Editorial Policy

Last updated: July 30, 2026

Purpose

iogameguide.com publishes strategy guides, tips, and reference content for .io games. This policy explains how we produce that content, what standards we hold it to, and how we update pages over time.

Transparent editorial standards matter because our readers include new players looking for their first strategy guide, experienced players seeking advanced tactics, and parents or teachers evaluating games for younger audiences. This document exists so those readers can understand and trust what they find here.

What We Publish

All content on iogameguide.com falls into one of the following categories. Each category has its own quality criteria:

Gameplay Guides & Strategy Articles

Comprehensive guides covering individual .io games — including controls, mechanics, beginner tips, advanced strategies, and common mistakes. This is our largest content category. Accuracy is verified through actual gameplay before publishing.

Reference & Comparison Content

Game comparisons, tier lists, category indexes, and "best of" lists. These are curated for usefulness and kept concise — we do not pad reference pages with redundant entries that do not add value for players deciding what to play.

Policy & Trust Pages

Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Cookie Policy, this Editorial Policy, and our Advertising Disclosure. These pages are reviewed against applicable regulations and updated whenever our operations change. They are written to be read and understood by non-lawyers.

Content Standards

We apply a consistent set of quality criteria across all guide content:

• Practical over theoretical. Advice must work for real players in real matches — not optimal-case scenarios where opponents behave predictably. We test strategies in actual games before publishing them.
• Testable claims. Strategy tips describe outcomes players can verify in their own gameplay. We avoid vague claims like "this always works" in favor of conditional guidance like "this works best when you're in the top 20% but not yet top 5 on the leaderboard."
• Explain the why. Guides explain why a tactic works, not just what to do. Players who understand the reasoning can adapt advice to situations the guide doesn't explicitly cover.
• No low-value filler. We do not pad pages with redundant content or restate the same point multiple ways. Each section adds something the previous sections did not cover.
• Consistent with current game state. No guide should contradict the actual behavior of the game. If a game mechanic changes in an update, affected guides are updated as soon as possible.
• Accessible to all skill levels. Guides are structured so beginners can start with the basics while experienced players can jump directly to advanced sections. We avoid jargon without explanation.

Review Process

Before publishing any new guide or significantly revising an existing one, we run through a three-stage review:

1. Gameplay check — Strategy tips are verified against the current game mechanics, controls, and meta. Tips that only apply to older versions of the game are removed or updated.
2. Technical check — All internal links are confirmed valid. Pages are reviewed for mobile readability. Structured data and meta tags are validated.
3. Editorial check — Content is reviewed for clarity, completeness, and consistency with our editorial standards. The editor verifies that the guide covers what a player at the target skill level actually needs to know.

For minor edits — correcting a typo, updating a broken link, or adjusting a date — we do not run the full review cycle. Major structural changes or new page additions go through all three stages before publication.

Updates and Freshness

Content on iogameguide.com has a natural shelf life tied to how games evolve. We revise guides when:

• Game mechanics change (new weapons, balance patches, mode additions).
• A new game launches and existing guides need cross-references.
• Repeated player questions reveal a gap in current coverage.
• A third-party service we reference changes its own policies in ways that affect our disclosures.

Policy pages carry a visible "Last updated" date at the top. Gameplay guides reflect the current version of the game at time of review.

Corrections Policy

We treat corrections seriously. If a guide contains factually wrong advice — a mechanic described incorrectly, a strategy that no longer works, or a recommendation that produces the opposite outcome from what we claim — we correct it as quickly as practical after it is reported.

To report an inaccuracy, email us at contact@iogameguide.com. Include the guide URL, the specific claim you believe is incorrect, and what you observed in practice. We respond to correction requests within 48 hours and publish fixes without delay once verified.

We do not hide or silently delete pages that contained errors. For significant corrections, we update the page in place with corrected content.

Editorial Independence

Revenue sources, including advertising, do not determine the rankings, recommendations, or wording of any guide on this site. This independence is maintained by keeping editorial decisions entirely separate from monetization decisions. Specifically:

• No advertiser or third-party sponsor can pay for favorable mention in a guide or strategy article.
• Game rankings and "best of" lists are based on gameplay quality and player experience — not on which games generate more ad impressions.
• We do not accept sponsored content, native advertising, or paid placement in any guide, list, or recommendation.
• If we recommend a game, it is because we genuinely believe it is worth playing.

Advertising Disclosure

iogameguide.com is a free, ad-supported website. We use Google AdSense to display ads that help cover hosting and content production costs. Our advertising practices follow these principles:

• Ads do not interrupt guide reading. Ad placements do not obscure critical information or break the content flow.
• No pop-ups or interstitials. We do not use full-screen ads that block content access.
• No forced ad interaction. No core action — reading a guide, browsing games, using tools — requires interacting with an ad.
• Clear ad labeling. All ads are marked with "Ad" or "AdChoices" labels as required by Google's publisher policies.
• Ads are visually distinguishable. Google-served ads are separated from editorial content by design and labeling.

Our authorized digital seller declaration is published at /ads.txt, confirming that Google is an authorized seller of advertising on this domain.

Community Feedback and Content Direction

Player questions submitted through our contact form and recurring questions from the community directly inform what we document. If a question comes up repeatedly, we treat that as a signal that existing guides are insufficient and add or revise coverage accordingly.

We do not publish content purely for search engine optimization without genuine informational value. Every guide addresses a real player question or use case observed in practice.

Author Credentials

All content on iogameguide.com is created and reviewed by:

James Hung — Founder & Editor

James has been playing .io games since the Agar.io boom in 2015. He founded iogameguide.com in 2024 to provide structured, honest strategy guides for the .io gaming community. He reviews every guide before publication and personally tests all strategies described on the site.

Contact

Questions about our editorial policy? Want to suggest a correction or request a new guide? Reach us at contact@iogameguide.com or through our contact form.

Related pages: About Us, Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Cookie Policy.