‹ View all blog articles

SEO: Improving Website Quality for Better Rankings

Updated: Apr 28, 2025

Author:

Some time ago Google published it’s quality guidelines which they provide to their team of website reviewers. This guideline provides excellent insight into how Google determines the quality of a website. This article details key points and recommendations for improving your website quality based on insights gained from that guideline. Recent core algorithm updates by Google have focused on rewarding quality websites and their content.

Clear Purpose for the Website

Home Page & Every Key Page:

Make your website’s main purpose obvious, ideally above the fold (visible without scrolling).

3-Second Rule:

Visitors should immediately understand what you offer and why it matters.

Understand “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) Guidelines

If your website is categorised by Google as a YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) website then it will be scrutinised to a higher level of quality standards. YMYL websites include:

  • e-commerce sites (all sites that accept transactions)
  • websites offering medical advice (including health, drugs, nutrition, mental health, diseases etc)
  • websites offering financial advice (including insurance, home purchasing, retirement planning, taxation, investments etc.)
  • news websites (sites that inform the public of important news and events)

Prioritize Valuable, Unique Content

Your main content on a page should be distinguishable form supplementary content.

The main navigation, side section and footer section should be easily identifiable as separate from the primary on page content.

If you serve ads on your website, these should be marked as “ads” or “sponsored links” etc.

Clear Ownership and Responsibility

The website should communicate clearly who is responsible for the website and its content. This is best achieved by having an “About Us” and “Contact Us” pages. It is better to use standard naming conventions for these pages so it is obvious to visitors (and to Google) what their purpose is.

We would also recommend having a photo of your team and personnel on your “About” page. The “Contact” page should have a form and or phone no’s so that visitors can easily contact you. If viable, publishing your physical address is also beneficial and providing map and or direction links.

You should have Privacy Policy and Terms and Condition pages that are clearly accessible to visitors and indexable by Google.

Ecommerce websites

Online stores should clearly publish their payments terms, refund policy and shipping times and costs. Ideally there should be visible links to pages detailing information about these polices and again these pages should be made available to be indexed by Google.

Build Reputation & Trust Signals for Your Website

Google’s measurement of your reputation includes looking at reputable external sources such as reviews, references (including citations), recommendations by experts, Wikipedia articles, news articles, forum discussions etc.

On the website you should have a testimonials page and this should be updated with recent testimonials to show that the page is current.

YMYL website with no reputation

If your website falls into the YML category and you have no external reputation, then you are unlikely to rank well in Google’s organic results. Effort should be made to readdress this by getting reviews; press mentions and external citations form credible sources, etc.

Clear evidence of E-A-T (Expertise, Authority & Trust)

Your website E-A-T factors play a significant role in how Google see’s the quality of your website and this is even more important should you have a YMYL website.

Your website content (including quantity of content), information and reputation all form part of determining your E-A-T.

Your expertise should be clearly communicated on the website and certainly on your About page. This could relate to your time and experience in business, awards that you have won, associations that you belong to and should also detail key employee expertise. Key individual employee credentials should reside on individual bio pages.

Quality information in blog articles should be factually accurate and correctly cite key reference sources. Information about website authors should also be clearly provided.

Review your direct competitor websites to review their E-A-T factors and how they present and assert them.

Identify and Fix Low-Quality Content

Poor or low quality web pages are those that for some reason are not delivering to their intended purpose. The content may by off topic and outside the area of the website expertise, or it may just be thin or light on detail.

You can identify low quality pages in Google’s new Search Console by reviewing “indexed, low interest” pages. Review landing page data in Google Analytics and or pages with low visitor engagement.

Once you have identified low quality content pages, then either remove them or edit the content to improve the quality.

Offer Sufficient & Useful Content on Every Page

Your website should have web pages that are of value to your website visitors. The content should be unique and written with care, time and effort and by an author that knows the subject matter and it should be grammatically correct.

The amount of copy on the page should be sufficient to serve the purpose of that page. For example a product or service page for the purpose of generating a sale or an enquiry should be reasonably concise but accurate and clear with what is being offered.

Blog articles pages can be an excellent resource to publish in depth and detailed information.

Content also includes quality images and video.


If your website rankings have been falling recently, then you may be suffering from quality issues. Contact us for a SEO consultation.

Don't just take our word for it. See what our customers have to say:

  • "We have been working with Ricki-lee from Adhesion with our online marketing for a while now and I can tell you she is full of great ideas for getting people interested and contacting our business. In fact, Ricki-lee is now a very important part of our team, and I can't recommend her, and the team behind her, highly enough."

      Kevin Downing   June 2025

  • "I've really enjoyed working with Jen and Ryan from Adhesion! They've been very responsive and knowledgeable and have gone out of their way to help when I've needed campaigns setup in short notice. Highly recommend the team at Adhesion!!!"

      Karthik Hariharan   May 2025

  • "Very efficient in getting a result."

      Oksana Fediuk   May 2025

  • "We've been with Adhesion for a couple of years now, and they've consistently provided prompt and reliable support. Thanks a lot team for your expert advice and exceptional service throughout this time. Our Google Ads have been performing much better in recent months, thanks to your hard work and dedication. Our recent experiences with Ricki-Lee and Jennifer have been fantastic—it’s such a relief to know that we can be in contact anytime we need. It truly feels personal. Thanks again, ladies! 😊"

      Sandeep Nagpal   May 2025

  • "I have been with Adhesion for a couple of years and I am very confident that they are working in my best interest. Peter Volkov communicates well with me and picks up concepts about my business quickly. I am doing well in my business as a result of Adhesion's commitment to their client. I previously had an unfortunate experience of working with a large company who promised the world, charged the earth and delivered nothing of value. The difference now is outstanding."

      Karen @ Child Behaviour Service   April 2025

  • "Peter has done a great job running my google ads - highly recommended."

      Alex Patten   April 2025

  • "Working with Adhesion I have found them to not only be very helpful but also reasonable and fair on pricing"

      Rita Patel-Kumar   April 2025

  • "After years of watching clients get burned by faceless agencies and one-person marketers who vanish overnight, finding Phillippa at Adhesion felt like a revelation."

      Alex Mann   April 2025

  • "Ricki-Lee was an amazing account manager. Always pro-active and looking for improvements to my campaign. Would highly recommend!"

      Chris   April 2025

  • "A huge thank you to Adhesion, and especially to Ricki-lee, for being an absolute rockstar with my ad campaigns! From the very start, she’s been incredibly responsive—always quick to answer any questions and on top of everything to make sure my ads are running smoothly. I love how creative she is, the way she puts the ads together is just perfect! She continuously monitors and optimizes them, making sure they perform at their best. If you're looking for someone who truly cares about your success and delivers amazing results, Ricki-lee is the one!"

      Picnique Queenstown   February 2025

  • "I've had the pleasure of working with the Adhesion team for years, and they have consistently provided professional and valuable services. The entire team is fantastic to work with, and Courteney, in particular, stands out for her attentiveness and responsiveness. Her keen attention to detail and dedication to delivering top-quality service have greatly benefited our projects. I highly recommend Adhesion for their expertise, reliability, and outstanding customer support."

      Frank Krieger   January 2025

  • "Adhesion, Jen & Court have taken our online marketing strategy from strength to strength over the many years we have been using them for Gordon Harris. Courteney is an absolute star! Their knowledge is deep and broad, keeping us up to date with the latest opportunities to make our campaigns work better. Highly recommend."

      Laura Budd   January 2025

  • "I worked with Reuben @ Adhesion through a previous business which was sold and a new start up business of mine. Very prompt at setting up new campaigns, sorting issues and implementing changes. Nothing was ever an issue and all campaigns delivered acceptable results. Would recommend to any small business owner looking for a more personal agency."

      Kyle Simpson   December 2024

  • "We love working with the team at Adhesion, they did an outstanding job with our website—The Lodge at 58 North. Not only did they understand our unique needs as small business owners, but they also perfectly blended creativity and functionality, crafting a site that captures the spirit of our lodge while providing an intuitive, user-friendly experience for our guests. The team's attention to detail and expertise brought our vision to life, showcasing our lodge's unique charm and commitment to authentic experiences.The whole team is professional, highly responsive, and genuinely invested in our success—making us feel supported every step of the way. The result is a beautiful, functional website that reflects our lodge and makes it easy for visitors to explore, book, and get excited about their stay.We highly recommend the Adhesion Team—it's a joy to work with them!"

      Administrative Assistant   October 2024

  • "I would like to say that Reuben Nel from Adhesion has been of excellent assistance with our google words campaign. He has excellent knowledge and insight and could communicate that in an easy and understandable way. I would certainly recommend Reuben to you"

      Leave Calendar   October 2024

  • "We've been working with Courteney from Adhesion for a year now and it's one of the best business decisions we've made. The growth in online sales, as well as in-store referrals, is testament to Courteney’s expertise. Her communication is superb, she offers practical advice, and nothing is a problem. Highly recommend!"

      Velo Ronny's Bicycle Store   September 2024

  • "I have been using adhesion for about 2 months now and my ads and revenue has increased significantly, not too mention there customer service is 5 star. I will carry on working with this company and Rueben Thank you for great work. I highly recommend after using many different agency’s over the last 2 years in NZ and AU. Thanks Again James Roberts SPORTZONE"

      James   August 2024

Don't just take our word for it. See what our customers have to say:

"We have been working with Ricki-lee from Adhesion with our online marketing for a while now and I can tell you she is full of great ideas for getting people interested and contacting our business. In fact, Ricki-lee is now a very important part of our team, and I can't recommend her, and the team behind her, highly enough."
  Kevin Downing   June 2025

"I've really enjoyed working with Jen and Ryan from Adhesion! They've been very responsive and knowledgeable and have gone out of their way to help when I've needed campaigns setup in short notice. Highly recommend the team at Adhesion!!!"
  Karthik Hariharan   May 2025

"Very efficient in getting a result."
  Oksana Fediuk   May 2025

"We've been with Adhesion for a couple of years now, and they've consistently provided prompt and reliable support. Thanks a lot team for your expert advice and exceptional service throughout this time. Our Google Ads have been performing much better in recent months, thanks to your hard work and dedication. Our recent experiences with Ricki-Lee and Jennifer have been fantastic—it’s such a relief to know that we can be in contact anytime we need. It truly feels personal. Thanks again, ladies! 😊"
  Sandeep Nagpal   May 2025

"I have been with Adhesion for a couple of years and I am very confident that they are working in my best interest. Peter Volkov communicates well with me and picks up concepts about my business quickly. I am doing well in my business as a result of Adhesion's commitment to their client. I previously had an unfortunate experience of working with a large company who promised the world, charged the earth and delivered nothing of value. The difference now is outstanding."
  Karen @ Child Behaviour Service   April 2025

"Peter has done a great job running my google ads - highly recommended."
  Alex Patten   April 2025

"Working with Adhesion I have found them to not only be very helpful but also reasonable and fair on pricing"
  Rita Patel-Kumar   April 2025

"After years of watching clients get burned by faceless agencies and one-person marketers who vanish overnight, finding Phillippa at Adhesion felt like a revelation."
  Alex Mann   April 2025

"Ricki-Lee was an amazing account manager. Always pro-active and looking for improvements to my campaign. Would highly recommend!"
  Chris   April 2025

"A huge thank you to Adhesion, and especially to Ricki-lee, for being an absolute rockstar with my ad campaigns! From the very start, she’s been incredibly responsive—always quick to answer any questions and on top of everything to make sure my ads are running smoothly. I love how creative she is, the way she puts the ads together is just perfect! She continuously monitors and optimizes them, making sure they perform at their best. If you're looking for someone who truly cares about your success and delivers amazing results, Ricki-lee is the one!"
  Picnique Queenstown   February 2025

"I've had the pleasure of working with the Adhesion team for years, and they have consistently provided professional and valuable services. The entire team is fantastic to work with, and Courteney, in particular, stands out for her attentiveness and responsiveness. Her keen attention to detail and dedication to delivering top-quality service have greatly benefited our projects. I highly recommend Adhesion for their expertise, reliability, and outstanding customer support."
  Frank Krieger   January 2025

"Adhesion, Jen & Court have taken our online marketing strategy from strength to strength over the many years we have been using them for Gordon Harris. Courteney is an absolute star! Their knowledge is deep and broad, keeping us up to date with the latest opportunities to make our campaigns work better. Highly recommend."
  Laura Budd   January 2025

"I worked with Reuben @ Adhesion through a previous business which was sold and a new start up business of mine. Very prompt at setting up new campaigns, sorting issues and implementing changes. Nothing was ever an issue and all campaigns delivered acceptable results. Would recommend to any small business owner looking for a more personal agency."
  Kyle Simpson   December 2024

"We love working with the team at Adhesion, they did an outstanding job with our website—The Lodge at 58 North. Not only did they understand our unique needs as small business owners, but they also perfectly blended creativity and functionality, crafting a site that captures the spirit of our lodge while providing an intuitive, user-friendly experience for our guests. The team's attention to detail and expertise brought our vision to life, showcasing our lodge's unique charm and commitment to authentic experiences.The whole team is professional, highly responsive, and genuinely invested in our success—making us feel supported every step of the way. The result is a beautiful, functional website that reflects our lodge and makes it easy for visitors to explore, book, and get excited about their stay.We highly recommend the Adhesion Team—it's a joy to work with them!"
  Administrative Assistant   October 2024

"I would like to say that Reuben Nel from Adhesion has been of excellent assistance with our google words campaign. He has excellent knowledge and insight and could communicate that in an easy and understandable way. I would certainly recommend Reuben to you"
  Leave Calendar   October 2024

"We've been working with Courteney from Adhesion for a year now and it's one of the best business decisions we've made. The growth in online sales, as well as in-store referrals, is testament to Courteney’s expertise. Her communication is superb, she offers practical advice, and nothing is a problem. Highly recommend!"
  Velo Ronny's Bicycle Store   September 2024

"I have been using adhesion for about 2 months now and my ads and revenue has increased significantly, not too mention there customer service is 5 star. I will carry on working with this company and Rueben Thank you for great work. I highly recommend after using many different agency’s over the last 2 years in NZ and AU. Thanks Again James Roberts SPORTZONE"
  James   August 2024

See all Google Reviews for Adhesion