Author: Amit Singhal, Google Search Scientist
Original Article: More guidance on building high-quality sites
In recent months, we've focused on helping people find high-quality websites in Google's search results. With the "Panda" algorithm, we have already improved the rankings of a large number of high-quality websites, so in most cases, there is no need to worry about search quality. However, for those websites affected by "Panda," we want to provide additional guidance on how Google searches for high-quality websites.
We have consistently advised publishers to focus as much as possible on delivering the best user experience on their websites rather than on Google's current ranking algorithms or information. Some publishers have focused on our previous Panda algorithm changes, but "Panda" is just one of the more than 500 search improvements we plan to roll out this year. In fact, since the launch of the "Panda" algorithm, we have made more than ten other adjustments to our ranking algorithms, and some websites mistakenly associate their ranking changes with "Panda." Search is a complex and ever-changing technology and science, so we recommend that you not focus on specific algorithm adjustments but instead concentrate on delivering the best user experience.
What makes a website high-quality?
Our website quality algorithm aims to help people find "high-quality" websites by reducing the listing of low-quality content. The recent "Panda" algorithm tackled the challenging task of evaluating website quality algorithmically. Now, we want to explain some of the ideas and research that drive the development of our algorithms.
Here are some questions people can use to assess the "quality" of a webpage or article. These are the same questions we consider when developing algorithms to evaluate website quality. This can be seen as our guess at what users think.
Of course, we are not disclosing the actual ranking signals used in our algorithms because we don't want people to gamble on our search results; however, if you want to understand Google's thinking, the following questions provide some guidance on how we view this issue:
- Do you trust the information provided in this article?
- Does this article appear to have been written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the subject well, or does it seem more shallow in nature?
- Is there excessive duplication or redundancy of content on this site for the same or similar topics, with only slight variations in keywords?
- Would you feel comfortable entering your credit card information on this site?
- Are there spelling, formatting, or factual errors in the article?
- Are the topics covered driven by genuine reader interest, or are they chosen based on guesses about what might rank well in search engines?
- Does the article provide original content, information, reporting, research, or analysis?
- Compared to other webpages in the search results, does this page have significant value?
- How much quality control is there over the content?
- Does the article present both positive and negative aspects of the topic?
- Is the site considered a recognized authority on its subject matter?
- Is the content on the site created in bulk or outsourced by many creators? Or does the size of the network mean that individual pages or sites receive little attention?
- Is the article carefully edited, or is it hastily or carelessly created?
- Do you trust the health-related information provided by this site?
- When you see the name of this site, do you consider it a trusted source of information?
- Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
- Does the article contain in-depth analysis or interesting information that is not superficial?
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