User Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is additional content on a website that has been added by a user rather than the webmaster, such as comments. How does Google view UGC when it comes to ranking your website? Google is able to identify user-generated content on a site and will manage it in several ways.
Within our SEO Office Hours Notes, we cover examples and advice from Google’s ‘SEO Office Hours’ sessions for managing user-generated content.
Learn more about SEO best practices for website content in Lumar’s Website Intelligence Academy.
Sites With UGC Should Consider Noindexing Low Quality Content
John recommends that sites with lots of user generated content look into to tracking which parts are high and low quality so rules can be set up to noindex low quality UGC and index high quality UGC.
Collecting Reviews Independently or Through Third Party is Fine From SEO Perspective
It doesn’t matter if you collect reviews by yourself or through a third party, it makes no difference from an SEO perspective.
Google Can Assume Server Error For Non-Loading Page Components
If a page has different components generating HTML and one of them looks like it’s generating a server error, Google may assume the page is returning a server error and drop it from search e.g. comment section that sometimes doesn’t load. Usually these are flagged as soft 404s in Search Console.
Websites are Responsible for User Generated Content Quality
If you allow users to add content to a website, you are responsible for any content quality issues. You can use solutions like canonicals and noindex.
Google Treats Comments as Primary Page Content
Google doesn’t distinguish between body content and user comments, but they may differentiate other user generated content.
Testimonials and Reviews Can Add Unique Content
Testimonials and user reviews can contribute additional unique content to your page.