Many people earn their living exclusively by putting up simple pages filled with ads. The point of such sites is for you to click on the advertisements, not to present the information. Although there is some on-topic information on the page, it usually is quite shallow, and servers as a bait for search engines to lure unsuspecting web surfers.
Tip#2: Look at the site's Page Rank.
Google Page Rank is the patented method for Google to measure web page quality. In a few words, it works like this: the more links from other websites a particular page has, the higher the Page Rank value is for this page. The higher the Page Rank value is, the more trust the page has. The highest possible Page Rank value is 10. A Page Rank value of 4 or higher is good indication of trustworthiness of the page. To see Page Rank values, you must install Google Page rank toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/)
Tip#3: When reading blog posts, always scroll down for comments.
Blogs are great for voicing individual opinions, but to get see more to the story, read the comments. As a rule, someone with opposing views will post his or her thoughts and provide you with direction for further research.
Tip #4: Look at the web page design.
There are two ways at interpreting web page visual appearance without reading the information on the page. If the page is design is exceptionally good, filled with gradients, flash presentations, animated graphics, sparkling colors, neon lights and smiley faces – all the things that we associate with advertising – chances are that the goal of the web page is to sell you something. This is not bad per se, but since there is commercial incentive involved, you should take that information with a grain of salt. Usually, the most authoritative sites, like academic journals, industry associations, or enthusiast web sites do not have the resources to higher cutting edge designers.
On the other hand, if the web page falls apart or is hard to read and or the design does not make sense and has "ads by google" writer on the prominent parts of the pages, you are probably looking at the "made for AdSense" (MFA) sites.
Tip#5: Look at who is linking to the site.
"Tell me who your friends are, and I will know who you are". This proverb works on the Web as well. When in doubt of the quality of information on the web site, take a quick look at the incoming links to the site. Sites with authoritative information attract mentions and links from respected magazines, government reports, and academic studies. To see the links going to a particular website go to http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com and type link:www.sitename.com.
