ObservationsE-E-A-T and author trust
The website menu showed prices up to 49 percent lower than the real ordering prices
In short
Old prices and claims nobody could prove were making the site less trustworthy, for customers and for Google.
What I did
I compared the website menu with the prices on the online ordering system. Some website prices were up to 49 percent lower than what customers actually paid. I also found claims I could not prove: being number one, being the best rated, and a review count that no longer matched the Business Profile. I corrected the prices and removed the claims.
Where
A restaurant website, August 2026
What changed
Website prices now match the ordering system. The review line now shows the real rating and the real number of reviews. Effect not measured.
Did it work
Too early to tell
What you should do
Compare every price and number on your website with the real source: your ordering system, your Google Business Profile, your price list. Remove any claim you cannot prove.
How long it took
About a day for a full menu
Trust is whether the information on a page is accurate and honest. Google’s own quality guidelines treat false or unsupported claims as a trust problem.
Why it matters
A customer who sees one price on the website and pays a higher one at checkout feels misled. That costs the sale and the review that follows.
Claims like “number one” or “best rated” sound harmless. If nothing supports them, they do the opposite of what was intended.
How to check your own site
- List every price, rating, review count and “best” or “number one” claim on the site.
- Check each one against the real source.
- Keep only what you can prove today, and set a reminder to check prices whenever the menu changes.
At a glance
ResultToo early to tell
Effort to copyAbout a day
Type of businessRestaurant and food
SubjectE-E-A-T and author trust
49%largest gap between website and real prices
3unsupported claims removed
What this changed in how I work
I check the facts on a site before I check the SEO. A wrong price does more damage than a missing meta description.
End of Lab entry No. 011