How Google can determine trust

[goodroi]

Google is always trying to separate quality from spam. Sometimes they succeed and other times they completely screw up. Let's talk about the ways you can help convince Google to trust your website. Let's be clear - I am not claiming Google is currently using any of these. I am listing possible signals that I would use if I was a Google engineer. Many of these things may sound simple to you but I get many people asking me to review their under performing sites and often find these issues. Even if Google isn't using these signals these ideas smart for your business.

a) Use one of the original tlds like .com or appropriate country tld but more importantly avoid unusual tlds like .info, .zip, .work. The % of spam sites jumps exponentially when you compare .com with the cheaper & newer tlds. There are a bunch of reports from email filtering companies that complain about these domains, imho likely Google is seeing similar results with web spam & weird tlds.

b) Use https. Spam sites aren't likely to take this step and spending a few extra bucks says you are serious about your website.

c) Develop editorial backlinks aka backlinks that are embedded in relevant content with natural anchor text. If I was Google I would mostly ignore ROS links in the header and footer. Those types of links were hallmarks of paid links. High % of identical anchor text was also a easy way to spot paid links.

d) Make sure you have privacy policy, terms of service, contact pages and other administrative pages. Many spam sites don't take the time to do these pages. Even if it wasn't a possible trust signal you should do it because its good for business. Some governments require privacy policy, terms of service are good for legal protection and contact us is helpful for customers, journalists & potential business partners to reach you.

e) Intelligently monitor bounce rates. High bounce rates are not the kiss of death but they are a good way of finding bad user experiences on your site. If someone visits your online calculator I expect a high bounce rate or you need to make your calculator easier to use. If someone visits your sales video and leaves in 5 seconds, you probably want to rework that video or replace it with a better sales pitch. If I was a Google engineer I would monitor bounces back to the serps as a sign that search result didn't satisfy the user and should rank lower. As a business owner I keep an eye out for

f) Build a brand. If I was a Google I would want to see at least some searchers typing in your brand name into the search box. This is a good signal you can be trusted because no one (almost no one) would type in a spam site into the search box. What are you providing on your site that would make people specifically seek out your site and type in your domain or brand name on Google?

g) Get social. Spam sites don't take the time to build a coordinated network of social accounts. Popular brands do take the time to use different social platforms. If I was a Google engineer I would love to look for this signal. Even if Google isn't looking or can't crawl a social page you should still do it if you can connect with customers. Many webmasters used to rely on Google for their business, they diversified their traffic and now gain most of their profit making traffic from places like facebook, twitter, pinterest.

What would you add to the list?

[robzilla]

On-line trust: concepts, evolving themes, a model [yukon.twi.tudelft.nl] is an old research paper, but it offers some clues that are probably still valid:

Cues that have been found to have an impact on trustworthiness perceptions include ease of navigation (Cheskin Research and Studio Archetype/Sapient, 1999; Nielsen et al., 2000), good use of visual design elements (Kim and Moon, 1997), professional images of products (Nielsen et al., 2000), freedom from small grammatical and typographical errors (Nielsen et al., 2000; Fogg et al., 2001b), an overall professional look of the website (Cheskin Research and Studio Archetype/Sapient, 1999; Nielsen et al., 2000; Fogg et al., 2001b), ease of searching (Nielsen et al., 2000) and ease of carrying out transactions (Lohse and Spiller, 1998; Nielsen et al., 2000). In fact, Stanford et al. (2002) found that consumers tend to rely heavily on website design when assessing websites, in contrast to experts who focused on factors related to information quality. Easy access to live customer representatives via a website is also a positive cue (Nielsen et al., 2000).

Providing content that is appropriate and useful to the target audience has been identified as a strong cue to trustworthiness (Shelat and Egger, 2002). Further, it has been found that mixing advertisements and content is a negative cue (Fogg et al., 2001b; Jenkins et al., 2003), as are banner ads for products of low reputability (Fogg et al., 2001a), and impolite and nonconstructive error messages (Nielsen et al., 2000). Poor website maintenance also provides negative cues to a user. Such cues include broken links, outdated information, missing images and download problems such as long download times (Nielsen et al., 2000). On the other hand, conveying expertise, providing comprehensive information, and projecting honesty, lack of bias and shared values between the website and the user provide positive cues (Lee et al., 2000; Nielsen et al., 2000; Fogg et al., 2001b). In electronic commerce not just the website but the entire shopping experience, including company information, range of merchandise, branding, promotions, security, fulfillment and customer service, affect the user’s trust of a website (Lohse and Spiller, 1998; Cheskin Research and Studio Archetype/ Sapient, 1999; Nielsen et al., 2000; Fogg et al., 2001b; Riegelsberger and Sasse, 2001).

A combination of machine learning and user input (from search quality raters, for example) could translate to an multi-dimensional model of trust that Google can use to judge the trustworthiness of web pages without relying on simple checklists of trust factors. Any thoughts?

[NickMNS]

@robzilla, that is great link, I agree with all those points.

In recent month, I have improved on several, such as:

ease of navigation
good use of visual design elements
overall professional look of the website
removing banner ads for products of low reputability

As result I have seen a steady growth in traffic (2 to 3x growth). I believe that trust is of great important in my niche, I have an informational site in space that is often spammed. I still have work to do and this list gives me good idea on where to focus my efforts.

[Walt Hartwell]

That seems to me to divorce the site from the business. It isn't a question of how good the site is, it is a question of what my business is named and known as. If my trade mark is registered for 10 years, why wouldn't I register the domain name for the same period?

We all have different models, long ago I considered my site to be my business. Now, I consider that site to be part of my business. Algorithm changes, less than optimal choices in people you do business with, sometimes just random stick upside the head type stuff. I'd highly recommend diversification.

[Wilburforce]

Now, I consider that site to be part of my business.

What about the name of the business? Although that could also be called "part of the business", any goodwill (trust) that has developed in the business attaches to the name, not the trade.

[toidi]

The registration period and the terms you have with a registrar are separate issues. You should be able to transfer a domain without penalty,

The key word here is "should"! I folloed the seo advice to register my domains for long periods and it backfired. I lost a couple of urls from w@bdotcom when they delayed the transfer so long the sites just disapeared. If all i did was websites i could have monitored the transfer more thoroughly but i have a business to run and i lost the urls. I have changed registrars numerous time so it was not me. The urls did not have sites attached but they were going to.

As a business owner, i do not lock my company into any supplier for long periods of time. It is a common business practice to keep suppliers on their toes and honest.

[Wilburforce]

The key word here is "should"!

There is some variation internationally, but generally the keyword is "must" (see e.g. ICANN policy: [icann.org ]).

Transferring a domain is similar to porting a phone number. It is your domain name, not the registrar's.

The fact that you may have dealt with an unscrupulous registrar doesn't make longer registration periods bad policy.

[premiumshoe]

Let's talk about the ways you can help convince Google to trust your website. The definitive guide to TrustRank and getting Google's trust.

[Walt Hartwell]

What about the name of the business? Although that could also be called "part of the business", any goodwill (trust) that has developed in the business attaches to the name, not the trade.

I've seen so many changes where big sites decide they need something more "edgy", so there's a big development cycle followed by the "exposure" phase. When that doesn't bring the unicorns out, the analysis of how to get more edgy begins again. Try a search for alphabet.

[Wilburforce]

big sites decide they need something more "edgy"

What you say does not present name-changing as good business practice (even for big and thriving businesses), and Alphabet is a pretty good example of why it isn't. Branding is important for any business, and is a trust indicator in the widest sense. It helps users feel they know who they are dealing with. The best that can be said for brand-changing is that some companies survive it.

Even where multiple brands are owned by a single parent company, longevity in the individual brands is important, which is one reason most takeovers stick with the brand name they have bought.

Try searching for any business that is a household name, and see what their domain-name is. Even Alphabet, Inc hasn't abandoned its primary brands or domain names, and I don't expect it will.

[Walt Hartwell]

What you say does not present name-changing as good business practice (even for big and thriving businesses), and Alphabet is a pretty good example of why it isn't.

Thanks for sharing, I thought that was what I said.

[Wilburforce]

@Walt Hartwell

Yes, I think we agree.

[bakedjake]

The SSL signal won't work now. There are free (and perfectly legitimate) SSL certificate providers out there so even the most spammy site can now use HTTPS.

@Robzilla Google may prefer SSL, but do they consider it as a direct sign of Trust? I am not sure.

I didn't say SSL was an indicator of trust, I said *EV* SSL is probably a good indicator of trust, considering the documentation requirements necessary to get a certificate.

In regards to HTTPS, I just don't think a SSL/TLS certificate with domain validation is worthy of any trust per se. I do wonder if this might be different for certificates with organization validation or extended validation, but that would mean placing trust in the certificate authorities who do the vetting.

They already do this implicitly with the Chrome certificate store.

[aristotle]

Here's an idea. Imagine that Google creates an official "Seal of Approval" - an emblem or badge that you can put on your website to tell visitors that it has Google's trust and approval. :)

[adder]

Great list. I would add Reviews to the mix! Now, Google has clearly said the review count is part of the Local Algorithm:
[support.google.com...]

I can't prove that Reviews are also part of the main algorithm although considering Google is pushing its reviews to get more and more businesses to participate, I would say it's likely that reviews are part of how Google determines trust.