The Mahalo Page Management Guide was a tool implemented during the span of the Mahalo page management model which Mahalo no longer employs. Although Mahalo no longer utilizes page managers, the affairs associated with the management of page continue to be met by the new Mahalo Guide System. Mahalo Page managers were users and community members who made it their responsibility to keep Mahalo pages current, updated and full of relevant content regarding their respective topics. When Mahalo shared revenue earned on Mahalo pages, page managers received up to 50% of the page's Adsense revenue if the page was not managed by a Vertical Manager and 40% of the page's Adsense revenue if a page was also supported by a Vertical Manager. In return for the opportunity to earn page revenue, page managers were committed to several responsibilities, including the making sure the page met Mahalo standards, as specified in the guide How to Build a Mahalo Page and the commitment to update the page on a regular basis.

Mahalo.com provided page managers with the tools to turn any search result into an interactive, informative, dominant resource for those who perform Internet searches. Mahalo page managers were encouraged to visit their managed pages often to perform manual updates and to curate link sections. This practice greatly helped to keep Mahalo pages fresh for new and returning Mahalo visitors.

Despite the fact that the page management protocol has changed, the requirements for producing Mahalo pages remains the same, with specific standards and requirements. These are some of the major considerations to make when building a Mahalo page (they are described in detail further down in the Mahalo Standards/Having Your Pages Scored section of this guide.

1. Mahalo pages should have over 300 words of original and unique text.
2. Mahalo pages should have at least 5 Fast Facts (How To pages should have at least 3 tips)
3. Mahalo pages should be objective, written from a neutral stand point. They are not written in conversational style but as encyclopedia entries.
4. Pages are edited on a regular basis, receiving essential updates and improvements to the quality of the pages. Pages are visited on a regular basis and provided an update of some sort, whether it includes adding content, or cleaning up current content.
5. Mahalo pages should include citations to specific and detailed information not generally known.
   
   

One of the essential keys to helping page rank improve is to conduct regular update. Each update has a positive, long lasting effect on the rank of a Mahalo Page and ultimately the traffic a page will generate. Each update is also an improvement for the Mahalo community as a whole, as each individual improvement makes Mahalo a better search engine for visitors. Additional information on how to build each individual section of a Mahalo page from scratch is available through the How to Build a Mahalo Page Guide. Below are some different updating strategies that can be implemented when updating a Mahalo page.

1. We will not link to:
   1. ... spam sites.
   2. ... non-spam sites that have deceptive, or overbearing, advertising. For example, we will not link to splogs - spam blogs that have nothing but ads above the fold, forcing you to scroll down to get to the content, which might be scraped from another site. This includes sites that are largely advertorial.
   3. ... any sites that give the appearance of participating in phishing or any other type of malicious activity ("phishing" being the fraudulent acquisition of sensitive personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity).
   4. ... sites that simply regurgitate information from other sites with or without giving credit where credit is due. For example, if you have a blog that you use to simply aggregate your favorite posts about gadgets from other, more notable gadget blogs (such as Engadget or Gizmodo)—without adding substantial value and information via your blog—then we will always link directly to the source of the information rather than to your blog.
   5. ... sites which scrape or re-purpose other people's content without permission. Note: We are not able to police every site we link to, so we will make mistakes. If we're linking to a site which you feel is misappropriating your content please let us know by clicking the "Report" link on the search result page in question.
   6. ... sites of unknown origin (i.e. we cannot establish who operates the site).
   7. ... sites which have adult content or hate speech.
2. We will link to:
   1. ... sites that are considered authorities in their field (i.e. Edmunds for autos, Engadget for consumer electronics, and the New York Times for news).
   2. ... sites which create original, high-quality content on a consistent basis.
   3. ... sites that have been operating for over one year. Sites under a year will be considered, but most will be placed in a "member-submitted" section at the bottom of the page until they hit the one-year mark.
   4. ... sites that have clean layout, design, and a modest amount of advertising.

Mahalo has strict standards for quality and presentation. Each guide should expect to have several pages scored each week. The scores will be accompanied by feedback, explaining any areas that were not in line with standards. In some cases, the feedback will ask the guide to update the page and resubmit it for review.

The scores are on a scale from 0-10, with 10 representing the perfect Mahalo page and 0 representing a blank Mahalo page.

Here are some guidelines on how to interpret your scores:

10: Perfect page. These will be very rare.

9 - 9.5: Excellent page.

8 - 9: Very good page.

6 - 7.5: Promising page with room for improvement

5 - 6: Potentially good page with some significant work needed.

3 - 4.5: A problem page. Urgent attention needed.

0 - 2.5: A poor page.

Here are the scoring standards:

Word Count

Topic Pages and "Big Video" How Tos

Under 200 words of original content overall (-2)
Under 300 words of original content overall (-1)
Under 100 words of original content in the Guide Note (-1)
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Pages that contain fewer than 200 words of original content become stubs, which means they do not index on Google. These need to be brought up to 200 words immediately.

300 or more original words on each Mahalo page is the "standard" for topic pages. These 300 words INCLUDE Fast Facts, video/image descriptions and all other original text that appears on a Mahalo page and is composed by a user. List sections that just list information such as movies, books, nominees of awards etc. do not count towards the word count requirement. Quotes are also not considered original content.

"Feature" How To Pages

Under 100 words of original content in a step or intro (-1 for each section)
Under 200 words of original content (-0.5 for each section)
This does not apply to the short, 300 word How To pages. The word count requirement on those is the same as for Topic Pages.

Factual error (-2)

Mahalo pages should have NO inaccurate or incorrect information. All dates, data, statistics and other specific information should be backed up by citations.

Bias/NPOV (-1)

Mahalo pages should not take a perspective on an issue or a side in a discussion. All information presented on a Mahalo page should be fact-based, rooted in supportable research from external sources rather than anecdotal information. This includes political pages or pages about controversies, but also general interest pages. Remember that even positive statements of opinion (such as "schnauzers are great dogs for kids!" or "cinnamon buns are the best way to wake up in the morning") count as biased and should not be included. (NOTE: How To pages may occasionally include a bit more "anecdotal evidence" and "personal opinion" than standard Mahalo pages, but should strive to eliminate bias).

Outdated information (-1 to -2)

While this is more likely to be an issue with updates, it's important to make sure that new pages contain the most current information.

Vague writing/filler (-1)

Often, page managers may be tempted to "pad" their writing in order to create the appearance of more content on their pages. This is strongly discouraged. Examples of padded writing or filler could including repeating the same point or phrase multiple times, talking around an issue rather than getting right to the point or making obvious statements that any person with common sense would already know.

As well, being vague or misleading about a topic should be avoided. Always be as specific as possible, and when writing descriptions of objects, places, events, processes, etc., try to work in as many details (who, what, where, when, why, how) as possible. Remember that the ultimate goal of Mahalo pages is to be truly helpful to readers.

Spelling error (-1) per error

Grammatical error (-.25 to -.5)

No categories (-1)

Aim for 3-8 relevant categories.

Inlinking Errors (-.5 to -1)

Excessive inlinking , having fewer than 1 inlink per 100 words, or inlinking to nonexistent pages will all impact the score.

No Related Mahalo Pages (-1)

A writer should include at least 5 "Related Mahalo Pages" on every topic page. Failure to include at least 5 related pages will result in the loss of a point.

General formatting error (-.5 to1)

This can include any basic formatting problem on the page. Common examples include sub-sections in the written content that do not have "headlines" or titles, Featured Videos that do not have 50-100 word captions, or sections that are misplaced on the page.

No citations (-1)

If a page contains specific, factual information that is not cited, that page will lose 1 point. Not ALL factual information needs to be cited. A good rule of thumb is whether or not that fact is "common knowledge." That Barack Obama is President of the United States who was elected in 2008 is a commonly-known fact that would not need to be cited. That he was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, is much more specific, less commonly-known info and should be cited.

No disclaimer (on medical, legal, financial pages) (-.5)

These disclaimers appear automatically on all new pages in these three categories. They should remain intact on the page and you will be marked down for not having/including them.

No Fast Facts/Tips (-1)

All topic pages require Fast Facts; all How To pages should include Tips sections. Fast Fact sections should include no fewer than 5 facts and Tips sections should include at least 3 tips. Having fewer than 5 Fast Facts would be considered a general formatting error.

No Featured Video (-1)

All Mahalo pages should include a featured video. If you cannot locate a video that is exactly about the topic, then you can use a more general video that includes the topic.