t is the key to SEO success //

Although trust is not a new concept in marketing, it is often overlooked by most SEO strategies.

This article will explain the importance of trust in SEO efforts, and how you can incorporate trust-building into your SEO strategy.

It is a missed opportunity in SEO to overlook the importance of trust

Andrew Holland , a fellow contributor to Search Engine Land, expressed disappointment at his poor user experience with an UK-based retail company. They “didn’t show up” when they were needed as customers, which blemished their trust in the brand.

Instead of venting, as I would have, he used the opportunity to educate. He stressed the importance of trust in SEO and the impact it has on the rest of his life.

If people don’t trust your website and you, they won’t buy from you again or recommend your products and/or services to others.

Holland mentioned Holland’s favorite retail website for years. He might give it another chance.

For most websites, however, losing the trust of a user once is enough to lose them as customers forever.

Google on trust:

The original Google PageRank algorithm measures trust in some way. Trust is also included into Google algorithms with a greater focus on user experience (UX), and site security.

Google also considers trust a key component of how it assesses quality content for search.

Google has repeatedly reiterated the value of E-A–T on “Your life or your money” (YMYL). Topics like safety, health, and financial advice.

Google’s updated quality rater guidelines for search released the EE-A–T concept in December. It emphasizes that trust is at the heart of search and is the “most significant member of the EE-A–T family.”

We can assume trust has a huge impact on SEO because E–A-T signals are one of the key elements that Google ranking systems determine.

SEO tips to make a website trustworthy

Your brand will benefit from a more trusted site for searchers and engines.

Here are some tips to increase trust on your website that can often impact Google rankings.

1. Name, brand, and URL

For your website URL, use a brand name (e.g. brand.com). Select a trusted URL structure which is simple, conventional, and short.

Consider the following:

• Top level domain (TLD),: Choose “.com” as your most trusted TLD. (A recent Yandex code leaked supports this).
• Branding: Steer away from exact match domains with many hyphens (e.g., best-seo-company-usa.biz).

Your website URL should be easily readable. This…

• example.com/seo/creating-trust

…with this…

• best-seo-company-usa.biz/seo-blog/creating-trust-a-core-role-of-seo

2. UX that works and is clean

Holland’s misguided infinite scroll and his inability catch the footer link are two examples of irritating UX.

Consider the elements that influence trust on-page. What can you do to make a positive impression right from the beginning?

Simple navigation

Mega-menus, interactive menus that show multiple items by mouseover and hidden “hamburger menus”, are not very helpful. Simple site navigation is the best.

Clean site structure

Clear information architecture is achieved when there is a simple and clean menu structure.

However, site confusion can quickly occur due to feature creep and the constant additions of new features.

If in doubt, use breadcrumb navigation for visitors to see where they are at any particular moment.

White Space

Are your widgets, related stories, and ads overwhelming the site?

Users who have just landed on your site might feel overwhelmed. They will not hesitate to leave.

Your website will be readable by adding white space (negative spaces)

Work links

You can use a broken link plugin to automatically check if your links are working correctly on WordPress. External links may not break, but redirect to parking or rogue websites.

To check if their links are still working, static sites should use Screaming Frog’s website crawler occasionally.

3. Content

Holland was looking for helpful content in order to make the best purchase decisions as in the previous example.

Your website will be more trusted by users if they know that you offer valuable content.

Giving away something first (the content).

Reciprocity is one the most important rules in human relations. When they receive something from another party, people will be willing to help.

You are making a positive impression by providing helpful content. They may spread the word or even make a purchase.

Expertise

A website that doesn’t claim to be the best SEO expert in the world won’t convince. Showing, not telling, is the best way to establish trust.

Do you have something to say that will prove your knowledge on a particular subject? Do it.

People often keep their trade secrets secretive and lose customers.

Advice

Giving advice is one of the best ways you can help. Many potential customers will not trust you if your insight isn’t shared.

Back in the days of brick-and mortar stores, there were actual clerks who could offer advice. Web content replaces this type of service.

4. Advertisement

How can ads harm trust? As the latest Yandex code leak demonstrates, having ads on your website is one of the worst ranking factors.

Yandex is not the only one. Google’s page layout algorithm has identified ads-heavy websites since January 2012. They went after sites that were above the fold (with the “top-heavy” algorithm) in 2014.

Moderation

Visitors are turned off by too many ads, particularly animated or blinking ones. You should display ads on your website in moderation. If your site is overloaded by ads, you aren’t trustworthy.

Google algorithmically takes this into consideration. Marketers often recommend overlays and interstitials that obscure the content. These can increase your conversion rate by 2%, but they also annoy 98%.

How many people will they trust you enough to recommend you or come back?

Above and beyond

The page layout algorithm is used to identify websites where it is difficult to find the actual content beneath or behind the many ads that appear similar to the content.

Avoid placing ads above the fold and make sure to clearly distinguish paid content from ads. It is not trusted to trick people into clicking on ads.

Transparency

Label your ads when you display them. Advertisements must clearly state whether they are sponsored or ads.

Depending on the topic, you can use “ad”, “sponsored” and “advertorial” to do this. The FTC in the United States requires disclosures like this. Google has this requirement, and users want to be able to find out.

Although you may receive fewer clicks, you will get more returning visitors who will be more trustworthy.

Full disclosure Conflicts of interest

Hidden ads can be difficult to spot.

Business people often write content for their employers. This is editorial content, but it’s still an advertisement or advertorial.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to determine because it is just a mention in a post.

If in doubt, disclose any affiliations. It is possible to appear biased, but you are also more trustworthy.

Affiliate links

Affiliates are often just links to Amazon and other partner sites.

Many bloggers have linked to Amazon over the years without disclosing that they receive a commission from the top ecommerce site.

So I stopped reading blogs that promoted books and didn’t tell me how they made money. I trusted those who didn’t.

5. The site is run by real people

It is becoming more important to show that people are behind your business in this era of AI and redundant content.

Trustworthiness is often the deciding factor in whether someone will do business with you.

Some people believe in written words while others trust you to look at you.

About us page

Your About Page should explain to them why they should believe you. Show them who you are.

It doesn’t matter if they look good; it is about whether or not real people are behind your company.

You should also give reasons why they should trust your work. Consider your credentials, industry background, and awards.

Author bio

If you don’t have a single author on your website or blog, you may want to include author bios for each article. The more authentic you are, the better.

They can be used by even single-author blogs. Personally, I don’t like posting images online. An illustration I use on social media is based on a photograph. However, I recently published a Search Engine Land photo.

Real team photos (no stock photography)

Website owners often use stock photos to suggest that the people in the pictures are part of their team.

Professional photographers might be a good investment. This will result in increased sales.

Stock photos have been removed from local search results. Google will likely discount these images in general searches.

Unique, subjective take

Many companies publish a lot of generic press releases that are stuffed with buzzwords. Many departments approved this noisy content before any signal was left.

The truth of human errors and biases may be more reliable than the arbitrary meaninglessness. Google wants to reward first-hand experiences so it is important to share a subjective opinion and not just a random mix that makes everyone happy.

6. Safety and security measures

When deciding whether to trust a site or business, safety and security are often the first thing people consider.

Is the site a little sketchy? They don’t bother to even bother.

Google introduced similar ranking signals long ago and has made them more important over the years.

SSL (encryption).

HTTPS websites are now the standard in ecommerce. Officially, Google uses encryption to rank “minor ranking factors”

Their extensive documentation about the subject makes it more important.

Even informational websites can use SSL encryption or another encryption, especially when submitting sensitive data via contact forms.

Google will give you a modest boost, but your visitors will be happy to see that you have a secure website.

Trust symbols Badges, reviews and testimonials

Many SEO agencies post their badges as “Google Partner” on their websites. Experts know that this badge is useful for building trust with some people but it can also be used to buy ads.

You might also want to include trust symbols and badges such as testimonials from real people and verifiable reviews on your homepage.

The Better Business Bureau is approved in the United States. Although it is not a ranking factor, the QRGs often mention it.

If all of your reviews on-page are enthusiastic and five stars, I will not trust them.

Privacy policy

Yes, privacy policies are not read by most people, even those written in legalese.

However, they must exist. Make sure they are easily accessible and readable on your website.

If your privacy policy is vague and hidden, you already have lost trust.

Your privacy policy must be written for certain types of sites, such as online dating, financial services, and health.

No tracking

After realizing how intrusive trackers and cookies could be, I deleted them all from my website.

Third-party tools were then used to find hidden third-party trackers on Google, Facebook, and other web giants.

Tracking your visitors can be a hassle depending on whereabouts of your business and the services you provide.

Many websites require you to accept multiple trackers and cookies when you visit their site. It is difficult to opt out. It is possible to gain trust by not having trackers on any of your sites.

Action: Optimizing for Search and Displaying Trust

Holland’s suggestion is a good one: I was surprised that advice was the most important way to establish trust. Most of the options I mentioned above are highlighted first.

He also created a chart that showed the effect trust can have on sales

He goes above and beyond the usual meaning of trust in SEO by focusing only on content creation for informational purposes. He concludes:

• I have lost trust in because of the lack of content and ranking. Is it possible that they are losing trust in others?

This is the SEO that I have been practicing for years.

To build trust, I often shared my expertise via blogs and social media. This allowed me to get many opportunities.

Many SEO professionals work for well-known brands and Fortune 500 companies . They do this behind closed doors, after signing NDAs. Then they simply disclose their credentials by mentioning the brand names they have worked for.

We don’t have any way to verify their expertise. How did they do it? What did they do to push the brand forward

This is the type of trust-building Holland refers to in a certain degree. As he shows, trustworthy brands can generate additional revenue by providing advice to potential customers.

SEO professionals must have trust in their clients.

Who is responsible to establish trust on a website’s website?

• To some extent, the design is UX.
• Also, the content group.
• The dev team must implement technologies such as SSL.

The SEO is the best person to coordinate these efforts, particularly looking for potential problems that may have been overlooked.

The infinite scroll was a favorite of the UX team. Although it may generate some income, it comes at the cost of broken websites and frustrated visitors. It’s obvious that it is not worth the effort.

Search Engine Land first published the post Why SEOs Should Focus on Building Trust.