The quality raters guidelines emphasize technical activities that a typical site visitor might not naturally engage in, like clicking on a video simply to check if it functions. One of the goals of these tests is to pinpoint sites with a strong user experience.
Low Quality Design
In section 7.2.3, Google categorizes Main Content (MC) of the lowest quality as follows:
"The Lowest rating applies to any page with Lowest Quality MC. Lowest quality MC is content created with such insufficient time, effort, expertise, talent, and/or skill that it fails to achieve its purpose. …Broken functionality of the page due to lack of skill in construction, poor design, or lack of maintenance."
High Quality Design
In section 4.1, titled Characteristics of High Quality Pages, Google characterizes a high-quality page as one that performs properly.
Here is how Google describes it:
"Remember that MC also includes page features and functionality, so test the page out."
Two Signals of User Satisfaction
Google research identifies two signals that significantly influence user satisfaction: website complexity and whether user expectations are met. Negative first impressions can lead to reduced satisfaction rates, as outlined in the research paper titled, The Role of Visual Complexity and Prototypicality Regarding First Impression of Websites…
Site Visitors Make Snap Judgments
Before delving into the two signals, the study referenced above includes previous research on how users make instantaneous judgments. This is crucial to understand since users can form opinions on site quality within as little as 50 milliseconds. A cited study by Google researchers found that people quickly assessed the trustworthiness of financial and health websites, impacting perceived trustworthiness.
The study titled, Pre-Conscious Assessment of Trust: A Case Study of Financial and Health Care Web Sites uncovered this insight:
"The results of Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that individuals are capable of processing trust on a pre-attentive level."
The research supported that site visitors form trust judgments in just 50 milliseconds, with visual attractiveness playing a significant role in these quick judgments.
Conclusion of that study:
"This finding builds upon the work of Lindgaard et al. (2006) by demonstrating that not only is visual attractiveness of websites pre-attentively processed, but also trust. Taken together, this research suggests that the preconscious mind may play a far more critical role in our conscious decision-making and judgments than previously believed. This has significant implications for the design of not only websites, but any technology that requires some level of trust from the user."
Visual Complexity and Prototypicality
A study published in 2012 on the Google AI blog aimed to discover the influence of visual complexity in forming trust judgments on a website and the role of Prototypicality in this process. Prototypicality refers to a person’s expectations of how a website should appear.
The researchers found that less complex pages were deemed more visually appealing, and sites that matched expected appearance were considered more pleasing and trustworthy.
Study findings:
"More complex web pages received lower beauty ratings than less complex pages… and pages of high PT were rated as more beautiful than pages of low PT."
Visual Complexity is Processed Sooner
It was found that visual complexity was perceived faster than Prototypicality. This finding suggests that making a website easy to scan and perceive rapidly can lead to more positive judgments about a site.
Research conclusion:
"VC is processed at an earlier stage than PT."
The researchers further elaborated:
"Websites of high visual complexity lead to a more negative first impression than websites of medium or low complexity, and prototypical websites create a better first impression than less prototypical ones."
Research had Limitations
The research acknowledged four limitations, including the controlled testing conditions that didn’t fully represent how people typically interact with websites. Test subjects didn’t provide a comprehensive representation of different ages and cultures, and the focus was on company websites without exploring the signals that influenced perceptions of complexity or prototypicality.
Study conclusion:
"In sum, our study shows that designers should regard not only visual complexity, but also the factor prototypicality very carefully when designing a website. Designs that contradict what users typically expect of a website may trigger a suboptimal first impression and impair users’ expectations. Latest research shows that negative product expectations lead to lower satisfaction in product interaction… This may lead to a disadvantageous negative downward spiral that should be avoided."
Are VC and PT used in Google’s Algorithm?
It is very unlikely these factors are used as ranking signals. However, based on this research, they could influence user satisfaction, which is crucial for Google’s aim to display user-expected websites that are relevant to their queries.
Anecdotal Evidence
Over twelve years ago, it was discovered that site design strongly impacts user perceptions, potentially increasing conversion rates. During an experiment focused on site design rather than content quality, a site designed with appealing, easy navigation successfully attracted numerous university links, despite poor-quality content.
This experiment emphasized how site design affects perceptions of quality and trust. The insights gained were applied to affiliate sites, resulting in improved rankings and conversions.
Takeaway: How to Satisfy Mobile Users
Research from Google indicates site visitors make quick, trust-based judgments based on how a site looks and how straightforward it is. There are user expectations for site appearance and the need to present information swiftly and simply.
For a niche like legal sites, the focus should be on meeting user expectations in design while delivering content effectively. Opting for a simplified, aesthetically pleasing design could be beneficial, especially if competitors use complex animations or JavaScript. The study does not advocate imitating competitors’ poor practices.
Home Page Must Deliver Information
This aligns with a 2014 Google white paper titled, Principles of Mobile Site Design. The paper recommends simplicity and easy navigation, advising sites to prioritize main calls-to-action prominently.
"A desktop homepage often serves as a welcome page, messaging center, and promotional space all in one, but the mobile homepage should focus on connecting users to the content they’re looking for."
Recommendation related to calls to action:
"Study participants had the easiest time completing tasks on sites that clearly displayed primary calls-to-action in the main body of the site, with secondary tasks available through menus or below the fold."
This advice also appears in section 4.1 of Google’s quality raters guidelines, outlining characteristics of high-quality webpages.
"A High quality page should have a beneficial purpose and achieve that purpose well."
Five questions to consider:
- Does your page achieve its purpose well?
- Does your landing page deliver the information users expect?
- Is your page design attractive?
- Is your page design simple?
- Does your page design meet user expectations of what sites in your industry should look like?
