So, Google’s massive 170 page PDF guide for the manual reviewers so they could do their job was leaked out last month. If you don’t have a copy, don’t sweat it. I locked myself in a room and read it cover to cover. Not once, or twice, but three times. Because I enjoy torture.
A lot of people ask if this document that was released legitimately so I asked around and it is. The summary here is not a summary of the entire document. Instead, this is the important parts you need to know in order to make changes to your sites to not just pass manual reviews, but to score well too. I am going to quote A LOT of it and just add my commentary. That’s what you want anyway, the good stuff with my jerky feedback.
Google Manual Review Document
The area that Google hits the most is the Main Content, referred to as “MC” in the document. It also discussed Supplemental Content “SC”, but not how you envision it. It isn’t “extra” content, but widgets, calculators, etc.
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.
The overall scope of the document hits hard that the Main Content (MC) is by far the most important thing on the page. This is not the “create good and unique content” bullshit. This is focusing on being an authority, a real authority in your space. More on that later in the document.
Supplementary Content (SC) is also important. SC can help a page better achieve its purpose or it can detract from the overall experience.
It should be noted that Google does state later in their guide it considers ads “supplementary content”, but I am not sure how they arrive at that conclusion.
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.
This is all well and good, and by stating this at the beginning it is clear Google “gets it” that bills have to be paid and there is a reason for the ads. However, later in the document they will state if the ads can be “seen” by the user, the page/site should get a lower grade. Perfect.
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.
This is a great example that the manual reviews often are just “guessing” at times and if you do get a manual review, it is going to be the luck of the draw if you get nailed or not if you are sitting on the fence. Judgement calls are tough and if you get a new person, they are more likely to give you a lower grade than a higher one.
Do not worry too much about identifying every little part of the page. Carefully think about which parts of the page are the MC. Next, look for the Ads. Anything left over can be considered SC.
Can they be any more vague than that?!?!
Contact Information
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 an online banking website to have.
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.
You already know that having contact information is important for your customers to get a hold of you, but knowing that Google now checks it for business legitimacy reasons, it is even more important that you have it, especially for your feeders.
TOP TIP: You need legit contact information for your feeders. If this means renting out a PO Box or something, or having a Google phone number, anything that shows you can be contacted, you need to put those in place ASAP.
Google suggests for them to be a detective if Contact Information is hard to find. Look for corporate link or do a search in Facebook for corporate page. They are very clear that they want the information tracked down. Why? They could be using it for their link graph. If there is one thing about Google, they can never seem to have enough data.
Website Maintenance
How can you tell that a website is being maintained and cared for? Poke around: Links should work, images should load, content should be added and updated over time, etc.
Exercise caution relying on dates: Some webpages automatically display the current date. Rather than just looking for a recent date, search for evidence that effort is being made to keep the website up to date and running smoothly.
Note: Some webmasters have read these rating guidelines and have included information on their sites to influence your Page Quality rating!
This is very basic stuff, but goes back in doing a site audit about once a month or so to ensure all links are in proper working order, site speed, titles, descriptions, etc. I find it hilarious that they comment about “freshness” and how some web masters have the date updated through automation and that some web masters read these guidelines and include the information that is wanted to get a better PQ (Page Quality) score. To that I say: No Shit!!!
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.
What is your takeaway on this? It should be smacking you right in the face. You now want to get feeders (if you haven’t already) focused on reviews of your products, your business, and get experts to talk about your company and products. Get top bloggers to write a snippet or a full blown post…and emphasis on TOP bloggers. You need people writing about you that actually have a reputation online as an expert or it won’t matter. This isn’t about getting more links, this is Real Company Shit and doing things a publicist would do for you.
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.
We had a discussion on the forums awhile ago about using a scraper that Bill Kruse found that would find all the “holes” in Wikipedia regarding your market. You would then answer on your site to “fill” that hole, and then hire a Wiki-expert on Fiverr to edit the post and link to your site (since you can’t do that yourself with Wikipedia). This can give you great traction for the manual reviewer and should impress them very much. So much so that they will probably look the other way with all your spamming. :)
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.
I really liked that they understand that negative reviews are going to happen and it isn’t looked at in a bad light. This should help you stop stressing over that one customer who said you had the worst meatball sandwich ever.
This is where it starts getting good. Google starts to “teach” the reviewer how to use their search engine. It is a refresher course that is much needed.
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.
Well, duh. I guess it is good to know that Google hires doorstops too.
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.
What you should do right now is do these exact searches for your site. What comes up? Is there information that you want to be found? If there isn’t solid sites, then go out and get them. If there are some negative ones that you would rather not want a Google Reviewer to see, start working on the “reputation management” of these keyword and get rid of the site(s) you don’t want to show up. The best way, of course, is getting listed the sites you want to show.
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 Product Search. 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, 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.
Just as I stated above, you want to do these searches and see what comes up and then ensure your stuff is there, prominently.
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. 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.
Along with what has already been said, focus on being the source for the updated Wikipedia information. By doing this correctly, and really making it rock solid, you can get great links from Wikipedia and at the same time, score a higher PQ from Google.
Google then lays out what exact is needed to be a High Quality Page
What makes a High quality page? A High quality rating requires at least one of the following high quality characteristics:
A satisfying amount of high quality MC.
The page and website are expert, authoritative, and trustworthy for the topic of the page.
The website has a good reputation for the topic of the page. In addition, the page and website should have most of the following:
A satisfying amount of website information, for example, About Us information, Contact or Customer Service information, etc. SC which contributes to a satisfying user experience on the page and website. Functional page design which allows users to easily focus on MC and use SC as desired.
A website which is well cared for and maintained.
None of the above should come as a surprise to you. It is all information that should be done on all of your sites.
A High Level of Expertise/Authoritativeness/Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
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/page/website for not having “formal” education or training in the field.
Now this is where you need to really pay attention. It seems (with a few exceptions) that Google will accept “life experience” to make you and expert in your field than having formal training. Of course a few of the exceptions are in the medical, financial, and legal fields.
Helpful Summary Content
Helpful SC is content that is specifically targeted to the content and purpose of the page. For example, very helpful SC on a recipe page might be a feature to multiply or divide the recipe to make the right quantity of food for a given number of people. Very helpful SC content on a shopping page might be other popular makers or models of the same kind of product featured on the page.
Ads and SC should be arranged so as not to distract from the MC—Ads and SC are there should the user want them, but they should be easily “ignorable” if the user is not interested.It should be clear what parts of the page are Ads, either by explicit labeling or simply by page organization or design.
This is where you just hate Google and their obvious lack of attention to detail. At the beginning “SC” referred to “Supplemental Content” and here it is referred to as “Summary Content”. It is interesting to note that Google states it should be clear which parts are ads. In other words, not trying to deceive the user into clicking on an ad they thought was a link.
Very Positive Reputation
Wikipedia and other informational sources can be a good starting point for reputation research.
Note they said “can be” a good starting point for reputation research. Make sure you exhaust all efforts to get into Wikipedia.
Low Quality Page
If a page has one of the following characteristics, the Low rating is usually appropriate:
• The quality of the MC is low.
• There is an unsatisfying amount of MC for the purpose of the page.
• 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 website has a negative reputation.
• The SC is distracting or unhelpful for the purpose of the page.
Know that there is still a lot of vagueness when it comes to Google. They never state what the definition of “satisfying amount” of MC content is. It is merely a judgement call by the reviewer. That can be frustrating.
A warning about user-contributed content: Many websites allow almost anyone to publish pretty much anything. Contributors choose their own topics with no oversight. Contributors may have very poor writing skills or may have absolutely no expertise in the topic of the page. Contributors may be paid per article (in some cases they may be paid per word), and may even be eligible for bonuses based on the traffic to their pages. Depending on the topic, pages on these websites may not be trustworthy.
However, some types of user-generated content have a high level of expertise. There are forums of experts on topics ranging from sewing to car repair to do-it-yourself home improvement projects. User-posted content can be highly trustworthy for many everyday topics. In fact, for some unusual hobbies, the most expert advice may exist on blogs, forums, and other user-generated content websites. For such topics, try to gauge the experience and expertise of the author(s) to decide if the page is trustworthy. Please value everyday expertise and experience for everyday topics.
Important: Lacking appropriate E-A-T is sufficient reason to give a page a Low quality rating.
I am a fan of UGC (User Generated Content) and like the fact that Google is a fan too and their parameters aren’t crazy.
Negative Reputation:
Important: Negative reputation is sufficient reason to give a page a Low quality rating. Evidence of truly malicious or fraudulent behavior warrants the Lowest rating.
Common knowledge here.
Characteristics of Low Quality Sites
We have very different standards for pages on large, professionally-produced business websites than we have for small amateur, hobbyist, or personal websites. The type of page design and level of professionalism we expect for a large online store is very different than what we might expect for a small local business website.
I like that Google says that they expect much better things from large corporate sites over small sites. Having that distinction is important.
Sometimes, distracting and unhelpful SC is actually Ads. We can consider this both unhelpful/distracting SC as well as deceptive/misleading page design.
• Many Ads or highly distracting Ads on the visible part of the page when it first loads in the browser (before you do any scrolling), making it difficult to read the MC.
• Repeated insertion of Ads between sections of the MC, so that the page jolts the user back and forth between MC and Ads in a way that makes the MC difficult to read.
• Invasive Ads, such as popups that cannot be closed.
• A large quantity of Ads with a relatively small amount of helpful MC.
• Text ads, placed beside or within the site’s navigation links, which may confuse users.
• Harmful or malicious pages or websites.
• True lack of purpose pages or websites.
• Deceptive pages or websites.
• Pages or websites which are created to make money with little to no attempt to help users.
• Pages with extremely low or lowest quality MC.
• Pages on YMYL websites with completely inadequate or no website information.
• Pages on abandoned, hacked, or defaced websites.
• Pages or websites created with no expertise or pages which are highly untrustworthy, unreliable, unauthoritative, inaccurate, or misleading.
• Websites which have extremely negative or malicious reputations.
Now they make a statement that distracting and unhelpful “content” is actually ads. Google goes back and forth on this. I really wonder how badly they score sites that only have 2 paragraphs of an article per page and force you into page view after page view and throw in an ad every three page views. It is getting unreal with popups, roll overs, slide ins, etc. Ads are being served in various ways that it is all distracting. YMYL refers to Your Money or Your Life pages.
Here are some examples of Lowest websites or webpages with deceptive page purpose:
• A website pretends to be or mimics the look of a well-known store, bank, online service, or social network, but instead exists to “phish” or steal passwords or personal information (for example, government ID number, bank account information, personal medical data, etc.). We also consider this type of website to have a malicious purpose.
• A webpage claims to be a survey, perhaps offering money or a prize, but instead exists to steal passwords or personal information (for example, government ID number, bank account information, personal medical data, etc.). We also consider this type of website to have a malicious purpose.
• A webpage claims to offer an independent review or share other information about a product, but is in fact created to make money for the owner of the website without attempting to help users. For example, the MC may contain intentionally misleading or inaccurate information created with the sole purpose of getting users to click on monetized links.
• A website claims to be the personal website of a celebrity, but the website is actually created to make money for the owner of the website without the permission of the celebrity. For example, the page may have false testimonials for a product and is created for the sole purpose of getting users to click on monetized links.
• Sneaky redirects are deceptive and should be rated Lowest.
A few of these examples can land you into jail/prison. The rest are all straight forward.
How to recognize sneaky redirects:
• While being redirected, you notice that the page redirects through several URLs before ending up on the landing page.
• You notice that clicking the same URL several times takes you to different landing pages on a rotating set of domains.
• You notice that you are redirected to well-known merchant websites, such as Amazon, eBay, Zappos, etc. to complete a transaction.
• The URL of the landing page is different than the URL in the rating task. You should compare the two URLs to see if it makes sense that one would redirect to the other. A redirect from a company’s old homepage to its new homepage on a different domain is not sneaky. Redirects from one page on one website to another page on the same website are also not sneaky. However, unexpected redirects from one website to a completely unrelated website should be considered deceptive.
• Look at the domain registrants. If you suspect that a sneaky redirect has taken place, you should check to see “whois” the registrant (or owner) of the two domains. If the registrants are the same, the redirect is less likely to be sneaky.
Read the last two bullet points again, that is a very interesting take on “sneaky” redirects.
Google suggests using DomainTools.com and whois.mtgsy.net for checking on the WHOIS information of a domain.
Lowest Quality MC
All of the following should be considered either lowest quality MC or no MC:
• No helpful MC at all or so little MC that the page effectively has no MC.
• MC which consists almost entirely of “keyword stuffing.”
• Gibberish or meaningless MC.
• “Auto-generated” MC, created with little time, effort, expertise, manual curation, or added value for users.
• MC which consists almost entirely of content copied from another source with little time, effort, expertise, manual curation, or added value for users.
• If a page is deliberately created with no MC, use the Lowest rating.
How To Tell if Content Has Been Copied
• Copy a sentence or a series of several words in the text. It may be necessary to try a few sentences or phrases from the page just to be sure. When deciding what sentence or phrase to copy, try to find a sentence or series of several words without punctuation, unusual characters, or suspicious words that may have replaced the original text.
• Search on Google by pasting the sentence or phrase (surrounded by quotation marks) inside the Google search box.
• Compare the pages you find that match the sentence or phrase. Is most of their MC the same? If so, does one clearly come from a highly authoritative source which is known for original content creation (newspaper, magazine, medical foundation, etc.)? Does one source appear to have the earliest publication date? Does one source seem to reasonably be the original?
Some websites are not maintained or cared for at all by their webmaster. These “abandoned” websites, especially websites which have become hacked or defaced, should be rated Lowest.
However, you may encounter pages with a large amount of spammed forum discussions or spammed user comments. We’ll consider a comment or forum discussion to be “spammed” if someone posts unrelated comments which are not intended to help other users, but rather to advertise a product or create a link to a website. Frequently these comments are posted by a “bot” rather than a real person. Spammed comments are easy to recognize. They may include Ads, download, or other links, or sometimes just short strings of text unrelated to the topic, such as “Good,” “Hello,” “I’m new here,” “How are you today,” etc. Webmasters should find and remove this content because it is a bad user experience.
Please give your best rating and move on. If you are having trouble deciding between two ratings, please use the lower rating. If you are torn between three ratings, choose the one in the middle.Do not consider the country or location of the page or website for PQ rating.
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