Guidelines for Web Credibility – How can you boost your website’s credibility?

Stanford has compiled 10 guidelines for building a website’s credibility. These guidelines are based on three years of research that included over 4,500 people.

1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.

You can build website credibility by providing third-party support (citations, references, source material) for information you present, especially if you link to this evidence. Even if people don’t follow these links, you’ve shown confidence in your material.

2. Show that there’s a real organization behind your site.

Showing that your website is for a legitimate organization will boost the site’s credibility. The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features can also help, such as posting a photo of your offices or listing a membership with the chamber of commerce.

3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.

Do you have experts on your team? Are your contributors or service providers authorities? Be sure to give their credentials. Are you affiliated with a respected organization? Make that clear. Conversely, don’t link to outside sites that are not credible. Your site becomes less credible by association.

4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.

The first part of this guideline is to show that there are real people behind the site and in the organization. Next, find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images or text—for example, some sites post employee bios that share information about their families or hobbies.

5. Make it easy to contact you.

A simple way to boost your site’s credibility is to make your contact information clear, including your phone number, physical address, and email address.

6. Design your site to look professional or suitable for its purpose.

We find that people often quickly evaluate a site based solely on its visual design. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency, and other details. Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual design should match the site’s purpose.

7. Make your site easy to use — and practical.

We’re squeezing two guidelines into one here. Our research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and valuable. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company’s ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology.

8. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).

People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed.

9. Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).

If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish them from your content. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you’re willing to annoy users and lose credibility. For your writing style, aim for clarity, directness, and sincerity.

10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site’s credibility more than most people imagine. It’s also essential to keep your site up and running.

Suggested Citation: Fogg, B.J. “Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility.”