This post is further reading on the topic of SEO for Google.
Google has a formula that decides what gets ranked in the Top 10 search results for any given keyword phrase and what doesn’t. This formula does it’s best to mimic the way that we make judgments about businesses off-line.
Google knows, for example, that we want to do business with companies that are TRUSTWORTHY. So, how to prove trustworthiness to Google and the other search engines?
Imagine this:
You are driving down one of the main streets in your town and you see two mechanics shops: Jim’s Mechanic Shop and Bob’s Mechanic Shop.
Jim’s Mechanic Shop
You have seen this shop in the same place every time you drive down the street for 12 years now. There is always a group of people going in and out of the building, in fact you could say that the place is bustling, especially on the weekends before big travel days.
Over the years, three or four of your friends have told you that they take their car to Jim’s Mechanic Shop. One of these friends of yours has actually given you a flier from Jim’s Mechanic Shop. You have been seeing these fliers in your local newspaper for years. Jim keeps his mechanic shop looking nice, repairs are made quickly and the parking lot is kept clean.
Overall, it has all the makings of a TRUSTWORTHY place to do business.
Bob’s Mechanic Shop
You only noticed this shop was on your main street about 15 months ago. When you drive by, the place looks a bit deserted. There never seems to be much activity going on there. You have never heard a single recommendation for this place and you can’t remember ever seeing an advertisement in the newspaper or a flyer in the mailbox.
Bob’s parking lot is well-lit but the grass around his building is not well maintained. The building needs a fresh coat of paint and the sign outside says “Bob’s Mechani S op” with the ‘c’ and the ‘h’ missing.
Overall, Bob’s Mechanic Shop doesn’t give you any reason to trust them with your car.
How Does Google Mimic These Trust Signals Online?
Let’s look at each aspect of Jim’s Mechanic Shop and the corresponding online behavior that builds trust.
You have seen this shop in the same place every time you drive down the street for 12 years now: The age of your domain can imply trustworthiness, especially if you have been getting backlinks to your site over the course of these 12 years
There is always a group of people going in and out of the building: It is rumored that there is some correlation between Google’s trust in your site and the number of people that are visiting your website as well as numerous other statistics that they collect.
Three or four of your friends have told you that they take their car to Jim’s Mechanic Shop: Currently, this is a heavily weighted portion of the Google algorithm — links. How many other websites are recommending you by linking to your website from theirs?
You have been seeing these fliers in your local newspaper for years: Google likes to see evidence of your business in other places on the web besides your own website, in other words more links and citations to your website, business, business address, etc.
Jim keeps his mechanic shop looking nice, repairs are made quickly and the parking lot is kept clean: Google likes to see fresh updates being made to your website. This shows that there is a viable business that is maintaining the website and that is still able to fulfill orders, maintain customer service, etc.
Your turn, what questions/comments do you have about how to prove trustworthiness to Google?
