le updates its Misrepresentation Policy with information about building trust.

Google’s Misrepresentation Policy has been updated with information about how marketers can build their trust.

This document outlines the steps that brands can take to ensure their products and services are eligible for Search.

Why do we care? The new policy includes specific criteria for brands. This level of detail is also useful for those who are struggling with a misrepresentation warning or suspension.

Building Trust. Google’s updated policy explains that you must address four key issues to build trust. Google has provided brands with specific instructions for each of the four issues.

• 
  Business Identity
  
  • Make sure that you provide the official name of your business and that it is consistent between the domain name and the business name.
  • A page titled ‘About Us” should be included on a brand website. This will establish authenticity and help customers understand the unique journey of a particular brand.
  • Customers can easily follow the social media accounts of the brand by linking to them from the website.
• 
  Transparency
  
  • Include all relevant information on shipping, returns, and privacy policies in the website’s content and messaging.
  • Be honest and transparent about the business model of the brand and the way the company operates.
• 
  Online reputation
  
  • Show honest reviews and testimonials of a brand’s products and services in order to help your customers better understand them.
  • Display any badges, seals of approval or official certifications from third-party sources.
  • Display clearly how to contact customers.
  • Tell customers if your brand has a blog.
  • Be sure to let customers know when the brand is mentioned in an article by a third party.
• 
  Professional design
  
  • Verify that the website of the brand has an SSL Certificate to assure customers that their sensitive information is securely stored.
  • Websites should be easy-to-navigate and not contain unnecessary redirects, or redirects that lead to broken links.
  • Avoid using placeholders as much as possible, since this will give Google and your customers the impression that you are still building the site and it is not ready to be indexed.

Google. Google has explained that brands can help Google understand their business more quickly and accurately by taking several steps:

• Create and verify your Google Business Profile.
• Share the most recent information under Business Information Settings in the Merchant Center.
• Link third-party platforms relevant to Merchant Center.
• Google’s guidelines for SEO will help you provide a great customer experience.
• To improve your seller rating, opt into Google Customer Review and other third party review services.
• Make sure your customers see the same product information on both platforms by matching the data from the product feed to the website.

What has Google said about this? Google made the following statement via its Merchant Center.

• We want Google to be an environment that is safe and trusted for our customers as well as retailers.
• Customers should be confident in the products and services they purchase.
• It can sometimes take time to establish a level of trust before we feel comfortable displaying your offers.
• This is a continuous process. Since we know customers will research your products and services, we may look at multiple signals across the internet.
• The more we learn about your company, the better we can represent you.

Google’s Guide to Building Trust with Your Customers for more information about its Misrepresentation Policy.

The article Google updates its misrepresentation policy and provides key information to build trust first appeared on Search Engine land.