Contact, Disclaimer, Privacy policy pages and there Importance in SEO

[WDC]

Just read in a newsletter from SitePronews and I was surprised. The author said:

I include a link to a Privacy Policy, a Contact page and a Disclaimer. Google looks for these, and they help your search engine ranking.

I wonder if it is the truth.

Thanks

[xponse]

hello

you could not ignore this fact,, but same time you need not to give importance to this fact... all link could be effective... you do not know which link could give better effect..

thanks
Arun

[WDC]

Hi,

I am still not convinced. Contact us link is ok I would definitely add it to my websites but is there necessity for putting up disclaimer and privacy policy links. Moreover are those pages beneficial rom SEO point of view.

Thanks

[Doc]

Originally Posted by WDC

Hi,

I am still not convinced. Contact us link is ok I would definitely add it to my websites but is there necessity for putting up disclaimer and privacy policy links. Moreover are those pages beneficial rom SEO point of view.

Thanks

I have never read anything to indicate that a contact page, disclaimer or privacy policy is required or rewarded, by any of the SEs. However, it's conceivable to me that having at least a contact page might be a factor in terms of trust.. .. it certainly has a bearing on MY ability to trust a website . And if so, then I suppose it's also conceivable that having a privacy policy could possibly enter into the equation, although I would think to a much lesser degree.

Maybe someone else has seen some indication that Google or the other SEs weigh these in their analysis... I have not.

[morestar]

Well as Doc has mentioned it's all about trust...

If there is a true-blue contact page the user can contact the website owner if there are any problems - at all - with respect to the site's services or if there is a problem. I guess that would take the burden off Google if the user experience wasn't as good as it could have been.

My belief is that there are tons of little things that us SEOs really can't prove but if you get into Google's head you can pretty much figure out what you should do, and of those things you should do (for the user) which one of those things increase/help rankings.

It's all about user experience and relevancy. If we use those as our guides we should do fine - for the most part.

[paulsebcan]

As an AdSense publisher I received notice from Google that my websites needed. This is what they required:
Privacy Policy: Google and the DoubleClick DART cookie:
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. You can find additional information in Appendix A of the NAI Self-Regulatory principles for publishers (PDF). Please note that the NAI may change this sample language at any time.

AdSense works for me so I have no problem doing it.

[morestar]

ya and it just makes sense to do so, it's honesty...why not right?

[Doc]

Originally Posted by paulsebcan

As an AdSense publisher I received notice from Google that my websites needed. This is what they required:
Privacy Policy: Google and the DoubleClick DART cookie:
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. You can find additional information in Appendix A of the NAI Self-Regulatory principles for publishers (PDF). Please note that the NAI may change this sample language at any time.

AdSense works for me so I have no problem doing it.

That's interesting, Paul. But I'm not clear on what it has to do with the OP's question.

[SnerdeyWebs]

These pages are just good business.. should use them as a rule of thumb, people still want to see Mission Statements ya know..

[morestar]

Yes good business and I think it's just in everyone's best interest to have full access to knowledge of how the information of their usage of the site is being stored and later used/or not.

[Doc]

True enough that it's good business. I know that I like to see a Privacy Policy when I visit a page.

Of course, it's not worth the paper it's not written on.

[deepsand]

Originally Posted by WDC

Just read in a newsletter from SitePronews and I was surprised. The author said:

I wonder if it is the truth.

Short answer - no.

[adtastichosting]

I think it can make a difference. Depends on how much content is on the site. If the site is rather slim of pages and being used to shore up another site it is linking to i.e. the proverbial old time "SPLASH SITE" then having the contact page, privacy policy page and so forth lends credibility that this is a bonafide "website". As we may realize Google is going after the splash sites and other types of sites like this in their aim to "clean up the cesspool" (hey not my words that was the quote taken from the Google CEO see: This Cesspool We Call the Internet | WebProNews)
and that appears to be one of the detectors so to speak when it comes to a "website" that has few pages.

I looked for the reference to this but couldn't find it but I remember reading recently and am pretty sure it was on Matt Cutts blog where he was talking about this very thing and saying that one of the things that could very well lend credibility to a site being "for real" was it having contact us page, privacy policy page and so forth.

I believe it only makes sense especially if your "site" is developed for rankings ie as a splash site might work, to have these pages in order to lend credibility to it. So in my mind, if Google is developing their methods to ferret out sites it only makes sense that that would be a no-brainer that any website without even the most basic of legitimacy such as a contact us page, privacy policy page and so forth is likely a site to target.

Just a thought. Hey if you dont believe in God and God exists are you screwed when you die? Whereas, if you do believe n God but God doesn't exist what have you to lose? I say have a contact us page and a privacy policy.

[SouthamptonAngel]

I think the above pages are certainly important when it comes to PPC, but have limited or no importance for SEO.

The only thing to note is that you should add them in if you're intending on running a PPC campaign in the near future.

[Clarrie]

By law in the EU, any website that is involved in any form of commercial activity (not just ecommerce), must include postal address, telephone number, company registration details (if an incorporated company), and VAT (TVA) registered number (if registered).

If they gather any data from site visitors, they are also obliged to state what type of data they hold and provide a written address for an individual to request information about the data being held.

So it would be logical to include privacy policy pages and contact page with the necessary details - we do as standard because we feel it to be good practice.

But whether this has any impact on SEO at the present time I doubt, but one could see that it could potentially be used by search engines as part of a set of "trust rank" factors.

[puamana]

If you are doing any monetary transactions with a merchant account / payment gateway (for example: authorize.net) they REQUIRE that you have AT LEAST a privacy policy. A "terms of service" or "disclaimer" can offer some legal protection - for example, suppose your site gets 'hacked' and someone visiting your site is infected with a virus or malware, conceivably they could sue for damages to their equipment, if you don't have a disclaimer specifically holding yourself blameless in such a case...

At any rate, I agree that having valid contact information, address, phone number, etc. (at the very least a contact form and email contact address is something that will instill trust in your visitor, and make them much more likely to purchase from your site.

puamana

[morestar]

ya we must admit as well that many of us have visited many sites and have wanted to contact the owners for more information and so forth but to no avail, leaving us frustrated and with an overall feeling of a lack of trust for the site...

I've actually thought to myself that those sites are scams or only for ads.

At least, the very least, with a contact form we feel a certain amount of trust that the site is legitimate - but even if there is a contact form but no contact numbers, I still have a hard time trusting the site.

[Doc]

So, it sounds as though the consensus is that while such pages may be advisable under some conditions, and can lend an aura of authenticity of the site in the users' eyes, they probably have no real value, in terms of SEO?

I could agree with that.

[morestar]

I might say the value would come in the form of:

The site has analytics installed, Gooogle knows new and returning traffic.
The returning traffic tells Gooogle the site was good, relevant, provided a good user experience.
The site has a Privacy Policy and Contact page.

The other sites in the SERPS (for that search) don't have PPs or a Contact page....

Could we suppose the site with the Privacy Policy and Contact Page have triggered the 'good books' filter?

SEO is not only keywords (as we all know), it's also about user experience (as we all know) and so if Gooogle finds the user experience to be beneficial then could we assume the site's rankings could be increased?

[Doc]

Originally Posted by morestar

I might say the value would come in the form of:

The site has analytics installed, Gooogle knows new and returning traffic.
The returning traffic tells Gooogle the site was good, relevant, provided a good user experience.
The site has a Privacy Policy and Contact page.

The other sites in the SERPS (for that search) don't have PPs or a Contact page....

Could we suppose the site with the Privacy Policy and Contact Page have triggered the 'good books' filter?

SEO is not only keywords (as we all know), it's also about user experience (as we all know) and so if Gooogle finds the user experience to be beneficial then could we assume the site's rankings could be increased?

We may never know if Google gives any consideration to such pages. But I suppose it really boils down to what has been said many times... build your site FIRST for your users, THEN worry about the SEs.