Draft: hidden from Google until Dan signs it off.

Method 04 · Originality

Information gain
scoring.

Information Gain Scoring checks one thing: what does your page say that the pages already ranking don't? Google's own guidance asks whether a page offers original information and real value compared with other pages in the results. Most pages fail that test by saying what everyone says, only longer.

Written by Dan Picken, founder. Last checked 27 October 2026.
Fig. 07 · The part only you can add
WHAT THETOP 10 SAYONLYYOU
  • Your own data
  • First-hand experience
  • A worked example
  • A tool to use
  • Australian detail

Your page needs the big circle to compete. It needs the small one to win.

Longer is not
better.

The standard advice is to look at the top ten results and write something longer that covers everything they cover. The result is the eleventh copy of the same page.

Google has a patent on estimating how much new information a document adds beyond what someone has already seen. A patent doesn't prove it's used in ranking, but it lines up with what Google's public guidance asks for.

Either way, the reader has the same question: why read this one?

How it
works.

  1. 1

    Read the top results

    For the page's main search, list what every top result already says. That's the table stakes.

  2. 2

    Find the gap

    List what none of them say: the data, experience, examples and local detail missing from all of them.

  3. 3

    Score the page

    Check your page against the gap: own data, first-hand experience, worked example, a tool, follow-ups answered, Australian detail, a clear author.

  4. 4

    Add the missing piece

    Usually one or two additions lift a page more than a full rewrite.

In my experience

The biggest gap I see on service pages isn't keywords or length. It's the stuff the owner says on the phone every day and never writes down: the mistake most customers make, the question everyone asks, what a job actually involves. That's the information no competitor page has, and it's sitting in someone's head instead of on the website.

What you get

  • The table stakes for each main search
  • The gap: what no top result covers
  • A score for each page you care about
  • The one or two additions that would lift each page most

The technical bit

Table stakes
What every ranking page already says. Needed, but not enough.
Information gain
What a page adds beyond what the reader has already seen.
E-E-A-T
Experience, expertise, authority and trust: the qualities Google's raters look for.
Commodity content
Content anyone could have written, because it only repeats what is already out there.

Where it's used

Questions
people ask.

Is information gain a Google ranking factor?

Google hasn't said so directly. It holds a patent on the idea, and its helpful content guidance asks the same question. I treat it as the bar to clear rather than a confirmed factor.

Can I score my own page?

Yes. The checker on the SEO page is a quick version: open your page next to the top three results and tick only what yours has that theirs don't.

The other methods

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