BillyS - 11:00 pm on Apr 29, 2005 (gmt 0)

If you really think about PageRank and TrustRank they are based on the same theory of creating value - Pages voting for other pages.

This sounds good on paper, but execution is another thing. There are so many rules that need to be created that the original idea becomes blurred. It is very easy to game once the rules are known.

I've gotten blasted for this before, but probably the best way to quality results in a search engine is creating a directory. If I were Google, this is what I would do...

Start with the Dmoz directory since there has been a degree of quality assurance already applied to that directory. This is your basline of TrustRank. Just by being in the directory you get points let's say TrustRank 3. Certain categories qualify for up to a TrustRank 10 rating - if they gain points via a qualitative test described below. These are the "standard" websites such as Yahoo, MSN, WSJ and the like... They do not have to pay for this evaluation.

Websites in lessor categories, can for a fee, have their sites manually evaluated for Publically Known quality standards. This allows webmasters to conform to the quality rules if they choose (no black box). This includes things like:

- Content
- Site organization
- Size
- Load times..

Whatever is attractive to people when searching. Each quarter a nominal fee is paid (one that just covers the cost of Google to peform the evaluation) in order to qualify for additional points - up to TrustRank 10.

My suggested fee is $25 / quarter for the evaulation for added TrustRank points. The evaluation is performed quarterly on an unknown date so that gaming is less possible.

As is the case with PageRank today, this measure of TrustRank is just one consideration when returning results.

My 2 cents