How Much Does Google Trust Your Website?
One of the best sources of web traffic is Google. Google dominates all other search engines, with a 2017 study showing that it accounts for 77% of all web searches.
For this reason, your goal should be to rank your website on Google for keywords that are relevant to your business. There is a lot that goes into this process, all of which helps Google determine what websites are legitimate, and what websites are just plain spam-y.
See, in order for your website to rank well on Google, it needs to be trusted by Google. So, how much does Google trust your website? Let’s check it out.
What is Google Trust Based On?
Google trust is based on a number of different factors. By neglecting even one of these factors, you stand to rank below other websites which have their SEO down pat. These factors are as follows:
Info Pages
While they aren’t necessarily the most exciting pages on your website, your info pages are absolutely vital to Google trusting and ranking your website.
Info pages include everything from the “About” page, to the “Privacy Policy” page, to the “Terms of Service” page. To show that your website is on the up and up, it will need all of these pages.
You should also be very careful when making your “Contact” page.
Make sure that contact info such as your phone number, email address, and address are accurate, matching up exactly to your contact information on other web pages. This way, Google will know for sure that said contact info represents your website.
Linking
The factor which typically pushes websites over the edge and to the top of Google rankings is linking. Linking involves placing links into your blog post text so that you’re essentially connecting pages to other pages.
It’s important to link to pages which are both on your own website and on other people’s websites. Doing this spreads “link juice,” an intangible entity which tells Google that your website is credible.
But you don’t just want to send links out to other pages. You also want others to send links to your pages.
Getting others to link to your pages is not always an easy task, but it can be done with a bit of work. If you can’t figure out how to do it on your own, you can also try a professional link building agency as well.
Regular Updates
Something that is absolutely necessary when trying to build Google trust is regularly updating your website. This isn’t to say that you need to completely redesign it on the regular. What it means is that you need to regularly add new posts to your website’s blog.
Typically, the more you post to your website’s blog, the more Google is going to see your website as legitimate. At the very least, your blog should have a new post every 2 weeks. However, posting 2 or 3 times a week is optimal.
In addition to written content, you might also consider putting video on your website. But if you do, make sure that it’s accompanied with relevant metadata.
Unique Content
Not only do you need to update your website’s content on a regular basis, but you also need to update it with content that is unique.
This doesn’t mean that you need to write about ideas that no one’s ever heard of before. It just means that your content needs to be written in a way so that it’s not plagiarizing anyone else’s content.
When you create original, unique content, Google sees you as an authority on your given subject.
User Comments
Another way to prove to Google that your website is legitimate and worth its salt is by having user comments on your blog posts. User blog posts not only show that your website is relevant enough to get a discussion going, but that it’s authentic enough to get engaged visitors at all.
If you’re struggling to get comments on your blog posts, you can get a start by commenting on other people’s posts.
When commenting, make sure that your profile name links back to your website. Doing this will enable others to go to your website and engage with it.
You can also lead online users to your comment sections via social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Social Media Activity
Your website alone is not the only way to gain Google Trust. You can also gain trust with Google by maintaining social media pages.
If your website is for a business, your business should also appear on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus, at the very least.
But you can’t just sign up and leave the account be. You have to make posts, converse with people who comment, and use the social media accounts actively.
By running a variety of social media accounts, you will prove to Google that your company is a living, breathing entity which is worthy of its trust. This will help your posts to rank better for relevant keywords.
Guest Posts
One last thing you might want to try in order to gain trust with Google is guest posting. Guest posting is an activity which essentially entails your website writing a blog post on another website’s blog.
This process helps your website gain credit with Google because it shows Google that your website is engaging in the social digital marketplace. To Google, this means not only that your website is legit, but that it’s one of the heavy-hitters in its particular subject.
It’s usually not too difficult to guest post on other’s websites. In fact, many websites have a guest post link which tells you exactly how the process works.
Looking to Build Google Trust?
Are you trying to establish more Google Trust so that your website ranks higher in the search engine?
If so, we here at TextLinks.com can help you.
Our site is loaded with useful information on everything from link building to mobile optimization, and more. We hope to help you put your website at the top of all relevant Google searches.
Have any questions? Contact us!