Lately it seems like Google has been rolling updates to its algorithm out every Wednesday, or roughly once a week. We’ve noticed that a lot of these updates are focused on two areas, technical SEO and page metrics like trust flow.
I don’t think anyone would argue with that fact that ensuring a website can be easily indexed by Google and Bing has always been a big factor in rankings. As Google increases its update frequency and quest for showing the best search results it is even harder for companies to stay up to date with mobile speed requirements and security measures. In the same manner trust flow (or quality content, links and citations) has also always been a very large factor in ranking. But the emphasis seems to be shifting, where Google values trending links even more with each algorithm update. So if you are not focused on getting link partners yet, make it a higher priority in your digital marketing task list. Here are some key points to improving Trust scores.
Find the best keywords and focus on them.
Focus your information on better keywords that uniquely describe your page content, and don’t try to keyword stuff or otherwise spam a page. To do this best, search for the keyword and note the content that the best pages in search offer. If you can offer better, more up to date, or more relevant content, you have a chance at ranking for that keyword. This will also increase your authority score in the rankings on that topic or keyword phrase. As an example, a Wikipedia page may rank above other pages due to the extensive content and links to the page. However if you can add more photographs or deeper content than the wiki page, you can rank above it because your trust flow will increase. Here is an example where IMDb ranks above Wikipedia for “Beauty and the Beast” because of its niche information with better trust flow:
Work daily on making partners that will drive traffic to your pages.
When you work to create fresh, highly informative content focused on keywords you want people to use to find your site, you have also invested in content that can generate natural backlinks. In turn, this naturally improves your trust scores. Of course, the organic SEO process doesn’t happen overnight, and you have to stick to the strategy to increase your trust score, improving landing pages in an ongoing process. Improving your content in this way also helps to make you an authority and positively reinforces your brand.
In order to get links to your new keyword inspired landing pages, you will have to ask. We use tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and MagesticSEO to find the pages that currently link to the content you want to out-rank. You just enter the competitor’s page that ranks above you, discover where that page is getting trustworthy links, and ask them to link to your new content. As your trust scores increase, you can feel comfortable asking for links from sites with better stats.
Guest posting is another way to get quality backlinks. We’ve experimented with several versions of ways to get published in other people’s blogs. It’s trial and error, and every website has it’s own standards for quality content. Hardly any web master today is unaware of the value of a link or citation from their website, so you really have to have a super idea to put in front of blog editors in order to get a guest post. We don’t advise paying for guest posts, so brainstorming a sound strategy is well worth the time it takes, and you can replicate a successful strategy again and again.
Always keep track (via rankings and tools that measure trust score) how your landing pages are progressing. We use the Firefox and Chrome extensions to check trust scores. If you are working to improve your scores, there is nothing to fear in the ever-increasing frequency of Google algorithm updates because Trust scores seem to be the dominant driver of search rankings. Sites that focus on getting quality links and improving their content with well researched, substantiated and illustrated content will move the ranking needle in a positive direction for their desired keyword phrases.