that the content may be outdated. This
may be an indication that additional research is necessary.
Here are some examples of
reputation information:
|
Website
|
Reputation
Information About the Site
|
Description
|
|
|
|
Positive reputation information: Users in the U.S. can obtain free credit
reports on this website by providing their Social Security Number. Note that
the Wikipedia article tells us that “AnnualCreditReport.com is the only
federally mandated and authorized source for obtaining a free credit report.”
Note: Almost every website
will have complains about customer service, so it is important to look at
various sources and reviews in your reputation research.
|
|
|
|
Positive
reputation information: According to Wikipedia, the Cleveland Clinic “is currently regarded
as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United States as rated by U.S. News
& World Report,” which you will also find in the article on the best
hospitals in the U.S. Users can trust medical information on this website.
|
|
|
|
Positive
reputation information: Notice the highlighted section in the Wikipedia article about The
Christian Science Monitor newspaper, which tells us that the newspaper has
won seven Pulitzer Prize awards. From this information, we can infer that the
csmonitor.com website has a positive reputation.
|
|
Website
|
Reputation
Information About the Site
|
Description
|
|
|
|
Positive reputation information: We learn in the Wikipedia article that
“Kernel.org is a main repository of source code for the Linux kernel, the
base of the popular Linux operating system.
It makes all versions of the source code available to all users. It
also hosts various other projects, like Google Android. The main purpose of
the site is to host a repository for Linux kernel developers and maintainers
of Linux distributions.”
|
|
|
|
Extremely negative reputation information: This business has a BBB
rating of F (i.e., lowest rating given by BBB).
There is a news article about financial fraud.
There are many reviews on websites describing users sending money and not
receiving anything from various sources.
|
|
|
|
Extremely negative/malicious reputation information: This website engaged in
criminal behavior such as physically threatening users.
|
|
|
|
Extremely
negative reputation information: There are many detailed negative articles on news
sites and charity watchdog sites about this organization describing fraud and
financial mishandling.
|
2.6.5
What to Do When You
Find No Reputation Information
You should expect to find
reputation information for large businesses and websites of large
organizations.
Frequently, you will find little
or no information about the reputation of a website for a small organization.
This is not indicative of positive or negative reputation. Many small, local
businesses or community organizations have a small “web presence” and rely on
word of mouth, not online reviews. For these smaller businesses and
organizations, lack of reputation should not be considered an indication of low
page quality.
3.1
Overall Page Quality
Rating Scale
The overall Page Quality rating scale offers five
rating options: Lowest, Low, Medium, High, and Highest.
On Page Quality rating tasks,
you will use the Page Quality sliding scale (slider) to assign the overall PQ
rating. The slider looks like this:
 |
You may also use the
in-between ratings of Lowest+, Low+, Medium+, and High+.
Please interpret the “+” as “+ ½,” meaning that the Lowest+ rating is halfway between Lowest and Low, the Low+ rating is halfway between Low and Medium, etc.
In the following sections,
you will learn about characteristics of Lowest,
Low, Medium, High, and Highest quality pages.
3.2
Page Quality Rating:
Most Important Factors
Here are the most important
factors to consider when selecting an overall Page Quality rating:
·
Main Content Quality and
Amount: The
rating should be based on the landing page of the task URL.
·
Website
Information/information about who is responsible for the website: Links to help with website
information research will be provided.
·
Website Reputation: Links to help with
reputation research will be provided.
·
Expertise,
Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness: This is an important quality characteristic. Use
your research on the areas above to inform your rating.
Note: some tasks may ask you to view the page on your phone, but to
do research (e.g., finding website information and reputation) on your desktop.
Other tasks may ask you to do everything on your desktop. Please follow the
instructions in the task.
3.3
More about
Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
The amount of expertise,
authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) that a webpage/website has is
very important. MC quality and amount, website information, and website
reputation all inform the E-A-T of a website.
Keep in mind that there are
“expert” websites of all types, even gossip websites, fashion websites, humor
websites, forum and Q&A pages, etc. In fact, some types of information are
found almost exclusively on forums and discussions, where a community of
experts can provide valuable perspectives on specific topics.
·
High quality medical advice should come from people or organizations
with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation. High quality medical
advice or information should be written or produced in a professional style and
should be edited, reviewed, and updated on a regular basis.
·
High quality financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, etc., should
come from expert sources and be maintained and updated regularly.
·
High quality advice pages on topics such as home remodeling (which can
cost thousands of dollars and impact your living situation) or advice on
parenting issues (which can impact the future happiness of a family) should
also come from “expert” or experienced sources which users can trust.
·
High quality pages on hobbies,
such as photography or learning to play a guitar, also require expertise.
Some topics require less formal
expertise. Many people write extremely detailed, helpful reviews of products or
restaurants. Many people share tips and life experiences on forums, blogs, etc.
These ordinary people may be considered experts in topics where they have life
experience. If it seems as if the person creating the content has the type and
amount of life experience to make him or her an “expert” on the topic, we will
value this “everyday expertise” and not penalize the person/webpage/website for
not having “formal” education or training in the field.
It’s even possible to have
everyday expertise in YMYL topics. For example, there are forums and support
pages for people with specific diseases. Sharing personal experience is a form
of everyday expertise. Consider this example. Here, forum participants are telling how
long their loved ones lived with liver cancer. This is an example of sharing
personal experiences (in which they are experts), not medical advice. Specific
medical information and advice (rather than descriptions of life experiences)
should come from doctors or other health professionals.
Think about the topic of the
page. What kind of expertise is required for the page to achieve its purpose
well? The standard for expertise depends on the topic of the page.
4.1
High Quality Pages
In this section, we will
describe characteristics of High quality
pages and give many examples. Examples help calibrate your ratings, so please
review each one.
4.2
Characteristics of
High Quality Pages
High quality pages are satisfying and achieve their purpose well. High quality pages exist for almost any
purpose, from giving information to making you laugh.
What makes a High quality page? A High
quality page may have the following characteristics:
·
High level of Expertise,
Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC.
·
Satisfying website information and/or information about who is
responsible for the website or satisfying customer service information, if the page is primarily for shopping or includes financial transactions.
·
Positive website reputation for a website that is responsible for the
MC on the page.
4.3
A Satisfying Amount
of High Quality Main Content
The quality of the MC is one of
the most important criteria in Page Quality rating, and informs the E-A-T of
the page. For all types of webpages, creating high quality MC takes a
significant amount of at least one of the following: time, effort, expertise,
and talent/skill.
For each page you evaluate,
spend a few minutes examining the MC before drawing a conclusion about it. Read
the article, watch the video, examine the pictures, use the calculator, play
the online game, etc. Remember that MC also includes page features and
functionality, so test the page out. For example, if the page is a product page
on a store website, put at least one product in the cart to make sure the
shopping cart is functioning. If the page is an online game, spend a few
minutes playing it.
The purpose of the page will
help you determine what high quality content means for that page. For example,
High quality encyclopedia articles should be factual, accurate, clearly
written, and comprehensive. High quality shopping content should allow you to
find the products you want and to purchase the products easily. High quality
humor content should be entertaining.
The amount of content necessary
for the page to be satisfying depends on the topic and purpose of the page. A High quality page on a broad topic with
a lot of available information will have more content than a High quality page on a more narrow
topic. Here are some examples of pages with a satisfying amount of high quality
MC.
|
Webpage
|
Discussion
|
|
|
The Siberian Husky (a breed
of dog) is a narrow topic. Although this encyclopedia landing page has less
MC than some encyclopedia pages on broader topics, it has a satisfying amount
of clearly written, high quality MC.
|
|
|
This shopping page on a
reputable shopping website has a satisfying amount of high quality MC. The
page provides the manufacturer’s product specs, as well as original product
information, over 90 user reviews, shipping and returns information, multiple
images of the product, etc. Note: Some of the MC is behind links on the page
(“item details,” “item specifications,” “guest reviews,” etc.). Even though
you have to click these links to see the content, it is still considered MC.
|
|
This movie review written
by a movie critic has a satisfying amount of high quality MC. Time, effort,
and talent/skill went into writing this movie review.
|
4.4
Clear and Satisfying
Website Information: Who is Responsible and Customer Service
Understanding who is responsible
for a website is a critical part of assessing E-A-T for most types of websites.
High quality pages should have clear information about the website so that
users feel comfortable trusting the site.
The amount of information needed
for E-A-T assessment depends on the type of website. For example, YMYL websites
demand a high degree of trust, so they generally need satisfying information
about who is responsible for the content of the site. In addition, High quality
stores and financial transaction websites also need clear and satisfying
customer service information to help users resolve issues.
Other websites that are not YMYL
websites may need less website information, depending on the purpose of the
website. For example, an email address
may be sufficient for some non-YMYL websites.
4.5
Positive Reputation
Reputation is an important
criteria when using the High rating,
and informs the E-A-T of the page. While a page can merit the High rating with no reputation, the High rating cannot be used for any
website that has a convincing negative reputation. Remember that when doing
research, make sure to consider the reasons behind a negative rating and not
just the rating itself.
4.6
A High Level of
Expertise/Authoritativeness/Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
High quality pages and websites need enough expertise to be
authoritative and trustworthy on their topic. Remember that there are “expert”
websites of all types, even gossip websites, fashion websites, humor websites,
forum and Q&A pages, etc. In fact, some types of information are found
almost exclusively on forums and discussions, where a community of experts can
provide valuable perspectives on specific topics.
Think about the topic of the
page. What kind of expertise is required for the page to achieve its purpose
well? The standard for expertise depends on the topic of the page.
4.7
Examples of High
Quality Pages
|
Webpage/Type
of Content
|
High Quality Characteristics/PQ Rating
|
PQ Rating and
Explanation
|
|
US Naval Observatory Master Clock page
|
·
High E-A-T for the purpose of the page
|
The purpose of this page is to display the
official US Naval Observatory Master Clock time in 7 different time zones.
The page displays the clock information in a clear, easy-to-read format. The
Naval Observatory is highly trustworthy and authoritative for this type of
information.
|
|
Article on a humor website
|
·
High quality humorous MC
·
Positive reputation (website)
·
Expertise as a farcical humor website
|
This website is well known
for its humorous, satirical articles. This is a cute example of a satisfying
and funny article.
|
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
High Quality Characteristics/PQ Rating
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
Local fish & chips restaurant
|
· High E-A-T for the purpose
of the page
|
This is an “about us” page on a restaurant
website. This page provides information on when the restaurant opened and
what visitors can expect. Other pages on the website provide information
about the restaurant including the address, menu, other contact information,
etc.
This website is highly
authoritative because it is about itself.
|
|
|
·
High E-A-T for the purpose of the
page
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC
|
This is the News and Updates section of a local
preservation center selling poultry, vegetables, and more.
Note: this example was
added in 2014 so the “News and Updates” were timely.
|
|
Homepage of a newspaper
|
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC
·
Positive reputation (website)
|
This newspaper has won
seven Pulitzer Prize awards.
|
|
Article on a newspaper website
|
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC
·
Positive reputation (website)
|
This is an article on a newspaper website which
has won nine Pulitzer Prize awards. There is a satisfying amount of high
quality MC. While there are Ads on the page, the MC is easy to find and the
Ads are clearly labeled as Ads.
|
|
Parenting article about strollers
|
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC
·
Very positive reputation (website)
· Specifically, high E-A-T
and positive reputation for this specific blog and author
|
This is a blog post on a newspaper which has won
over 100 Pulitzer Prize awards. The author of this blog post has become known
as an expert on parenting issues. She is a regular contributor to this and
other media websites.
|
|
Backpack shopping page on a popular store website
(YMYL)
|
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC
·
Positive reputation (website)
|
The purpose of this page is to allow users to buy
a school backpack. The page provides a lot of different backpack options, and
some of them have user reviews.
This is a well-known, reputable merchant, with
detailed Customer Service information on the site.
|
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
High Quality
Characteristics/PQ Rating
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
Bathroom décor page on a store website (YMYL)
|
·
High E-A-T for the purpose of the
page
·
Positive reputation (website)
|
This company sells its own
line of high end, fashionable baby and children’s furniture and accessories.
It has a positive reputation as well as expertise in these specific types of
goods.
Many products sold on the
site are unique to this company.
|
|
electronics
website (YMYL)
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
·
High E-A-T for the purpose of the
page
·
Positive reputation (website)
|
There is a very large
quantity of MC on this page. Note that the tabs on the page lead to even more
information, including many customer reviews.
The tabs should be
considered part of the MC.
|
|
Saturday Night Live video on a video website
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
· High E-A-T for the purpose
of the page
|
The MC of this video page is an episode of
Saturday Night Live, a very popular television show.
|
|
“An Engineer’s Guide to Cats” video
|
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC
· High E-A-T (everyday
expertise) on the topic of cat ownership
|
This is a humorous, high
quality, well produced video with more than 6.5 million views (and counting),
illustrating the proper care and practical benefits of cats. The two
engineers in the video have everyday expertise on cat ownership. For a
humorous video like this one, expertise does not have to be in the form of a
trained veterinarian.
|
|
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
· Positive reputation
(website) as an educational tool
for kids
|
Highly engaging game with multiple levels that
could entertain a child for hours. This website has a positive reputation for
educating children about animals.
|
|
How long do cancer patients live
|
· A satisfying amount of high
quality MC in the form of personal narratives
|
The question on the page asks how long people live
with cancer. There are many responses describing how long a loved one lived
after diagnosis. There is very little medical advice and the focus of the
page is sharing personal experience. Many responses are heartfelt and well
written.
|
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
High Quality
Characteristics/PQ Rating
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
Encyclopedia article about the American Civil War
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of high
quality MC
·
Positive reputation (website)
·
High E-A-T for the article
|
This is a detailed article
about the American Civil War. The citations support the E-A-T of this
article.
Note:
Although much of the content is visible on the mobile page, we consider the
content under the headings (which you need to expand) to be part of the MC.
(To see the screenshot, you will need to zoom in to the image.)
|
|
Authenticating a luxury designer purse
|
·
High E-A-T for the purpose of the
page
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC
|
This forum is well known for discussions on luxury
designer purses. On this particular forum page, members are consulting forum
experts who have expertise authenticating bags from this brand.
These experts can tell if a particular bag is
authentic or fake. While there is an ad at the top and a few ads within the
forum message, it does not distract from the MC, which is easy to find.
(To see the screenshot, you
will need to zoom in to the image.)
|
|
|
·
High E-A-T for the purpose of the
page
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC
|
This discussion focuses on the landscaping for a
particular paludarium (an aquarium with terrestrial and
aquatic elements). There is a
lot of discussion and interaction between forum members about the types of
materials and species used in the aquarium. The posts show expertise in a
niche topic aquarium landscaping.
|
Highest pages are very satisfying pages which achieve their purpose
very well. The distinction between High and
Highest is based on the quality of MC
as well as the level of E-A-T and reputation of the website. What makes a page Highest quality? A Highest
quality page may have the following characteristics:
·
Very high level of Expertise, highly
Authoritative, and highly
Trustworthy for the purpose of the page (E-A-T).
·
A satisfying amount of high quality
MC.
·
Highly satisfying website information and/or information about who is
responsible for the website or for stores and
pages involving financial
transactions, highly satisfying customer service reputation is very important
·
Very positive website reputation for a website that is responsible for
the MC on the page.
5.2
Very High Quality MC
We will consider the MC of the
page to be very high or highest quality when it is created with a high degree
of time and effort, and in particular, expertise, talent, and skill—this may
provide evidence for the E-A-T of the page. Very high quality MC may be created
by experts, hobbyists, or even people with everyday expertise. Our standards
depend on the purpose of the page and the type of content. The Highest rating may be justified for
pages with a satisfying or comprehensive amount of very high quality MC.
5.3
Very Positive Reputation
Reputation research is important
when giving Highest ratings, and is
evidence of the E-A-T of the page. Very positive reputation is often based on
prestigious awards or recommendations from known experts or professional societies
on the topic of the website. Wikipedia
and other informational sources can be a good starting point for reputation
research.
For some topics, such as humor
or recipes, less formal expertise is OK.
For these topics, popularity, user engagement, and user reviews can be
considered evidence of reputation. For topics which need less formal expertise,
websites can be considered to have a positive reputation if they are highly
popular and well-loved for their topic or content type, and are focused on helping users.
5.4
Very High Level of E-A-T
Highest quality pages and websites have a very high level of
expertise or are highly authoritative or highly trustworthy.
Formal expertise is important for
topics such as medical, financial, or legal advice. Expertise may be less
formal for topics such as recipes or humor. An expert page on cooking may be a
page on a professional chef’s website, or it may be a someone who posts popular
cooking videos on YouTube. Please value life experience and “everyday
expertise.” For some topics, the most expert sources of information are
ordinary people sharing their life experiences on personal blogs, forums,
reviews, discussions, etc.
Think about what expertise,
authoritativeness, and trustworthiness mean for the topic of the page. Who are
the experts? What makes a source trustworthy for the topic? What makes a
website highly authoritative for the
topic?
5.5
Examples of Highest
Quality Pages
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
Highest
Quality Characteristics of the Page
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of high
quality MC
|
This page offers a satisfying amount of helpful
and very high quality MC for the purpose of the page. Because the page is on
the official website of the company that produces the software, it is highly
authoritative.
|
|
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of high
quality MC
|
From this Wikipedia
article, we learn that “Kernel.org
is a main repository of source code for the Linux kernel, the base of the
popular Linux operating system. It makes all versions of the source code
available to all users... The main purpose of the site is to host a
repository for Linux kernel developers and maintainers of Linux
distributions.”
This website is the most
authoritative source for information about Linux.
|
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
Highest
Quality Characteristics of the Page
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
Credit report information website (YMYL)
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· Very positive reputation (website)
|
Users in the U.S. can obtain free credit reports
on this website by providing their Social Security Number. This Wikipedia
article tells
us that this website is “the only federally mandated and authorized source
for obtaining a free credit report.”
|
|
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high quality MC for the purpose of the page
|
The purpose of the page is to provide income tax
forms and publications. The website
represents an agency of the U.S. federal government that handles taxes, so the
page and forms are uniquely authoritative and trustworthy.
|
|
Yosemite National Park information
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high quality MC for the purpose of the page
|
This page has a highly
satisfying amount of helpful information about Yosemite National Park,
including traffic alerts and links to other parts of the website with
additional information. Since the page is on the official national park
website, it is uniquely authoritative.
|
|
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· Very positive reputation (website)
|
The purpose of this page is
to provide an online BMI (Body Mass Index) calculator. The calculator is
functional and easy to use.
The website represents an
institute that is part of the National Institutes of Health. It has an
extremely good reputation and is an expert in medical topics.
|
|
Page about meningitis (YMYL)
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
·
Very positive reputation (website)
|
This is a meningitis reference page on a
trustworthy and authoritative website for a
nonprofit medical research group. This website has a reputation of
being one of the best web resources for medical information.
|
|
Page about seasonal flu
(YMYL)
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· Very positive reputation (website)
|
This is an influenza reference page on a
trustworthy and authoritative medical website. This website has a reputation
of being one of the best web resources for medical information of this type.
|
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
Highest
Quality Characteristics of the Page
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
Health information on a hospital page (YMYL)
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
|
According to this Wikipedia
article, this hospital is
“currently regarded as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United States as
rated by U.S. News &
World Report.” Users can trust medical information on this
website.
|
|
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
·
Very positive reputation (website)
|
This comedian has won
multiple prestigious awards for his TV show (on the air when the example was
written), and this is the homepage of his official website.
Keep in mind that for any
type of page, including humor websites, there may be a range of highest
quality to lowest quality pages. Therefore, it’s important to evaluate the
page using the same criteria as all other pages, regardless of what type of
page it is.
|
|
Backpack shopping page
(YMYL)
|
· Very high
level of E-A-T for the purpose of
the page
· Very positive reputation (website)
· A
satisfying or comprehensive amount of
high quality MC
|
The purpose of this page is to provide information
about, and allow users to buy, a specific type of school backpack. The page
provides a lot of helpful product information, as well as 600 user reviews.
Since the store produces this backpack, they are
experts on the product, making the page on their own website authoritative.
In addition, this store has a reputation for producing one of the highest
quality and most popular school backpacks on the market.
|
|
Online banking login page
(YMYL)
|
· A satisfying amount of high
quality MC for its purpose (login page)
·
Positive reputation (website)
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
|
This page has login
functionality, as well as clear information about what the user is logging
into. This is a large, popular bank with a good reputation.
|
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
Highest
Quality Characteristics of the Page
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
“Custom 404” page
|
· A satisfying amount of high
quality MC for its purpose (error page)
·
Very positive reputation (website)
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
|
This is an example of a “custom 404” page. These
pages are designed to alert users that the URL they are trying to visit no
longer exists. The MC of this page is the cartoon, the caption, and the
search functionality, which is specific to the content of the website.
It is clear that time, effort, and talent was involved in the creation
of the MC.
This publication has a very positive reputation
and is specifically known for its cartoons.
Keep in mind that for any
type of page, including pages with error messages, there may be a range of
highest quality to lowest quality pages.
Therefore, it’s important to evaluate the page
using the same criteria as all other pages, regardless of what type of page
it is.
|
|
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· A satisfying amount of high
quality MC and features
|
The website is one of the
most popular recipe websites and the author of the recipe is a well- known
celebrity chef who specializes in southern cooking.
This page has a large number of user reviews of
the recipe, detailed preparation time information, a “recipe box” feature,
etc.
|
|
Chocolate chip cookie recipe on a recipe blog
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· A satisfying amount of high
quality MC and features
|
Even though this user does not seem to be a well-
known professional chef, recipes are an example of everyday expertise. The
author of this blog has documented her extensive experimentation with a chocolate
chip cookie recipe, and her expertise is demonstrated in the large quantity
of high or highest quality MC.
|
|
The band OK Go’s music video for the song “This
Too Shall Pass”
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
|
This is a high quality,
professionally produced video on the band’s official channel.
|
|
“Henri 2, Paw de Deux” video
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
· Very positive reputation
for the content of this particular video
|
This is a high quality,
popular video. It won the “Golden Kitty Award” for “Best Cat Video On The
Internet” at the Walker Art Center's Internet Cat Video Film Festival.
|
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
Highest
Quality Characteristics of the Page
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
Saturday Night Live video on the TV network’s
website
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
|
The MC of this video page is an episode of
Saturday Night Live on the TV network’s official website, making it highly
authoritative and trustworthy. Below the main video, there are many other
videos that users may be interested in.
|
|
Homepage of a charity (YMYL)
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
·
Very positive reputation (website)
|
This is a highly reputable
charity according to multiple charity rating organizations.
|
|
Q&A page on abbreviations
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· Very positive reputation (website)
|
The purpose of the page is to answer questions
about the usage of abbreviations. This website has a very good reputation as
a reference for information on writing, publishing, etc. It is considered
highly authoritative and trustworthy for the topic of the page.
|
|
Ball gown wedding dress page
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· Positive reputation (website)
|
This page has a very satisfying amount of MC for
users interested in ball gown wedding dresses. An abundance of pictures, plus
options to view by price range, style, etc., are part of what makes this page
so satisfying. This page is on a popular wedding planning website.
|
|
Article titled “Secret Fears of the Super-Rich”
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
·
Very positive reputation (website)
|
This is a very high quality and in-depth article
on an award winning magazine website.
|
|
|
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
|
This PDF file is a detailed
campus map of a major univeristy, which is hosted on the official university
website. This is a highly authoritative source for this information. The map
includes a listing of the all the buildings, parking structures, parking lots,
construction areas, etc.
|
|
Webpage/Type of Content
|
Highest
Quality Characteristics of the Page
|
PQ Rating and Explanation
|
|
Interview with musical artist
|
· Very high level of E-A-T
for the purpose of the page
· A satisfying or
comprehensive amount of very high
quality MC
·
Very positive reputation (website)
|
This magazine is very well
known and well regarded for content about artists and bands, and specifically
has a positive reputation for interviews with musicians. There is a large
quantity of high quality MC.
|
Low quality pages are unsatisfying or lacking in some element that
prevents them from achieving their purpose well. These pages lack expertise or
are not very trustworthy/authoritative for the purpose of the page.
If a page has one of the
following characteristics, the Low rating
is usually appropriate:
·
The author of the page or
website does not have enough expertise for the topic of the page and/or the
website is not trustworthy or authoritative for the topic. In other words, the
page/website is lacking E-A-T.
·
The quality of the MC is low.
·
There is an unsatisfying amount of MC for the purpose of the page.
·
MC is present, but difficult to use due to Ads, other content/features, etc.
·
There is an unsatisfying amount of website information
for the purpose of the website (no good reason for anonymity).
·
The website has a negative reputation.
6.2
Low Quality Main Content
One of the most important
criteria in PQ rating is the quality of the MC, which is determined by how much
time, effort, expertise, and talent/skill have gone into the creation of the
page, and also informs the E-A-T of the page.
Consider this example: Most
students have to write papers for high school or college. Many students take
shortcuts to save time and effort by doing one or more of the following:
·
Buying papers online or getting someone else to write for them.
·
Making things up.
·
Writing quickly with no drafts or editing.
·
Filling the report with large pictures or other distracting content.
·
Copying the entire report from an encyclopedia, or paraphrasing content
by changing words or sentence structure here and there.
·
Using commonly known facts, for example, “Argentina is a country.
People live in Argentina. Argentina has borders.”
·
Using a lot of words to communicate only basic ideas or facts, for
example, “Pandas eat bamboo. Pandas eat a lot of bamboo. Bamboo is the best food for a Panda bear.”
Unfortunately, the content of
some webpages is similarly created. We will consider content to be Low quality if it is created without
adequate time, effort, expertise, or talent/skill. Pages with low quality MC do
not achieve their purpose well.
Keep in mind that we have very
different standards for pages on large, professionally-produced business
websites than we have for small amateur, hobbyist, or personal websites. The
quality of MC we expect for a large online store is very different than what we
might expect for a small local business website.
All PQ rating should be done in
the context of the purpose of the page and the type of website.
Important: Low quality MC is a sufficient reason to give a page a Low quality rating.
6.3
Unsatisfying Amount
of Main Content
Some Low quality pages are
unsatisfying because they have a small amount of MC for the purpose of the
page. For example, imagine an encyclopedia article on a very broad topic such
as World War II that has just a few paragraphs.
Important: An unsatisfying amount of MC is a sufficient reason to
give a page a Low quality rating.
6.4
Distracting/Disrupting/Misleading
Ads and Supplementary Content
Some Low quality pages have adequate MC present, but it is difficult to
use the MC due to disruptive, highly distracting, or misleading Ads/SC.
6.3.1
Ads or SC which
disrupt the usage of MC
While we expect Ads and SC to
be visible, some Ads, SC or interstitial pages (i.e., pages displayed before
or after the content you are expecting) make it extremely difficult to use the
MC. Pages which disrupt the use of the MC should be given a Low rating. A
single pop-over Ad with a clear close button is not terribly disruptive, though
may not be a great user experience. Here
are two examples of situations we consider to be disruptive:
·
Ads that actively float over the MC as you scroll down the page and are
difficult to close. It can be very hard to use MC when it is actively covered
by moving, difficult-to-close Ads.
·
An interstitial page which redirects the user away from the MC without
offering a path back to the MC.
6.3.2
Prominent presence
of distracting SC or Ads
Users come to webpages to use the
MC. Helpful SC and Ads can be part of a positive user experience, but
distracting SC and Ads make it difficult for users to focus on and use the MC.
Here are some examples of prominent and distracting SC or Ads:
·
Some webpages are designed to encourage users to click on SC that is
not helpful for the purpose of the page. This type of SC is often distracting
or prominently placed in order to lure users to highly monetized pages. Here is an example of a page with
highly distracting SC in the right-hand column under the label “Top Posts &
Pages.” Here is another example with some
very prominent and distracting SC images and Ads.
·
Either porn SC or Ads containing porn on non-Porn pages can be very
distracting or even upsetting to users. Please refresh the page a few times to
see the range of Ads that appear, and use your knowledge of
the locale and cultural
sensitivities to make your rating. For example, an ad for a model in a
revealing bikini is probably acceptable on a site that sells bathing suits.
However, an extremely graphic porn ad may warrant a Low (or even Lowest) rating.
6.3.3
Misleading Ads or SC
It should be clear what parts
of the page are MC, SC and Ads. It should also be clear what will happen when
users interact with content and links on the webpage. If users are misled into
clicking on Ads or SC, or if clicks on Ads or SC leave users feeling surprised,
tricked or confused, a Low rating is
justified.
Here are some examples of
misleading Ads or SC:
·
At first glance, the Ads or SC appear to be MC. Some users may interact
with Ads or SC, believing that the Ads or SC is the MC. Here is an example.
·
Ads appear to be SC (links) where the user would expect that clicking
the link will take them to another page within the same website, but actually
take them to a different website. Some users may feel surprised or confused
when clicking SC or links that go to a page on a completely different website.
·
Ads or SC which entice users to click with shocking or exaggerated
images and/or text. These can leave users feeling disappointed or annoyed when they click
and see the actual and far less interesting content.
Summary: The Low rating
should be used for disruptive or highly distracting Ads and SC. Misleading Ads
or SC may also justify a Low rating.
Use your judgment when evaluating pages.
User expectations will differ based on the purpose of the page and cultural
norms.
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