Page Quality Rating faQs

Question

Answer

Why do we have to do all

With practice, the amount of time needed for accurate PQ ratings will decrease. The steps are

important and are designed to help you assess many different aspects of PQ. You may be surprised

these steps? This takes

by what you find. Pages which initially look Low quality may turn out to be Medium or High quality

a long time!

with careful inspection. The reverse may happen as well. We want your most informed, thoughtful

opinion.

Are we just giving High

No! The goal is to do the exact opposite. These steps are designed to help you analyze the page

quality ratings to pages

without using a superficial “does it look good?” approach.

that “look” good?

Remember that we are not just talking about formal expertise. High quality pages involve time, effort,

You talked about

expertise, and talent/skill. Sharing personal experience is a form of everyday expertise.

expertise when rating

Pretty much any topic has some form of expert, though there are some topics or types of pages where

MC. Does expertise

expertise is less important than other aspects for MC quality rating.

matter for all topics?

Aren't there some topics

For most page purposes and topics, you can find experts even when the field itself is niche or non-

for which there are no

mainstream. For example, there are expert alternative medicine websites with leading practitioners of

experts?

acupuncture, herbal therapies, etc. There are also pages about alternative medicine written by people

with no expertise or experience. The MC quality ratings should distinguish between these two

scenarios.

Question

Answer

For almost any type of page, there is a range of content quality. Remember that high quality content

Aren't there some types

is defined as content that takes time, effort, expertise, and talent/skill.

of pages that always

For example, there are both High and Low quality celebrity gossip pages. Often, the purpose of these

have Low quality

pages is to share scandalous, but potentially true personal information about celebrities. We can

content?

consider the MC of a gossip page to be high quality if it is interesting information from a somewhat

plausible source.

I've never seen a High

quality page of type X. If

there are no high quality

For some topics or types of pages, there may not be many (or any!) High quality pages now, but there

pages of this type, why

may be in the future. We need a uniform set of standards that apply to all pages, even for pages that

are we giving existing

have not yet been created.

pages a Low quality

rating?

Some of these criteria

seem unfair. For

Art pages do have a purpose: artistic expression. Pages created for artistic expression do not

example, some art pages

deserve the Low quality rating simply because they have no other purpose. Artistic expression,

do not have a purpose.

humor, entertainment, etc. are all valid page purposes.

Are these pages Low

quality?

No. Forum pages vary. We need to evaluate forum pages using the same criteria as all other pages.

Are forum pages always

There are some forum pages with detailed information on specific issues written by people who are

experts in the topic being discussed. There are also shallow discussion threads with very little

Low quality?

content. No type of page (shopping, news, forum, video, encyclopedia, etc.) is automatically High or

Low quality.

No. Q&A pages vary. We need to evaluate Q&A pages with the same criteria as all other pages.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to assess the accuracy of the information or the expertise/knowledge of

the person answering the question. In these cases, you may need to do some research. If the page

is asking for medical advice, be skeptical about the expertise of the participants in the discussion. If

the question is asking about something related to daily life, then it is far more likely that the

Are Q&A pages

participants in the discussion have the necessary experience/expertise.

necessarily Low quality?

Some Q&A pages are detailed and have accurate and reliable information. Many others have little

participation or inaccurate/incomplete information. We must evaluate Q&A pages from the

perspective of web users, not the participants in the discussion.

Remember that no type of page (shopping, news, forum, video, encyclopedia, etc.) is automatically

High or Low quality.

Not necessarily. Many High or Highest quality websites are supported by Ads. Without advertising

This page has multiple

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

ads on the right, in the

Low quality rating.

middle, and at the

bottom. Does that make

We have to look at many factors when rating Page Quality and page design is just one aspect to

it a Low quality page?

consider. Think about whether the page is functional and whether the MC is easy to find. Think about

whether the Ads interfere with the MC or if the Ads can be mistaken for the MC.