Rating the Quantity of Helpful Main Content


Overall High or Highest quality pages have enough helpful Main Content to accomplish their purpose and be very satisfying to users.
The quantity of helpful MC on overall Low or Lowest quality pages is often insufficient for their purpose. Some Low quality pages are unsatisfying and do not achieve their purpose well because they have a bare minimum of helpful MC. Some Lowest quality pages have so little helpful MC (or no MC) that they do not achieve their purpose at all. Sometimes there is a lot of MC (for example, many words or pictures), but it is not helpful for the purpose of the page. In all these cases, there is not enough helpful MC to achieve the purpose of the page.
Use the following ratings to indicate the quantity of helpful MC on the page:

Quantity of Helpful Main

Content Rating

Description

no main content

No MC at all on the page.

unsatisfying

Not enough helpful MC to achieve the purpose of the page and be satisfying to users.

so-so

Just enough helpful MC to achieve the purpose of the page and be somewhat satisfying to users.

satisfying

Enough helpful MC to achieve the purpose of the page and be satisfying to users.

very satisfying

Enough helpful MC to achieve the purpose of the page very well and be very satisfying to users.

The amount of helpful content needed depends on the purpose of the page. Here are some MC rating examples:

Purpose of the Page

MC Quantity Example

Explanation


Informationalthe amount of content needed to be satisfying depends on the topic and the purpose of the page.

Very Satisfying - a page about the French Revolution.

An informational page on the French Revolution should have a lot of information because this is a very large topic. This page has a satisfying amount of helpful MC for its purpose.

Unsatisfying - another page about the French Revolution.

The title of this page indicates that it is about the French Revolution. However, it's a random collection of specific content that makes it unsatisfying for the general topic of the French Revolution.

Satisfying - a page about baroque pearls.

This page is about baroque pearls, which is a much narrower topic than the French Revolution. This page does not have a lot of content, but it is still satisfying for its purpose.


Shopping/ InformationalA very satisfying shopping page might include all or many of the following: photos, specifications, manufacturer information, professional and user reviews, and convenient shopping features such as a menu to choose size and color.

Very Satisfying - a page for users interested in the TomTom XXL 550 GPS

navigator.

Note that the tabs on the page lead to even more information and have many customer reviews. Please consider the content under or behind tabs to be part of the content of the page. Such content should even be considered part of the MC of the page.

Unsatisfying - another page for users interested in theTomTom XXL 550 GPS navigator.

This page for the same product has very little helpful MC. Note that the image of this webpage has been annotated with some additional information to help you recognize that this page is a "thin affiliate" and is therefore a violation of the Quality Guidelines section of Google's Webmaster Guidelines
. The amount of MC in this example is unsatisfying.

Very Satisfying - a page for users interested in short wedding dresses.

This page has a very satisfying amount of MC for users interested in short wedding dresses. An abundance of pictures plus options to view by price range, style, etc. are part of what makes this page so satisfying. This page achieves its purpose very well.

Unsatisfying

This page does not have enough MC to be satisfying for its purpose.


Purpose of the Page

MC Quantity Example

Explanation

LoginLogin pages and some other types of pages need very little content to be satisfying or achieve their purpose.

Satisfying

This page has login functionality, as well as clear information about what the user is logging into.


Q&AFor a Q&A page, the MC includes the question and the answers.

Unsatisfying

In this example, the MC is boxed in red. Please read the MC in this example, including the completely unhelpful "answer" to the question in the red box.

Unsatisfying

Some websites rely on users to create virtually all of their MC. If there is no user participation, the amount of content on the page is unsatisfying. This Q&A page has no answer to the question. (Note that it is possible that the page may someday have participation and more content.)

Lack of PurposeIt is possible to have an unsatisfying amount of helpful MC on a page even though there is lot of text.

Unsatisfying

This gibberish page has a lot of text, but none of it is helpful or satisfying for any purpose.


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