While it sounds like a delicious whipped dessert, Google fluff is one aspect of your website which you do not want to neglect or omit as doing so can have detrimental effects on your ability to rank within Google and the other engines. But what is Google fluff?
What is Google Fluff
Google fluff is an expression coined by affiliate marketers to refer to the informative site related pages which Google wants every website to have. Examples of Google fluff include:
Privacy Policy – A privacy policy is important to have because it explains how your visitor’s information will be used (or not used). If you have an email list you’re collecting information for if someone submits it on your site, you should include a privacy policy on your email sign up for so your readers can be assuaged that their information will not be shared with anyone else
Terms and Conditions – The terms of and conditions of a site is standard information about a site and its usage in most cases. You can find a number of terms and conditions templates which you can use for your site; but it’s important to have one of these on your site.
Disclosure Policy – A disclosure policy is important to have if you have any affiliate links on your site or if you have anything which you need to disclose. For example, if a product owner sends you a free review copy of their product for you to review and talk about on your site, you need to reveal this. Rather than explaining this for every affiliate link and situation in which you’d want to disclose something, you can simply have a disclosure policy and link to it from every page. Transparency is not only a good idea for developing a better relationship with your readers, it’s also the law.
Disclaimer Policy (if applicable) – If you have a product which you’re selling on your site then you may want to include a disclaimer policy to better outline the kinds of results which someone can expect in using that product. This is where you reveal all of the nitty gritty which your potential customer needs to know.
Contact – Google likes a site in which people can contact the webmaster/author/product owner (whatever your role may be).
About – An about page gives a bit of background about you and your website. Think about what is the focus or purpose of your site, then put it here.
The term “Google Fluff” itself relates to the idea that none of these pages help affiliate marketers market their affiliate products and the only reason for their inclusion is to please Google.
Google always wants to provide those who use it to have the best browsing experience online, so websites which do not include this “Google fluff” are seen as shady and suspicious; therefore, with all things equal, Google will give a better ranking to a page with those included pages.
This is also important when it comes to Adwords as omitting these pages on the domain which you are linking to will have an adverse effect on your quality score, thus costing you a higher cost per click.