Strategies to Improve Conversion Rates

To many website owners, shopping cart abandonment and conversion rate drops on a checkout page may seem to be a bitter fact of e-commerce life.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  In fact, you can increase conversion rates on your checkout page by helping to give your shopper everything they need to make an informed, confident decision.  Print out this helpful checklist and use it to optimize your checkout page for higher conversion rates.

Design and Layout

This is where much of the buyer’s decision to buy or not buy will rest – at first.  Best shopping cart design practices will factor in here, such as ample use of whitespace, clear delineation of different steps in the order process, and these vital checkout-boosting points:

1. Give users a visual checkout process – while it’s ideal if you can fit everything onto one page, plenty of conversion studies have shown that the less clicks to checkout there are, the higher your conversion rate will be.  If you need to spread things out across multiple pages, give the shopper a visual indicator of how far they’ve progressed.

2. Add checkout buttons to the top and bottom of the page – The less time that customers have to spend looking for them, the sooner they’ll take action

3. Include credit card logos and security seals – Let shoppers know your site is a secure, trusted place to do business.  Popular security seals include Verisign and BizRate.

4. Give users the option to continue shopping from the checkout page – They may have forgotten something, and there’s nothing worse than hitting the back button and finding that all your cart details have vanished.

5. Differentiate checkout/continue shopping button colors – If you have these two buttons side by side, consider changing the color of one of them to make it visually separate from the others and lessen the chance that the user will click the wrong one.  Add plenty of space in between them so there’s no mistaking where the user clicked.

6. Give visitors the option to create an account AFTER checking out – There’s nothing more aggravating than being presented with the “Register to Create an Account!” popup first before you can complete your order.  Removing it caused one online retailer’s sales to increase by $300 million!  People will gladly give their contact information in order to track their purchase after the order rather than stopping to fill everything in beforehand.

Everyone’s favorite usability study, Amazon.com has pre-checkout down to a fine art.  This cart page includes details on the item added, a financing offer, free shipping, protection plan and related accessories on one page.

7. Allow users to print or email their cart contents – In the case of certain purchases, they may be buying for someone else, need their manager or boss to sign off on the purchase or some other step that forces them to stop the checkout process.  Make sure that if there has to be an interruption, you give them the tools necessary to make it as smooth as possible.

8. Let buyers save their cart or add to wishlist – Many people use a shopping cart as a glorified wishlist, to save things for later.  Why not give them the opportunity to do just that by letting them save their cart or optionally add products to a wishlist for a future purchase?

9. Exit popups don’t always work – Oftentimes, antivirus or browser software will stop popups in their tracks, preventing you from surveying the customer as to why they left their shopping cart.  Instead, use email to follow-up and test adding a discount code or dollar value off if they complete their order.

10. Don’t forget to include links to your privacy policy, shipping details, FAQ and returns policy within easy reach of the checkout screen.  You may also want to consider testing a live chat option on the checkout page in case the customer has any pre-sales questions before placing their order.

11. Review one last time before it’s final – Give customers one last chance to make sure they ordered and entered everything correctly before they proceed with their order.

BassPro Shops deliver a $20 coupon in an email, toward items already in the user’s cart.  A clear call-to-action invites the user to click through, apply the coupon and continue shopping.

Optimizing Product Details

If your design and layout is as seamless as possible, the next aspect of the user’s attention is going to go directly to making sure they’ve ordered the right color/size and combination of items.  Here are some other factors to add in to make the shopping cart experience as pleasant as possible.

12. Include a product summary – having just a name and a number might be enough on the vendor’s end, but letting the customer know what size, color, and other customization options are available will help them ensure they’ve made the correct choice for their needs.

13. Detail shipping methods on the checkout page – Don’t wait until after they enter their shipping address to let them know which options you accept.

14. Let the user update quantity or remove from cart – while they’re still on the checkout page. Here again, the more times they have to hit the back button (or look for the cart icon) to go where they want, the more chances they’ll simply give up and drop the process altogether.

15. Recommend related products before checkout – This is another excellent shopping cart practice which is sorely under-used, particularly in the field of electronics, where shoppers want to be absolutely sure they have everything they need to get the most out of their purchase.  No one wants to find out too late that the item didn’t come with an adapter (or that one was recommended in the first place).

When purchasing high-end headphones, Bose.com’s website recommends helpful accessories plus offers several payment options, progress steps and the ability to update the cart while preparing to checkout

16. Include order number and contact info for any questions – Let customers know how they can reach you by phone and email. Not everyone wants to (or knows how to) use live chat functionality, and if for some reason it isn’t staffed, having email and phone contact details on the same page can prevent carts from being abandoned due to unanswered questions.

17. Show the final price before checkout – More and more e-commerce sites are incorporating this feature to help prevent orders from being lost due to the customer’s idea of a perceived price increase in the form of shipping/handling/tax fees.

18. Confirm that the item is in stock/available – No one wants to get all the way to the order page to find out the item is no longer available.  Thankfully, most carts have inventory tracking built-in to the ordering process.  If an item is on backorder, allow the user to enter their email address to be notified if/when it’s back in stock.

19. Show pre-order availability – If your customer is pre-ordering an item, let them know when it’s expected to be available. Although release dates can and do change often, Amazon takes the uncertainty out of the pre-order process by offering users a credit if the price drops between the time they pre-ordered, and the day the product launches.

20. Include product ratings and testimonials – Nothing helps instill confidence in an order more than customer reviews and ratings about a particular product. Shoppers want to know if the wires break easily, if the item is too long in the sleeves, or if it works exactly as advertised.  Don’t let them find out too late!

PetCareRX lets pet owners rate and review a product and have that review appear right on the product order page

21. Include gift wrap/message options – This tip is particularly valuable near different holiday shopping seasons, depending on what you’re selling.  Any “little things” which can add a personal touch while helping the shopper save time are highly valued and remembered when shopping online.

22. Include product video – Where possible, show the product in use, or ideas on how to use the product for best results.  Read this KISSmetrics article to learn how product videos help increase conversion rates.

Payment and Shipping

This is where most shopping carts are abandoned, and it’s usually because of the aforementioned failure to include shipping, handling and tax into the final order tally up front. There are also some points that can make this crucial moment even easier for buyers, such as:

23. Provide free shipping – Time and time again, shoppers say that this factor over all others compels them to order.  Not all merchants can realistically afford to always do this, as shipping costs can eat into their bottom line. If that fits your current situation, consider…

24. Offer free shipping when the customer spends $X  – You can set a dollar amount needed to reach the free shipping threshold, but the fewer requirements you set, the more likely people are to increase their order maximum order volume and come back to purchase again. If you do this, add in a progress bar or a total amount as the customer adds the items to their cart to show them how close they are to qualifying.

25. Provide multiple shipping and payment methods – Let the user decide how quickly they want to receive their order.  Likewise, not everyone wants to bother with dragging out their wallet (or purse) to find their credit card.  You’ll likely convert more online shoppers by using online payment services like Paypal or Google Checkout.

26. Put the latest promo codes directly on your website – There’s nothing worse than going off-site to a coupon directory to find a code and then returning to the site in question to use it.  Keep those shoppers on your site longer by including the promo code right on the checkout page, along with a field to use it.

American Eagle lets customers choose shipping options, showcases a promo code (and discount field) and provides the order total directly on the checkout page

27. Was $X, Now $Y – Everyone loves a good deal. If you can show the previous price of an item, you’ll encourage them to complete the order while the item is still on sale.

28. You Saved $X – Like the above, if you can show the shopper how much they’ve saved on their order before the final price is displayed, they’ll feel much more comfortable pressing that Checkout button.

29. Include an Approximate Shipping Date – In exchange for their zip code, and with their shipping method selected, it’s a great idea to include an approximate shipping date (when the item leaves the warehouse) or an arrival date when they can expect to receive it.

30. Make Digital Download Instructions Clear – Most of this article has been devoted to best ecommerce practices for tangible items, but even if you’re selling digital goods, many of these points still apply.  At checkout, make it expressly clear how the customer can download their order. If they need special software to open it, show them how to download it.  And in the future, if they need to download it again, provide them with instructions on how to do so.  Don’t assume everyone knows where and how to get Adobe Reader!

31. If you need specific information, tell them why – Customers are more likely to share information (like date of birth or their phone number) if you tell them why you need it.  Just be sure that you truly DO need that information and it isn’t just a “nice to have” piece to bulk up your lead database.

Rewards and Special Offers

Everyone likes to feel rewarded.  And getting customers through the checkout process is just the first step. You also have to tailor your checkout page toward future orders – or remarketing to customers who have abandoned their order.  Follow these points to increase shopping cart conversions on future orders.

32. Promote reviews in exchange for coupons or discounts – Encourage customers to review a product in exchange for a discount or coupon by email.  More reviews could entitle the user to bigger savings or free samples.

33. Consider a loyalty program – Award customers with points in exchange for reviews, purchases, ratings or other actions that can help contribute to your website.  These points could be redeemed in exchange for samples, a coupon toward a future visit, or other rewards.

34. Give away complementary samples with each order – Depending on what you sell, this could become a serious factor in getting repeat orders. It works particularly well when bundling, such as including free sampler perfumes with a clothing order, or in the case of the Freeman Beauty sites, a sample travel beauty product with each item added to the cart.

The Freeman Beauty website lets customers add a sample to their basket for each full-size product they order

35. Provide 24/7 Customer Service, 365-Day Return Policy – Zappos is the poster child of great service, because they make it a part of every factor of their business – including a year-long return policy.  Countless studies have shown that the longer the guarantee/return policy is, the less the likelihood of returns or refund requests.  And, while not appropriate for every business, it has certainly earned them a loyal following.

36. Promote financing offers for higher-ticket items – Some stores use Paypal’s “Bill me Later” function while others offer payment in installments or a lower price for locking in a year’s worth of service (versus paying month to month). Consider some creative financing options to help move your more expensive merchandise.

37. Installation and Setup – Depending on what you sell, you can compel more shoppers to buy if they have some help with installation and setup. This is particularly advantageous for computers and other technical equipment and incredibly valuable to first-time customers.

Zappos includes a laundry list of best shopping cart practices, including: Paypal integration, free shipping, safe shopping seals and live chat

38. Let customers set up notification alerts – You’ll greatly increase the chance that they’ll return and make a purchase (or another purchase) if you let them create email or text message alerts on your site.  For instance, they may ask to be notified when a product is almost out of stock, or notified when similar products are added.  Let them choose how and when they want to receive alerts, and you can bank on having a customer for life.

39. Upsell with gift cards – This strategy is commonly used over the Christmas holiday season, but there’s no reason it couldn’t work on other types of sales.  The option to add a gift card to their cart or get $X off their purchase when they add a card can increase your total sales per customer considerably with no extra effort on your part if the cards are delivered digitally.

40. If No Upsell, then Downsell – Even if a customer declines the upsell offer, the order isn’t entirely lost.  Try a downsell of a “lite” version or a shorter subscription period to give the customer a taste of the upsell for less.  This lets you make money on an order regardless if it isn’t quite as much as you’d hoped.

Crutchfield displays a gift card upsell, free accessories, total savings, and free shipping plus an in stock notification on its cart page.

Test, Test, Test

Of course, with any list that includes techniques and tips to help increase conversions, you should remember that no matter how certain you are that one idea or the other will work for you – it’s ALWAYS worth testing. Your users may surprise you, and you won’t know how well a particular strategy will work unless you split test accordingly.

About the Author: Sherice Jacob

Source : http://blog.kissmetrics.com/

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Turning Your PPC Account Into An Ongoing Project

Managing PPC accounts can be overwhelming. There is so much to-do, and no one ever has enough time.

This leads most people to just make huge todo lists of items they either should be doing, or want to eventually do inside their account.The problem with to-do lists is that they are easy to ignore. There are still items on my to-do list from last decade. Of course, I don’t delete them as someday, I might get to them. We all know that’s not true – but we keep telling ourselves it could happen.

When your PPC accounts are run like to-do lists what happens is that every few weeks, you scamper around like crazy for two straight days trying to figure out what went wrong, what you should be doing, how to fix it all, then you do not touch the account again for another few weeks.

The other problem of to-do lists is that there is rarely that feeling of accomplishment that your day is done as there is always something else to take its place. It’s a depressing, never-ending list of items where you have to spend your precious time.

Most accounts (and by no means all of them) can be managed in just a simple hour a day of attention (if you know what to do) and you actually do it.

The problem is getting organized. Many people either spend too much time getting organized and not actually doing anything or they chase their tail all day instead of taking a step back to get organized.

If you are running your AdWords account like a to-do list, we’ll look at two simple ways to change your style. One is useful if you are the only one running the account and another is useful for companies who have multiple analysts or agencies that have multiple clients.

Determine What You Must Do Every Month

The first step to getting organized is to determine what must be done every single month. Write down what you would like to do each month (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Change search bids on Tuesday and Thursday
• Change placement bids on Monday and Wednesday
• Add new keywords the first week of every month
• Examine search queries for negative keywords every other week
• Test new ads every other week
• Test a new landing page every other week
• Create monthly reports the first week of each month
• Do quarterly reviews of geographic data
• Do quarterly reviews of time based data

The list goes on. Based upon your account and team size, you may do these items, and others, less or more frequently

Choose An Organizational System

The next step is to choose where you will be organized. If you are managing a team, are part of an agency, want a centralized place to keep and store data, or others may want insight into what is being done, what has not been done, and what’s next – then use a project management system.

If you are running the account by yourself and no one needs any insight, then use a calendar.

Turning Your PPC Account Into An Ongoing Project

If you are a project manager, you probably hate this headline. There is no such thing as an ongoing project. Projects have start dates, end dates, milestones and tasks in-between.

However, for those who do not live in the world of project management, this is the easiest way to think about managing PPC accounts – a month-to-month project.

Next, you will want to choose a project management system to input your data so you can easily track it. I find there are two types of project management systems:

• Those that have reoccurring tasks and are used as both project management and business management
• Those that do not have reoccurring tasks and try to be pure project management software

If you choose software that does support reoccurring tasks (such as Deskaway or Podio) then input your tasks and mark them as reoccurring so the tasks show up on the appropriate dates.

If you choose a software that does not support reoccurring tasks (such as Basecamp) then your only choice is to make sure it supports templates. This is not as good as software that does support reoccurring tasks, as most project management software does not allow you to have a project go live on the first of each month automatically.

Therefore, you often create a template, manually set it up, and might have to manually fix some due dates. It is still better than living in to-do lists, but not as eloquent as software that supports reoccurring tasks.

If you have multiple clients, set each one up as a different project. If you have multiple team members, then assign the tasks as necessary to the various team members. If new items come up, you can add them as a new task list for that month if they are one time issues  or as a new reoccurring item if they need to be done over and over again.

Once you are set up on a project management system, you then can see what needs to be done each day, do it – and when you do it, you will have a sense of accomplishment as you can actually be done for a day. That is a satisfaction that to-do lists cannot give you as there are always more items to take the place of what has been accomplished.

Now, your boss can see what you’re doing and have done. If you are a very transparent agency, you can even let your clients login and see all the work you are doing for them so they no longer question your work.

Using A Simple Calendar To Track Your PPC To-Dos

If you are managing a single account, you are the business owner, or PPC is not your life – it’s that other task you were stuck with, then project management software is often overkill. Just use a calendar instead.

The upside to a calendar is most people already use a calendar on a regular basis so there is no need to have yet another place where you are logging into on a regular basis.

In addition, calendars are built to have recurring tasks, so there’s no need to evaluate project management systems to find what options it supports. The downside of a calendar is that it is difficult to keep notes of previous activity or give others insight into your work.

If you wish to use a calendar, take your lists of items and place them into your calendar. When you put the items into your calendar, estimate how much time a task should take and block off your calendar for the allotted amount of time so that you can accomplish your tasks.

Wrap-up

If you aren’t careful, your PPC accounts can either consume your entire day, or they never get better because you never spend the proper amount of time to nurture and grow them.

By finding an organization structure that works for you and your company, you can manage and grow your PPC accounts in a reasonable amount of time so that they can be profitable, you can feel productive, and everything you want to do actually gets accomplished.

About The Author: Brad Geddes

Source: http://searchengineland.com/

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Some AdWords Tools and Features

Here are my top 10 tools and features, some that I use on a daily basis, others which I only call upon from from time to time:

1. AdWords Editor

AdWords Editor is a free application provided by Google for managing ad campaigns. It allows you to easily download your PPC account and make changes offline.
It allows you to make bulk changes such as increasing campaign budgets or CPC bids, copying or moving ad groups or keywords and quickly amending or replacing text in keyword phrases.

2. Keyword Tool

Google’s Keyword Tool is extremely useful when setting up PPC campaigns as it gives suggestions of related phrases that people are searching for, based on a given keyword or phrase.
Whilst the search volumes that the tool suggests should be taken with a large pinch of salt, the various phrases it generates can allow you to easily add a large number of closely related keyword phrases that may be searched for in relation to your products / services. This allows you to generate an extensive list of phrase match keyword phrases, rather than just adding a few broad match ones and hoping for the best.
Keyword Tool also allows you to identify negative keywords as it shows different phrases that people are searching for with your keyword(s) within them. Therefore if a particular phrase comes up that isn’t related to your product / service you can add that term as a negative keyword, and stop your ads showing for searches containing that term. For example if you are selling a top end product and do not want people looking for ‘cheap XXX’, you could add ‘cheap’ as a negative term.

3. Remarketing / Retargeting

Remarketing / retargeting allows you to display your ads in front of people browsing sites across the Google Display Network who have previously visited your website.
This targeting can be as detailed or as simple as you choose, from targeting those who have viewed a particular product / page on your site with a message about the product / service or simply showing those that have visited any page on your site a catch-all message about your brand, reminding them of your services – a very powerful tool.

4. Product Ads

Product listing ads allow advertisers to include images, prices and links for up to 5 products within their Google ads.

5. Automated Rules

This feature allows AdWords advertisers to automate processes such as pausing ads or adjusting CPC bids based on their performance, such as when the CTR or conversion rate drops below a set value, for example.
This is a particularly great feature for those managing multiple campaigns and ads, advertising a large number of products.

6. Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool

The now combined Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool allows advertisers to discover if and where their ads are being displayed, without incurring any impressions.
It is a really useful feature for advertisers that are targeting ads to a location that they are not in, as they can preview results from chosen locations and Google domains to see if their ads are appearing, and find out if not, why not.

7. Top vs. Other Segment

This data can be useful when analysing performance and optimising campaigns, as it shows how ads perform based on where they are placed on the page.
For instance it could show that your ads perform better when lower on the page and show that you are better off bidding lower and being at the side / bottom of the page for best ROI (although this is wishful thinking in most cases unfortunately).

8. Opportunities

The opportunities tab within Google AdWords gives a list of keywords that are currently missing from individual ad groups, and whilst the majority of the suggestions may be too broad, there could be opportunities listed that you are missing, so it is worth a look through.

9. Search Funnels

AdWords Search Funnels help advertisers to gain insight into the ads that their customers clicked on during their shopping process.
Within the conversions section of the Tools and Analysis tab in AdWords there is a Search Funnels section that provides insight into your customers’ conversion paths. Ordinarily AdWords assigns conversions to the last ad clicked on, but within the Search Funnels section you can see data for Assist Clicks and Impressions, Assisted Conversions, First-Click Analysis and Last Click Analysis.
You can also see stats such as Path Length (average number of impressions or clicks prior to conversion) and Time Lag (how long it takes the customer to convert after seeing or clicking on your ads for the first time)
This data can be used to help advertisers make strategic decisions when it comes to budgeting and help determine lead times for seasonal campaigns.

10. Search Query Reports

Search query reports allow advertisers to see the phrases people are actually using when clicking on their ads.
Whilst it would also be beneficial to see which phrases were used when the ads were seen but not clicked on, as that would give insight into how to improve CTR, this report can still be used to establish terms that could be added as negative or exact match phrases to try and reduce costs.

by Ashleigh Brown

Source : Online Marketing Agency Blog | Browser Media Ltd

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Why Wouldn’t My AdWords Audience Reports Show?

Before you can determine what to do with your audience reporting data, of course, you need to actually have the data. Many accounts will show something like this:

If you haven’t already created and targeted a specific audience, you’ll be presented with the message above (“There are no targets in this campaign”). Similarly, if you’ve chosen the specific targeting method within campaign settings under network setting options (also labeled: Show ads only on pages that match all selected targeting methods) you won’t be shown any reporting data. From Google’s documentation:

When your campaign settings are set for your ad to appear when all targeting criteria match, although the ad will appear only when your audience or topic matches, the Audiences or Topics tab will show 0 for all stats (impressions, clicks, etc.).

On the other hand, if you’re leveraging the broad targeting method you’ll be able to access the same columns of information broken down by audience that you would at the campaign, ad group, or keyword level:

What Can You Do With Google AdWords Audience Data?

Analyzing and responding to AdWords audience data is very similar to analyzing and responding to data at the keyword or placement level. You can identify outliers within your campaigns that are performing particularly well or poorly, and as with other types of data analysis within AdWords you can create filters from the AdWords tab to get to specific types of information:

You can also set up similar filters and formulas in Excel. From there you can also adjust Max CPCs at the audience level so that you can bid more aggressively on audiences that perform well or bid more conservatively on audiences that aren’t performing well:

By editing your audiences, you can change the Max CPC. You might have constructed audiences based around a variety of different, factors such as:

• Remarketing audiences with different cookie lengths (1 day, 30 days, 90 days, etc.)
• Remarketing audiences who have taken certain actions (e.g. viewed a key page) and/or not another (e.g. viewed a key page but didn’t convert to a lead or sale)
• Specific interest categories
• Combinations of multiple factors

By looking at the performance of your audiences, you’re able to evaluate which segments work well and which don’t, and you can either pause certain audiences or adjust bids accordingly. For display campaigns that have been carefully constructed and generate a lot of value, this can be an important dimension from which to view the performance of your display campaign.

Author: Tom Demers
Source : Business 2 Community

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Quality Content - The Road to Panda Recovery

“Shallow content” provides little value to users and offers low utility based on the intent of the query. However, technically this type of content is not considered spam by Google because it does not violate Google Webmaster Guidelines. Google provides information about creating websites and thin content but, thus far has provided little if any official documentation about shallow content. Until recently, shallow content fell between teams internally at Google. In order to address the influx of shallow content that resulted from Google Caffeine, Google launched “Panda.” Google Panda is a holistic approach for addressing site quality at scale algorithmically. The quality signals used by Google Panda were derived from answers to questions about site quality. According to Google, these questions were created by a Google Engineer whose last name is Panda and answered by Google’s little known Evaluation team. While there is no way of knowing how Google Evaluators answered Panda’s questions, those with an in depth understanding of related research have a pretty good idea.
In order for answers to Panda’s questions to be incorporated by Google as algorithmic quality signals and used for rankings, Google would first need to tie these answers to specific site elements and/or data. Since any algorithm can be gamed, Google is not going to talk about specific element or data signals used for rankings. With that being the case, Google designs algorithms to scale with present data as opposed to possible data. According to Google, by doing so, they are able to draw reliable inferences from actual evidence in data. In fact, Google could draw signals from a wide variety of present data sources both on-site and off. In addition, Google could combine present data to draw inferences about data not present. This data could be weighed differently depending on the type of site, query, location, presence of other signals as well as any number of countless other data variables. As a result of the level of complexity involved, “algorithm chasing” could prove quite difficult in the future.
Improving site quality from the user’s perspective is the best way for sites negatively impacted by Google Panda to recover. According to Google, “high quality content is content that you can send to your child to learn something.” By raising standards for producers and driving progress in terms of content quality, Google Panda will increase the quality expectations of users over time. In order to successfully acquire and convert traffic from organic search channels moving forward, marketers, webmasters and site owners will need to understand, employ and embrace best practices for developing quality content. With that in mind, a number of web professionals clearly still do not understand the meaning of “quality content.” The purpose of this post is to help those individuals who are not quality or search experts to increase their level of knowledge in these areas.
The examples of Panda’s questions published by Google focus on quality, authority, credibility and trust. Fortunately when it comes to content evaluation, authority, site credibility and trust, there is no shortage of research available. I’ve been researching these topics for years and can say that Panda’s questions closely align, as they should, with published research in related areas. For example, the standard used by librarians to evaluate content quality was developed by William Katz and the dimensions for assessing authority was developed by Peter Wilson. In addition to quality evaluation and authority, other Panda questions focus on trust and credibility. These questions align with research by BJ Fogg. In addition to evaluation, authority, trust and credibility, quality content also possesses certain technical characteristics according to Google and W3C. I’ll touch on just a few of these topics below and try to tie them together into specific actionable items for improving quality.

Content Authority:

Author identification is the first step in terms of determining authorship and in turn authority. In order for an author to be perceived by users as an authority on a specific topic, users must first be able to identify the author’s identity and then recognize the author’s expert qualifications.
Types of Authority:

• Personal authority – author
• Institutional authority – publisher
• Textual authority – document
• Intrinsic plausibility authority – text

When authors provide certain qualifications related to a specific topic, users may perceive the author as an authoritative source of information on a specific topic. That “Authority” increases the perceived value of content in the minds of users. Authority is also used by search engines in a wide variety of ways and on a number of levels. In fact, Google recently began displaying author information in search results. According to Google, displaying author information in search results “helps users discover great content.” By displaying author information in search results, Google helps users to identify authors and that is the first step in terms of the authoritative content discovery process.
Just like print, authors should provide qualifications related to their specific topical area(s) of expertise. In addition to being recognizable to users, authors should provide this data in a way that is clear to search engines. To accomplish both goals, bloggers for example could create a “bio” page outlining their credentials and qualifications. By including a link to their bio page from each article, blog authors could help to establish perceived authority. In order for Google to key in on these elements and fully associate author information with a page, authors should link their bio page to their Google+ profile page using the appropriate mark up which includes the rel=author parameter. In order to help fully verify authorship, authors should consider linking from their Google+ citations to their bio page and/or verifying their address via their Google+ profile page.
Institutional authority comes from the reputation of the publisher. In addition to rel=author, Google also supports the rel=publisher parameter which confirms a website is the publisher of a Google+ page. Including both parameters in the same page is perfectly fine to do as well, even though doing so may currently result in an error according to Google’s Rich Snippet Tool.
Also important to note, the importance of evaluation is based on the perceived significance of negative consequences that could result from having the wrong information. For that reason, providing obvious expert qualifications for medical related content is critical.

Site Credibility:

Authority also goes a long way in terms of establishing credibility. Credible websites have a high percentage of up-time, are easy to use, easy to navigate and have high PageSpeed. They look professional based on the purpose of the site, make verifying content accuracy easy and provide physical contact information. Finally they demonstrate concerns about users and user information. For example they include a privacy policy and provide secure pages when sensitive data is requested. Credibility is the sum of expertise plus trustworthiness according to Fogg. There are four types of credibility and each could be translated into quality signals used by search engines.
Types of Credibility:

• Presumed credibility which is based on beliefs. Brand names or .edu sites could be signals of presumed credibility to search engines.
• Earned credibility is another type of credibility and it is based on previous experiences. Search engines could derive earned credibility quality signals from on-site ratings and reviews as well as third party ratings and reviews about a website, company or product.
• Surface credibility is the third type of credibility and is based on face value. Surface credibility signals could include overall site design, the presence of trust icons and PageSpeed.
• Reputed credibility is another form of credibility. Reputed credibility signals could be derived by search engines from off-site references, citations or inbound links from other websites.

Content Purpose:

It is critical for content to fulfill a unique purpose, otherwise site content may be considered to have no purpose and therefore be considered low quality.
“Certain actions such as cloaking, writing text in such a way that it can be seen by search engines but not by users, or setting up pages/links with the sole purpose of fooling search engines may result in removal from our index.”
- Google
Poor quality content purpose signals could include:

• pages with lots of words saying little
• pages with no purpose
• pages whose sole purpose is advertising or affiliate income
• blocking Archive.org

Content Scope:

In terms of scope, the purpose of each page should align with the scope of the website as a whole.
“It’s important for webmasters to know that low quality content on part of a site can impact a site’s ranking as a whole. For this reason, if you believe you’ve been impacted by this change you should evaluate all the content on your site and do your best to improve the overall quality of the pages on your domain. Removing low quality pages or moving them to a different domain could help your rankings for the higher quality content.”
- Google
Poor quality content scope signals could include:

• pages that don’t appear to align with the purpose of other pages
• irrelevant content
• less than extensive information
• duplicate content
• general information

Content Reliability:

Uptime, accessibility and functionality can all be quality indicators.
Poor quality content reliability signals could include:

• site outages
• lack of functionality
• 404 pages that don’t return a 404 error
• slow PageSpeed

Content Relevancy:

Content should be relevant to the user’s query based on the intent of the query.
“One of the most important steps in improving your site’s ranking in Google search results is to ensure that it contains plenty of rich information that includes relevant keywords, used appropriately, that indicate the subject matter of your content.”
- Google
Poor quality content relevancy signals could include:

• “CLICK HERE” anchor text
• high impressions with low clickthrough rates (CTR) in Google Webmaster Tools
• high bounce rates
• irrelevant links
• relevant content that is irrelevant based on searcher intent
• targeting on high value keyword terms

Content Recency:

Content should be kept up to date and/or updated frequently depending on the purpose of the website.
“A frequently updated site encourages people to return – as long as your content remains relevant and engaging. A useful post once a week is better than low-quality content published daily. A great idea is to search Google for subjects of interest in your field. If you can’t find a good answer, create a blog post about the subject – chances are that other people are searching for the same thing.”
- Google
Poor quality content recency signals could include:

• old copyright dates on pages
• lack of byline dates in posts
• lack of modified dates in pages
• lack of support for If-Modified-Since
• software needing updates
• expired content
• out of date XML Sitemaps
• expired product feeds

Content Format:

Visual elements should align with the purpose of a site and not interfere with content. Site design should convey an appropriate level of professionalism and images should be original and high quality based on the purpose of the site. When ads appear, they should not interfere with content or user interaction with content.

“Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This is the single most important thing to do. If your pages contain useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice webmasters to link to your site. In creating a helpful, information-rich site, write pages that clearly and accurately describe your topic. Think about the words users would type to find your pages and include those words on your site.”
- Google
Poor quality content format signals could include:

• page layouts with excessive advertisements
• Ad placement in the way of content
• keyword stuffed footers
• duplicate stock photos
• lack of contrast between text and background color
• images without dimensions
• missing ALT attributes
• poor quality code code
• bad TITLE elements

Content Arrangement:

Content should always be presented in an ordered and orderly fashion. Navigational elements should make it clear to users where they are within the site architecture. Sites should include navigational breadcrumbs with delimiters and links that accurately reflect site hierarchy.
“Users know good content when they see it and will likely want to direct other users to it. This could be through blog posts, social media services, email, forums, or other means. Organic or word-of-mouth buzz is what helps build your site’s reputation with both users and Google, and it rarely comes without quality content.
- Google
Poor quality content arrangement signals could include:

• breadcrumbs without delimeters
• sites without a clear hierarchy
• image based navigational elements
• sites without an HTML site map for users
• too many links on a single page
• island pages

Content Treatment:

Content should be unique, factual, accurate, objective, use proper spelling and grammar. Both sides of a story should be presented when possible and with as little bias as possible. Unbiased content, reviews and rankings help increase perceptions of trustworthiness. According to Google “70% of Americans look at product reviews before making a purchase” and “the worldwide average for product reviews is a 4.3 out of 5.0.”
“We looked at a variety of signals to detect low quality sites. Bear in mind that people searching on Google typically don’t want to see shallow or poorly written content, content that’s copied from other websites, or information that are just not that useful.”
- Google
Poor quality content treatment signals could include:

• bias
• poor spelling
• bad grammar
• inaccurate information
• factual errors

Additional Content Quality Resources:

• Google tips for Bloggers
• Library of Congress Business Services
• UNC Content Evaluation
• Introduction to IR
• UCLA Evaluation
• EPA Quality Evaluation
• Baylor Content Evaluation
• W3C Quality tips
• W3C Quality Guidelines
• W3c Quality Tools
• Google Blog Post on Quality Content
• Google Browser Tool
• BJ Fogg Presentation on Credibility
• Google Webmaster Guidelines for Content Quality

by Brian Ussery

Source :
http://www.beussery.com/blog/

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