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Is your Site Trustworthiness affecting your Search Engine ranking?
This is the fourth in a series of articles on getting your website found and SEO Strategy. Make sure you check out the other articles in the series:
- We Need to Talk About an SEO Strategy. It’s A Necessary Evil
- Keywords: A Glimpse into Determining What Your Audience Wants and Needs
- Boost Site Authority So Google And Your Visitors Take You Seriously
- Is Your Site Trustworthiness Affecting Your Search Engine Ranking?
- Can the Small Guy Win? Relevancy Matters!
- Let’s Talk About User Behavior and How It Impacts Search Rankings
- Putting it all Together: Developing a Strong SEO Strategy
If you performed an audit of other websites, you’d probably notice that not every page with on-page SEO done well, ranks well. They may have done everything ‘right’ like choosing their keywords and optimizing their content. But, for some reason, they are way down in the search results while other sites rank with the bare mention.
Why IS this?
One of the main reasons a site might not be ranking well is the site trustworthiness. There are many ways to demonstrate to the search engines, and just as importantly, your readers that your website can be trusted. People do business with companies that they know, like, and trust. Let’s help them trust you right away!
Install an SSL certificate
According to GoDaddy, “an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts information sent to the server using SSL technology.”
You want to make sure you provide your site visitors with the more secure https protocol. When data is entered on your site only the person entering the data and the website can see or access what is typed. Talk to your hosting provider about getting an SSL certificate installed and what you need to do to make sure your entire site is converted to https. Most hosts charge for the certificate, but some will offer it as part of their standard package. For example, the host we use (Bluehost) provides free SSL certificates for all assigned and parked domains.
Improve your Site Speed, Accessibility, and Responsiveness
Have you ever visited a website and had it take forever to load? How long do you wait before moving on to another site? Optimize your site by improving the load time and make sure it is mobile accessible and responsive. These technical details are increasingly important when it comes to ranking well. Choosing the right WordPress theme will go a long way towards helping you accomplish this. Check out this Masterclass from Elementor on increasing your site speed.
Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and FAQ
Add terms of service, privacy policy and FAQ pages to your website. Having these pages on your site increases your site credibility to search engines. I also suggest having these in your footer so they are visible on each page. It will also show your visitors and potential customers that you know what you’re doing and take your business seriously.
Connect Socially
Social connections are another important part of trustworthiness. Humans are social beings who look to others for ideas on who we can trust and who we should keep clear of. Create social media profiles and connect them with your site. Build your social audience and share your content regularly. As people interact with your posts by liking, commenting, and sharing, your credibility will start to increase.
Site Links
Last but definitely not least, work on credible content and work to get links to your site from credible sources. It may be tempting to buy traffic and links, but that would probably do little good and may actually hurt you in the long run. Instead, build your reach and those links organically and over time. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
You need your potential customers to believe you are honest and worthy of their business. Your website can go a long way in that regard. Use these tips to cultivate site trustworthiness.
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