TrustRank and factors responsible for increasing TrustRank

Yahoo has introduced TrustRank phenomenon. It is a link analysis technique done manually by the experts that separates the useful web pages from the spam pages.

Like you trust web sites to choose products you buy and services you avail, similarly search engines decide which web site pages to include in their index.

Following are some of the important factors which search engines consider to gain and increase the TrustRank of web sites pages:

• SSL Certificate
• Hackers Safe Services and Logo
• Long time registered domain name (10 years)
• Street mailing address and contact info
• Privacy Policy
• Inbound links from major membership sites and authority sites.

Source: Elliance, an eMarketing firm

Trust building elements for your web site.

. Your website design should be professional and relevant to your business.

. All the pages of the site should be accessible easily i.e. web site should have easy navigation.

. Add your own content on all the pages, don't copy. The content should be grammatically correct.

. Regularly update your web site so as to get repeat visitors.

. There shouldn't be any broken links on the web site,

. Add real testimonials to your web site. This helps attracting new customers.

. Publish case studies about customers you have helped, who use your product, etc.

. Don’t criticize your competitors. If at all its necessary, do a healthy comparison about features and products.

. You focus should always be on building long-terms relation with your customers.

. There should be Make a ‘About Us’ page on your web site which should contains detail about the mission, goal, Philosophy etc. If possible, add photos of the management committee members and a little bio.

. On the ‘Contact’ page, provide corporate email address (not personal), phone number, fax and address of the company.

. Publish your privacy policy & security policy. Add clearly about what you will and will not do with any personal data.

State what measures you take to ensure that all transactions are secure. Add prominent links to Privacy and Security policy on all the pages.

. Clearly publish guarantee policy. E.g. 100% money-back guarantee. Clearly add refund and returns policy.

. If you use PayPal, put the PayPal logo on your site. If you have a merchant account with a major banks like Citibank , put its logo on your site.

. If you have well-known industry associations, join up and put their logos on your site. Like IBM etc.

. Put images of the credit cards you accept on every page of the order process.

. Use the words ‘secure website’ whenever you try to get any information from visitors, including newsletter sign-ups, forum input and payment.

. Use a high level of security when processing credit cards. Make sure you make your clients aware of all the steps you are taking.

. If you have pricing on your website, make it transparent.

.Let people know which SSL certificate you are using on your web site, to encrypt their personal information and keep it up to date.