How often do you check the About page of websites you visit?

Perhaps the most common reason people visit websites is for advice and information. But how do you know if the advice is good and the information is accurate?

One way is to read the About page.

I check the About page on most of the websites I visit, whether I’m there as a consumer/customer or I’m doing research for a writing project. I didn’t realize how instinctively smart I was 😊 until I read an article in Tim Carter’s Ask the Builder newsletter.

Carter was discussing AI-generated content about home building and repairs, and the chances such content could give you advice that might not work and might even create bigger problems for you.

He wrote:

What About Sources?

Several times in past issues of this newsletter I've talked about the quality or accuracy of content you stumble upon out in the wild hinterland of the Interweb.

Did you know not too many years ago a few major content-farm websites paid stay-at-home moms about $10 to create a home improvement column? There's a very good chance these authors – if you'd call them that – had never done what they were writing about.

They would visit websites like mine and steal content. They'd rewrite it and presto amino you'd have a 500-word column in 30 minutes or less.

How did these authors know if what they were copying was ACCURATE if they had never done the job before?

How will the AI computers know what they're copying is accurate?

For years I've suggested you do just one thing. Do you do the following?

When you end up on a home improvement website page and are reading a column that interests you, do you STOP and click the About Us page? Do you go find out WHO wrote the column and WHAT is the DEPTH of the author's experience?

I'm willing to bet you that you don't. Such a sad mistake as Queen Cersei would say. Trust is the Achilles' Heel of just about every homeowner horror dilemma I'm called in to investigate.

By the way, if you own a home, you need to subscribe to Tim Carter’s newsletter. This is a totally unsolicited and non-compensated endorsement. Go to https://www.askthebuilder.com/ to sign up—it’s free and the content is priceless.

Some additional ways to verify the quality and accuracy of information on a website include:

  • Check multiple sources, including offline sources if possible, to see if they agree with the information on the site.
  • Consider the professionalism of the site, including overall design, navigation, and quality and accuracy of writing (an abundance of typos and poor grammar is a huge red flag).
  • Check the contact page for phone, email, and physical address. Lack of a physical address is not necessarily a red flag because many legitimate homebased operations don’t publish that, but there should be sufficient contact information for you to reach someone if you want to.
  • If the site contains advertising, consider the quantity and content of those ads. Advertising is fine (it’s a valid revenue source) but be cautious if the site is filled with ads and popups that are unrelated to the site’s stated purpose.
  • Look to see if the information is clearly sourced and the articles include an author’s name and bio. It’s also a good sign if other authorities are cited.

But start with the About page. If it doesn’t inspire confidence in the source, go back to your favorite search engine and look further.

If you have a website, check your About page. Would it give a reader confidence that you’re qualified to do what you do?

Jacquelyn Lynn
Follow me
Latest posts by Jacquelyn Lynn (see all)