Ever wonder just how Google evaluates the quality of a webpage?  It typically beings with Google trying to understand the purpose of the webpage, but after Google crawls and indexes your content how then do they determine where they rank/display it in their search results?  While there are hundreds of components used in Google’s ranking algorithms, we know that content quality and authoritativeness are two of the most important factors used by Google to determine the value of a webpage.

However Google also have various quality guidelines that come into play as well.  In fact, they use an overall page quality rating scale that is simple enough in nature going from lowest page quality rating to highest page quality rating.

Most Important Factors in Page Quality Rating

So then what does Google define as the most important page quality factors with regards to content?

Here are the most important factors to consider when selecting an overall Page Quality rating:

1. Main Content Quality and Amount: While there is no magical formula in terms of the number of word your copy should be, make no mistake about it, Google does look at the amount of content on a given page.  Google states that “The rating should be based on the landing page of the task URL.”
2. Website Information/information about who is responsible for the website: A quality website has clear information about who is responsible for the site and who created the content.  This kind of content consists of pages such as your “About Us” page or “Contact” page.
3. Website Reputation: Google views a website’s reputation as a key quality measurement.  Reputation is based on the experience of real people or users of the site.  Traditionally Google looks at the value and authority of the links that point back to a webpage as a key ranking indicator.  However over the years people have manipulated their link inventory to try and gain better visibility in Google.  Website reputation can be impacted by both user generated content as well as by external links from quality sources pointing back to it.
4. Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness (E-A-T):  This is an important quality characteristic.   The amount of expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness of a page or website has a large impact on how Google may rank content in their Web Index.  There are instances and types of content where Google looks for quality content that comes from an “expert” in that field.  For example high quality medical advice should come from resources/people/organizations with appropriate medical expertise.  Financial or legal advice should comes from experts in those areas and be fresh, accurate and useful.  When creating content, Google often states to “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.

According to Google, high quality pages have a high level of expertise,authority and trustworthiness.  They have a sufficient and satisfying amount of main content.  They contain enough information to inform users of that page and they have a positive website/page reputation.

Remember:  The quality of the main content on the page is one of the most important criteria in page quality rating as it informs the expertise, authority and trustworthiness of the page.

To create high quality main content of a webpage you need one or all of the following:  expertise, time, effort and dedicated talent/skill.