Trust sells.

Two sites sell the same doors, both have good texts, neither has technical errors. Yet one consistently ranks higher for queries like "buy interior doors". Often the difference is how much the site looks like a real store or company you can trust with your money: whether it has prices, a phone number, an address, delivery terms and genuine reviews.

These signs are called commercial ranking factors. Let's look at what exactly Yandex evaluates on a site and how to check your own project without complex tools.

What commercial factors are

Commercial factors are the signs by which a search engine judges how trustworthy a site is as a seller. Prices, contacts, company details, reviews, information on availability and delivery all help Yandex understand that a real business stands behind the site.

Why Yandex takes them into account

With a commercial query, a person is about to spend money. The search engine wants to show them sites where the purchase will go smoothly. So, all else being equal, the site that ranks higher is the one where the terms of the deal are clear right away, not after a call with a manager. Yandex handles about 70% of searches in Russia, so for most commercial projects these requirements matter especially.

Where they matter most

Commercial factors have the strongest effect in highly competitive niches: online stores, construction, renovation, medicine, legal services, real estate. For informational queries they play almost no role: there the material is judged primarily by its value under the EPOS principles: expertise, usefulness, originality and substance.

Prices and product range

Prices on the site are one of the most visible factors. If a visitor sees "ask a manager for the price" on every page, to them and to the search engine it signals that the terms are hidden.

Prices on the pages

Show the cost directly on product and service pages, not only in a separate price list. For services, a "from" price with an explanation of what it consists of works well.

When the price depends on parameters

If the final cost depends on area, volume or materials, a calculator or a table with typical options helps. The visitor understands the order of magnitude and is less likely to leave for a competitor who shows numbers.

Keeping prices current

Prices need updating. An outdated price list is worse than none: the customer arrives expecting one amount, hears another at the office, and trust disappears.

Range and availability

For a store, the breadth of the range and stock information matter. A catalog where half the products have no status or sold out long ago works against the site. It helps to show stock levels, lead times for made-to-order items and alternatives when the desired item is unavailable.

Company contacts and details

Contacts should confirm that the company exists and can be reached in a convenient way. A single mobile number and an email on a free service are not enough for that.

The contacts page should include:

• a landline or toll-free phone number and messengers;
• the address of the office, warehouse or showroom with a map and directions;
• opening hours, including weekends;
• the full legal name of the organization, its INN (taxpayer number) and OGRN (state registration number);
• an email address on the company domain;
• a contact form.

It is better to repeat the phone number and contact button in the header and footer of every page. If the company has several branches, each needs its own listing with an address and phone number. This also matters for promotion in a specific city; more on that in the article on local marketing.

Delivery, payment and guarantees

The terms of the deal should be described before a person submits a request. A buyer wants to know in advance how they will receive the product, how they will pay, and what to do if something goes wrong.

Delivery and payment

Describe delivery methods and times, the cost within the city and to other regions, and the option of self-pickup. List payment methods: by card, by invoice for legal entities, on receipt. For service companies, the equivalent of delivery is the work process: a site visit for measurements, a contract, prepayment, timelines.

Guarantees and returns

A page with warranty and return terms removes some of the doubts. Be specific: the warranty period, what it covers, whom to contact. Generic phrases like "we guarantee quality" add no trust.

Reviews and trust signals

Reviews show that the company has real customers. Customer reviews work best when they include a name, a date, a photo of the result and the company's reply, especially to criticism.

Besides the section on the site, reviews on maps and in business directories matter: people often check a company there. We covered how to work with them in the piece on the impact of reviews on reputation. Trust signals also include certificates, licenses, photos of the team and production, real case studies and a portfolio.

Ease of ordering

The easier it is to place an order or submit a request, the better the site looks both to people and to the search engine. Visitor behavior indirectly shows whether the site is convenient to use.

Forms and contact methods

The request form should be short: name and phone, the manager will clarify the rest. The store cart should not require registration. Add several ways to get in touch: a call, a messenger, a callback. Why even a beautiful site may bring no inquiries is covered in the article "The site is there, but there are no leads".

Mobile version

Most buyers choose on their phones. On a small screen, the price, the order button and the phone number should be visible, and tables and filters should not fall apart.

How to check your site

You can run the check yourself, through a customer's eyes. Open the main service or product page and try to find answers to the buyer's key questions within a minute.

Then compare yourself with the top three sites for your main query. Anything all of them have and you don't is your first task. Technical errors that keep a site out of search altogether are better checked separately in Yandex Webmaster, in the "Diagnostics" section. Other causes of low visibility are covered in the article on factors that reduce a site's visibility.

Why this has become more important

Commercial factors affect more than the regular search results. AI answers from Alice, Yandex's assistant, appear for about 42% of queries, and their sources are almost always taken from the top ten. A site that falls short of the top because of hidden prices or missing company details loses both regular clicks and mentions in the neural network's answers.

Another reason is rising quality requirements. Since 2025, Yandex has treated texts written by a neural network without expert editing as low-value. So texts alone are not enough for promotion: you need a page on which a purchase decision can be made.

What to do next

Commercial factors are part of the work that website SEO optimization includes, not a separate once-a-year task. They are checked at the start and then maintained: prices are updated, reviews answered, new branches added. SEO optimization without this part delivers less than it could, as does SEO promotion without a proper catalog.

The usual order of work is:

1. compare the site with top competitors for each page type;
2. add missing prices, company details and terms of the deal;
3. mark up contacts, products and services with Schema.org;
4. collect and publish recent reviews;
5. repeat the check once a quarter.

An experienced SEO specialist starts with an audit: which of the above the site already has, what is missing, and what keeps people from submitting a request. If the owner makes the improvements themselves, SEO promotion and SEO optimization of the site still require regular checks, because competitors don't stand still either.

If you have decided to order SEO promotion or SEO optimization and want to know what the work costs, ask the contractor whether it includes improving commercial factors. This is often exactly why prices for SEO promotion and SEO optimization differ. At epic name. we check sites against all these points and help implement fixes for companies in Moscow and across Russia. To order SEO promotion with a clear work plan, see the description of our SEO services: there you can also order SEO optimization of the site or SEO for a specific section.