{"id":1188,"date":"2020-08-12T06:42:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T06:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/?p=1188"},"modified":"2023-05-11T07:07:01","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T07:07:01","slug":"google-trust-signals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/google-trust-signals\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Trust Signals \u2013 Does Google Trust Your Site?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-trustrank-introduction\"><strong>TrustRank Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Especially since Google\u2019s introduction of <strong><em>E-A-T<\/em><\/strong> (Expertise, Authority, Trust), <strong>trust <\/strong>continues to become an increasingly important ranking factor. In this article, we\u2019re going to cover everything you need to know about Google trust signals\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The core idea is that Google relies on a whole range of \u201ctrust signals\u201d which help evaluate the legitimacy and authority of a website\u2019s content and its creator. A select, small number of these fundamental trust signals are ones we actually have direct control over, which is what we\u2019ll cover in this post \u2013 so, let\u2019s give right in. &#x1f3ca;&#x200d;&#x2642;&#xfe0f;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what we\u2019ll cover:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Trust Pages 101: Why you need to include about, contact and <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wplegalpages\/\">privacy policy pages<\/a> \u2013&nbsp;find out why\u2026&nbsp;<\/li><li>Using Public WHOIS Information:&nbsp;Most websites don&#8217;t, which begs the question, is this even considered a trust signal anymore?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Is domain age even considered a trust signal and ranking factor?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Why domain renewal length is no longer publicly considered a trust signal.<\/li><li>How effectively linking to reliable external resources can help your content rank.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"pb-block-wrap pb-block-1\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"title\">You\u2019re reading point <span>8 of our 102<\/span> point SEO Checklist<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"text\"><p>Get the full SEO Checklist and start taking ALL the steps you need to in order to rank at the top of Google.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t\t        <a class=\"btn-big btn-big-2\" href=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/seo-checklist\" target=\"_blank\">Reveal The SEO Checklist<\/a>\r\n    \t      <div class=\"pb-person-block\">\r\n    \t            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/seobuddy\/images\/post-blocks\/1.png\" \/>\r\n        \t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"text\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<p><strong>John Abott<\/strong> The SEO Checklist by SEOBuddy is awesome. It doesn\u2019t just tell you what you need to do, it walks you through the process.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"like-amount\">4<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-trust-pages-101-about-contact-privacy-policy\"><strong>Trust Pages 101 \u2013 About, Contact, Privacy Policy\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Whenever you launch a new website, creating these websites is absolutely essential in this day and age \u2013&nbsp;without them search engines won\u2019t consider your site trustworthy and nor will actual readers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your About Page<br><br><\/strong><em>Who are you? Who runs the site &amp; why do you have authority to share your expertise in the industry?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your About page is your opportunity to shine \u2013&nbsp;don\u2019t hide behind a logo. People love to see faces. Who\u2019s on your team, what role do they have and where can people follow them on social media? Use this opportunity to showcase how you\u2019re different from your competition while also earning Google\u2019s trust at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"666\" src=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/about-us-page-sample.jpg\" alt=\"An example of an &quot;About us&quot; page\" class=\"wp-image-1210\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/about-us-page-sample.jpg 900w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/about-us-page-sample-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/about-us-page-sample-768x568.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Contact Page<br><br><\/strong><em>Where can people get in touch with you? Are you actively available to help people?<\/em> These pages are particularly important for local businesses and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rankmagic.com\/local-search-optimization\/\">Local SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Local businesses in particular (i.e. ones where customers can visit to purchase products\/services at an actual location rather than just online), should include their addresses and the appropriate schema (structured data) which can easily be done using a WordPress SEO plugin like <a href=\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/\">Yoast<\/a> if your website is powered by the WordPress content management system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Privacy Policy &amp; Terms of Conditions Pages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And last but not least are policies, disclaimers, and affiliate disclosures. These \u201cboring\u201d pages are ones Google evidently pays attention to since they even require all Google Adsense Publishers to have them on their sites in order to be accepted into their ad network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason is simple. Most spammers or people building PBNs won\u2019t even bother to include them which makes it a way to differentiate real websites run by real people from websites that can\u2019t be trusted. For privacy policies and terms of conditions, we recommend using a solution like <a href=\"https:\/\/termageddon.com\/\">Termageddon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iubenda.com\/en\/\">Iubenda<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.websitepolicies.com\/\">WebsitesPolicies<\/a> since they actually provide documents that automatically update as the law changes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously, not every site that has these pages along can be considered reliable but it\u2019s a step in the right direction and one of the many signals that search engines like Google use to improve their understanding of the web.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-use-public-whois-another-trust-signal\"><strong>Use Public WHOIS&nbsp;<\/strong>&#8211; Another Trust Signal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/public-whois-sample-1024x444.png\" alt=\"Illustration of Public WHOIS Information\" class=\"wp-image-1200\" width=\"768\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/public-whois-sample-1024x444.png 1024w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/public-whois-sample-300x130.png 300w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/public-whois-sample-768x333.png 768w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/public-whois-sample-1536x666.png 1536w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/public-whois-sample.png 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1597213943685\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\"><strong>What is WHOIS?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>WHOIS (pronounced as \u201cwho is\u201d) is a query protocol used to check information about the ownership of a domain name.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>If you\u2019re a real registered business, make this information public. No serious business has private WHOIS information but before you do this make sure the address is real and not your home address (it should be the address where your company is officially incorporated).\u00a0<br\/><br\/>It\u2019s understandable that some people choose to hide their ownership of a domain so that nobody tries to reach out to them or knows who\u2019s behind a website but as Google is starting to recognize sites that it considers unreliable, it may be worth avoiding this.<br\/><br\/>In isolation, this sounds like a minor change that has no impact on your site overall, but when you take into account the wide range of changes \u2013\u00a0having a real address, essential pages (about, contact, privacy policy), the list goes on. And while none of these signals or the lack thereof will independently negatively affect your sites, it is just one of many steps you can take in the right direction.\u00a0<br\/><br\/><strong>What website are you more likely to trust?\u00a0<\/strong><br\/><br\/>A website with no contact information, no essential pages, and no information about who runs the website.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>A professional website that clearly describes who runs the website\/business as well as information about how to get in touch with them &amp; where they\u2019re located.\u00a0<br\/><br\/><strong>Note: <\/strong>Most websites actually now do redact their information from WHOIS public records because Cloudflare does so automatically (even for my own website). That being said, it is understandable why this has been reported to be considered a trust signal\u2026\u00a0<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-domain-age-does-it-even-matter\"><strong>Domain Age \u2013&nbsp;Does It Even Matter?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Is domain age even a real factor? Well, consider this.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A brand new website with no content &amp; no links starting on a blank slate is less likely to rank than a website that has been around for over 5 years. Naturally, the older the domain, it will typically have better content, generate inbound links, and have an advantage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not to suggest that newer sites have no chance of succeeding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, in the unlikely event that everything would be equal \u2013&nbsp;number if inbound links and content quality \u2013&nbsp;the general consensus is that the older domain name will still find it easier to rank. Google\u2019s objective is to serve the most relevant results and it\u2019s therefore logical to assume that they\u2019re making the assumption that a brand new website is less reliable than a website that\u2019s been around for a year. Although it is old, this brief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-pnpg00FWJY&amp;feature=youtu.be\">3-minute video from Matt Cutts<\/a> on the topic of domain age is worth watching\u2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How does Google determine domain age, and is it important for ranking?\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-pnpg00FWJY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It is however worth noting that Google\u2019s Seniors Webmaster Trend Analyst, John Mueller, more recently suggested that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seroundtable.com\/google-domain-age-23697.html\">this isn\u2019t relevant<\/a>. All in all, I\u2019d still argue that indirectly purely by correlation matters because you\u2019re more likely to rank for a keyword in your industry with a website\/domain that\u2019s been around for a while and created content on similar topics before than with a brand new domain name \u2013&nbsp;but obviously, there\u2019s more to the reason why this is the case than solely domain age on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-domain-renewal-length-debunked\"><strong>Domain Renewal Length (Debunked)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/domain-renewal-period-length-1024x738.png\" alt=\"Renewal Period Length for a Domain\" class=\"wp-image-1205\" width=\"512\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/domain-renewal-period-length-1024x738.png 1024w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/domain-renewal-period-length-300x216.png 300w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/domain-renewal-period-length-768x553.png 768w, https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/domain-renewal-period-length.png 1503w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation on the other hand when it comes to domain renewal length is extremely clear-cut. There have been a few people in the SEO industry who arbitrarily stated suggesting that the length of your domain registration has an effect.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google themselves have actually directly responded to these claims saying that this isn\u2019t based on anything they have said and users shouldn\u2019t care about how many years their domains are registered for. It\u2019s very standard for domains to renew yearly\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The initial logic behind these claims was also based on the ideas of why trust pages matter. Most fake, unreliable websites would register their sites for shorter periods purely to pay less. This thought process was however fundamentally flawed because most websites you visit on a daily basis renew their domains on a yearly basis. Beyond that, it actually tends to be more expensive because domain registrars offer special deals to people who register for longer terms \u2013 which would suggest that if at all a factor, the opposite would be true.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-link-to-reliable-external-resources\"><strong>Link To Reliable External Resources<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Linking out to authoritative domains has on the other hand been proven to be a major trust signal. Look at any website that ranks and you\u2019ll notice that they link out to support their statistics, be transparent about where they get their data and give people credit for contributing to their articles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"pb-block-wrap pb-block-1 promotion-banner\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"title\">Do you want hundreds of easy-to-get backlinks?<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"text\"><p>The Link Chest is a collection of high-quality, easy-to-win backlink opportunities. It\u2019s the smart way to kickstart your SEO mission and improve the rank of your website in Google.<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t\t        <a class=\"btn-big\" href=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/link-chest\" target=\"_blank\">Reveal The Link Chest<\/a>\r\n    \t      <div class=\"pb-person-block\">\r\n    \t            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/seobuddy\/images\/post-blocks\/1.png\" \/>\r\n        \t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"text\">\r\n                <div class=\"text-title\">Jerome Berman | Link Chest customer<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t                    <div class=\"text-inner\"><p>\u201cThis is such a simple idea but very well executed. I\u2019ve been powering through this giant list of backlinks for a few hours and already have loads pointing to my site. Link Chest is an essential tool for early stage link building.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n                \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"like-amount\">3<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\n\n\n<p>Strategically &amp; more importantly naturally linking out to other resources on the web is a fundamental part of writing great content that\u2019s engaging (and rankable). We\u2019re about to do it in this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s a perfect example, we\u2019re about to link to a relevant resource&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rebootonline.com\/blog\/long-term-outgoing-link-experiment\/\"><strong>This study from RebootOnline<\/strong><\/a><strong> validates the idea and successfully found a correlation between linking out and ranking higher. <\/strong>They even recently reran this experiment in April of 2020 and were able to confirm that the results were the same. External links remain a ranking factor and are good SEO practices, to this day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think about linking out as contributing to the web community. Linking to other sources proves that you know what\u2019s going on in your industry and aren\u2019t afraid to share other resources that other sites are already linking to because they are helpful and worth including in your content rather than isolating yourself from the rest of your niche or industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is however important to remember that the sites you choose to link out to directly reflect on your site\u2019s quality. If you\u2019re linking to websites in a way that Google determines to be unusual, or websites they have determined are low-quality this can actually negatively affect your ability to rank.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When doing this you don\u2019t only need to be cautious of unreliable, low-quality websites. In general, you also wouldn\u2019t want to link to any competing content. If you\u2019re writing a guide about On-Page SEO, linking to another guide about On-Page SEO wouldn\u2019t work in your favor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-internal-linking\"><strong>Internal Linking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While we\u2019re on the topic of links, there are two other factors that come into play here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first is inbound links.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inbound links evidently play a big role \u2013&nbsp;and are actually considered one of the most important ranking factors \u2013&nbsp;so have a look at this guide we put together all about <a href=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/find-backlink-opportunities\/\">finding relevant backlink opportunities<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to this, if you run a site that already has a lot of content, you can and should also use internal linking to your advantage.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"pb-form-block-wrap pb-form-type-1\">\r\n            <div class=\"left\">\r\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/seobuddy\/images\/post-blocks\/2.png\" alt=\"img\" \/>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n    \t<div class=\"right\">\r\n                    <div class=\"title\">There\u2019s more\u2026<\/div>\r\n                            <div class=\"text pb-text-style\"><p>Now it\u2019s time to discover the other 102 steps that will get more organic traffic flowing to your website. <a href=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/seo-checklist?utm_source=SEOBuddyBlog&amp;utm_medium=BlogPost&amp;utm_campaign=block1&amp;utm_content=287\">Get the SEO Checklist here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Want to get a sneak peek of what it looks like?<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Enter your email and <em>get a free demo version of the SEO Checklist.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n                <form class=\"pb-form\" action=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/free-checklist\">\r\n            <input placeholder=\"your-email@exemple.com\" name=\"newsletter_subscribe[email]\" type=\"email\" required>\r\n            <button class=\"btn-big\">Send me the demo version<\/button>\r\n        <\/form>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-conclusion-what-trust-signals-are-you-missing\"><strong>Conclusion \u2013&nbsp;What Trust Signals Are You Missing?&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you know what you can do to earn Google\u2019s trust \u2013&nbsp;the simple things to ensure your site is on the right track \u2013 it\u2019s your turn. Leave a comment below and let us know what trust signals were your site missing? Or were you already all set?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let us know by leaving a comment below! &#x1f4ac;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TrustRank Introduction Especially since Google\u2019s introduction of E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trust), trust continues to become an increasingly important&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[427,425],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.5 (Yoast SEO v22.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Google Trust Signals \u2013 What they are &amp; how to use them &#8226; SEO Buddy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The use of trust signals is an increasingly important ranking factor. In this article, we cover what they are and how to effectively use them on your website\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seobuddy.com\/blog\/google-trust-signals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google Trust Signals \u2013 What they are &amp; How to use them\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The use of trust signals is an increasingly important ranking factor. 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