Google TrustRank
What is Google TrustRank (TR)?
Recently there has been discussion whether Google has developed some kind of TrustRank which is used to determine search engine positions. If this does indeed exist, then it shows that Google is determined to only give high search engine positions to websites that it deems to be trustworthy, i.e. do not partake in any blackhat/spam techniques.
Although there is no official confirmation from Google that this actually exists, they did just register the Trade Mark for "TrustRank", and perhaps the introduction of the Sandbox is just an extension of the TrustRank implementation.
What Could Affect My Website TrustRank?
Domain Age – New websites currently get filtered (the Sandbox), so it seems feasible that the older a website gets, the more trust is placed in it.
Length of Domain Registration - By registering a domain for a longer period may show you have a long-term vision for the website.
Regular Updates - By adding content to your site regularly you show that the site is being continually updated and cared for.
Backlinks - The whole concept of the World Wide Web is that websites interlink with each other, but my thought is that there are 3 different groups of backlinks: -
Good Links: Good links are one-way links from websites that are in a similar theme to your own website.
Not-So-Good Links: Not so good links might include reciprocal links, backlinks from off-topic websites, or links from directories.
Bad Links: Bad links are from websites that operate Blackhat optimization techniques, or from websites that are banned.
Unique IP - Having a unique IP address might show you care enough for your website to have purchased a unique IP address, and you also ensure your IP is not shared with any bad neighbors.
Sitemaps - Including a sitemap helps G spider your site. It also helps visitors find what they are looking for. I think it also builds trust since you are considerate enough to help the viewer find what they are looking for. This isn’t about the ability to easily crawl, rather just offering the option to visitors shows you have their interests at heart. Note: Again, no proof, just an idea.
Reliable Uptime – Sites that have poor up-time lose trust.
Targeting KWs based on Traffic over Relevance – Every website is unique, and perhaps if you target the market that applies most to your website, rather than the one that will bring most traffic will increase your traffic ranking.
Spam - Using any kind of Blackhat technique could lose you trust, such as doorway pages, cloaking, duplicate content, pointing multiple domains to the same site, hidden text, KW stuffing, comment spamming, pop-ups, and hidden links.
Going Off-Topic – Adding content to your website that is not related to your site theme might be seen as a way of spamming and hurt your TrustRanking.
Bad Topics - Producing a website that is commonly associated with spam/blackhat might reduce your TrustRank. Site such as gambling or alcohol, gambling, anything illegal, hate speech, pornography, or anything that may get filtered by Google SafeSearch.
Too Many Terms in the Domain Name or URL – For example: www.these-are-all-of-my-keywords.com or www.domain.com/these-are-all-my-keywords.html. This hits more with KW stuffed URLs.
Creating a Google Sitemap – People who create a Google sitemap are usually doing it for the purpose of search engine optimization. So can just creating one hurt your TrustRanking?
Meta – Can spamming the meta tags of a webpage damage your TrustRank?
Templates – Can Google recognize duplicate page layouts like they do with duplicate content?
Googlebar Tracking – By using the Google toolbar it is possible to track how popular a website is by counting the number of hits it gets, not necessarily just from the search engines.
SERP Tracking - Click-through rates, or monitoring if visitors back out too soon. If they do then the site gets devalued.