How to Check the Credibility of a Website

• Check Domain Name and URL

This is the most important step in evaluating the credibility of website. Check the credibility from name and URL by finding that if a domain URL contains “gov”,”.edu”, “org” or not. Because URL with gov are from governmental institutions, .edu means from educational institutions and org represents some non-profit organizations. All these keywords in the URL represents the credibility in terms of authenticity.

• Check HTTPS Status

This credibility checking step also falls under the name and URL checking practice. Make sure that website URL starts with HTTPS not with HTTP. Because HTTPS represents the secure connection. It is very important to have a secure connection specially for professional business related websites.

• Check Author Information

For optimal checking of credibility of a website check the complete author information of content. Having a author information means that content has been written by an educated and authentic person. You can find the author information at the starting or end of the article for complete author bio. 

• Content Quality

Check the content quality for credibility check of website. Checking the content quality covers various things like either the content is hand-written or AI generated. Check the grammatical errors and mistakes so that you will get idea that this website is a professional standard site or not. Content quality checking also involves checking the references of information shared within the articles. Some websites only discuss one sided opinions and information they do not provide head to head or comparative analysis so such content is also considered as thin content. 

• Internal and External Links

For optimal website credibility check monitor the internal and external links. Some websites only do internal linking and their external link qualities are also very low. If a website has external links to spammy or low authority websites then it shows that website credibility is very low. But if a website has external linking with high quality and authentic websites like government sites, recognized media outlets, authentic information providing sites then it indicates that this website has high credibility data.

• Theme and Functionality 

A website’s theme and functionality also plays a vital role in credibility of a website. Check that either this website has user-friendly interface or not? For effective credibility a website should have clean and well organized layouts which should be easy to navigate. On the other hand if a website looks cluttered, lacks a proper navigation and is filled with broken links then it will be considered as low credibility in website. Any website having unnecessary heavy pages which are bombarded with pop-ups and ads decreases the credibility of that website.

• Reputation and Reviews

Reputation and Reviews plays an important role in overall credibility of a website. You can check the reviews of people regarding the authenticity and trustworthiness of a website. People mention their experiences regarding that site. This directly reflects the authenticity and credibility of website.

• Contact Details

If a website has mentioned its complete contact details then it reflects the high credibility of website. Look for complete contact details like email address, phone number, and physical office location. Authentic website share clear contact details with form of comments. High credible sites also share the complete information of site owner, CEO, and working staff with shift routine details.

• Features of Top Website

Having discussed the credibility criteria of authentic website now we will find out the common features that high quality websites contain.

• User-Friendly Interface

You will observe that every high quality website has user-friendly interface. The navigation to all features is very easy. All Major options like navigation bar, menu, categories and contact details should be easily trackable.

• Responsive Design

The website design of top quality sites are very responsive in general. The top quality sites work smoothly in all devices like computer, laptop, tablet and mobile phones. With these things top sites earns the most credibility and satisfaction of its users.

• Fast Loading Time

Top quality sites loading time is very short. Unlike low quality sites these sites do not require any time to load. This increases user experience and over all convenience to new visitors. 

• Engaging Content

Top quality sites have highly engaging content. The topics of discussion are very new. The images, quality of topics, headings, themes and intentions makes the content more and more engaging.

• Regular Updates

Top quality sites receives regular updates. Their content quality is always per requirements and policies of google. Since top quality site owners are high professionals that is why they keep their sites updated.

• Social Media Integration

Top quality sites are highly integrated with social media platforms like Facebook, Whats App, and Instagram. This helps in bringing traffic from social media platforms as well. This feature also increases the accessibility of users towards top quality sites.

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