How do I know a Website Contains Reliable Information?

When browsing the Internet you or your family may come across a website you think contains unreliable information. But can you be sure?

Try asking yourself these few simple questions:

Look at the structure of the website

• Does the website appear to load up correctly and all the basic features (such as linking) work?
• Does the address of the website seem normal, or does something about it indicate potential trouble?
• Can you tell from the web address what type of organisation owns the website? For example, a website with an address ending in .gov.au is an Australian government website.
• Do windows start popping up at random when you go to the website? The website may be designed as an online marketing trap, so extra caution is needed.

Look for the owners of the website

• Is it easy to find out the organisation or individual who created the website?
• Can the owners of the website be contacted easily?  Do they provide real contact information such as a postal address or phone number?

Look for the authors of the content

• Is it clear who wrote or authorised the content on the website or on a particular webpage?
• Can the authors of the content be contacted easily?
• Do the authors of the content appear to be reputable?

Look at the quality of the content

• Is it clear what the content is about and is it easy to understand?
• Is the spelling and grammar correct?
• Does the content appear to be organised well with headings and images used appropriately?
• Does any of the content appear to be biased or extreme?
• Is there anyway you can verify if the content is correct?
• If portions of other people's content are used on the website, are the original owners recognised?
• Is the content available in other forms such as hard copy?

Look at how current the content is

• Are there dates listed on the website which indicate when the content was originally published?
• Are there dates on the website which indicate when the content was last updated?

Look for legal notices and feedback

• Are there legal notices (such as copyright statements and terms of use etc.) listed on the page?
• Can you easily give feedback to the author of the content?

There is no guaranteed method of determining whether a website has reliable information on it or not, but asking yourself these simple questions may help you decide.