Differences between high-quality and low-quality websites
The goal of Yandex Search is to provide users with the most relevant and useful response to their query. The search results display information and links to it on the internet. Search is evolving in line with user needs and the value of information.
The use of deceptive methods does not meet user needs or expectations. Therefore, algorithms may apply restrictions. These restrictions may affect the ranking of the entire site or its sections.
Characteristics of a quality website
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Original content and high-quality service. Users prefer meaningful and useful content rather than aggressive promotion of goods, services, or work.
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Focus on user interests rather than search engines. The site should be valuable in itself, not created solely to attract traffic from search engines.
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Only useful and interesting links for users are posted on the site. Do not add links to the site just because someone asks you to.
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Thoughtful design. The purpose of the design is to help users quickly find the information they need on the site.
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Do not attract users through irrelevant queries. ВIt is important that visitors get the expected benefit.
Examples of non-compliance with high-quality website characteristics
If this section does not mention a method of artificially influencing a site's ranking in Search, it does not mean that such a method is allowed. Use common sense and consider the characteristics of a quality site.
Below are examples of websites that may be subject to algorithmic restrictions.
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Websites that:
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Websites with automatically generated content that is useless to users |
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Websites with catalogs (e.g., of articles, software, businesses) that are just aggregators of content — they do not create texts or descriptions themselves and do not offer any unique service. |
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Pages with site search results or selections of goods, services, or other objects based on certain criteria, if they are uninformative and not useful to users. There are often many such pages, which can increase the load on your site and reduce the speed at which the robot crawls useful pages. |
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Websites offering goods or information through affiliate programs but providing no additional value to visitors. |
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Pages and websites whose purpose is to automatically redirect visitors to another resource without their consent. |
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Groups of websites that:
Users expect search results to be diverse. |
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Websites that attempt to manipulate search engines by Imitation of user actions. |
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Websites that intentionally serve different content to visitors and search engine bots to manipulate search algorithms (cloaking). |
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Websites that include external links not as the author's recommendation to visit a resource but with the aim of deceiving the search engine. |
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Websites whose content includes lists of search queries (repeated and listed keywords) or unnecessary and excessive information for users to manipulate search engines. |
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Pages with invisible or barely visible text or links. |
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Websites whose main purpose is to aggressively attract users' attention to goods, services, or work (including popup, popunder, clickunder). |
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Websites that mislead visitors. When downloading a file (e.g., audio, video, torrent), an unrelated program is downloaded. Or a malicious program is distributed under the guise of a popular application. Examples of violations include wrapper programs. |
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Websites that use deceptive techniques (e.g., dangerous CMS settings и серверов, viruses in affiliate programs, malicious mobile redirects, that redirect visitors to third-party resources or change the search results window to pages of other resources when users come from search engines. |
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Websites of organizations found to have engaged in unfair practices towards customers (based on Yandex service data and user reports). |
Algorithms identify violations that do not meet the haracteristics of a quality website:
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Violation |
Description |
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The site's pages contain texts that are useless to the user. These texts are created to manipulate search engines and can be found in text blocks, navigation or control elements, and tag clouds. |
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The user is redirected to a third-party resource either automatically or when interacting with site elements, and this redirection is not obvious to them. |
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The site copies the appearance or functionality of another popular resource through similar components (domain name, icon, logo, content, description, headings) or pretends to be an official resource that does not exist. |
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The site displays different information to visitors and search engine bots. |
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The site contains dangerous or unwanted programs, including links to them. |
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The site owners intentionally post false information to deceptively obtain users' personal data or money. |
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The site intentionally deceives users with inaccurate or distorted information, which can lead to financial loss or a misunderstanding of the terms of a transaction. |
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The content on the site has no value for users and does not help them solve their tasks. |
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To create the appearance of a popular resource, site traffic is artificially inflated, either for the site itself or as a service provided to others. This may involve using services or recruiting users who simulate visits to the site. |
These are search queries for which the website page does not provide the expected response. The content does not match the topic, purpose, or format of the user's query.