Domain Trust

The domain trust of a website reflects its reliability and integrity.

There isn't a universally accepted method to calculate this metric. Google and SEO software providers use various metrics to evaluate domain trust, considering the quality of links and content as crucial factors. A high domain trust can benefit a website's ranking in search results.

What is domain trust?

Domain trust plays a vital role in assessing the reliability of websites. Although the quality of content and links are key elements in determining domain trust, no standard calculation method exists.

Domain trust background

Internet users seek trustworthy websites that provide value. For Google and other search engines, offering a superior user experience depends on featuring high-quality sites in the search engine results page (SERP). Search engines primarily earn revenue through search engine advertising. The quality of organic results can directly influence the advertising environment. Poor organic results can affect the perceived quality of ads. Conversely, low-quality paid search results could harm the brand image of Google and others. Domain trust helps search engines present better-quality websites in search results.

PageRank by Google as a unit for domain trust

Sergey Brin, a Google co-founder, developed a model for domain trust early in the internet's evolution, patenting 'PageRank' in 1997. Google continues to use PageRank, though the algorithms have evolved over time. Until 2016, Google provided PageRank data to webmasters and users on a 0 to 10 scale. This data is no longer publicly available.

What contributes to determining website domain trust?

Several factors contribute to assessing a domain's trustworthiness, including:

• Domain age: An older domain is often perceived as more reliable due to its history, which can reveal patterns in user behavior, traffic, or linking.
• Quality of incoming links: Unlike earlier practices where more links meant better ranking, domain trust emphasizes the quality of links. High-quality site links, anchor texts, and the context matter. Links from spam environments lower domain trust.
• Quality of content: High-quality content is free from errors, well-structured, and original. Using unique, legally obtained images also contributes positively.
• Seriousness of the website's topic: Websites in sectors like gambling or adult content may struggle with domain trust due to their association with spam or unethical SEO techniques.
• Objective user ratings: User reviews can enhance domain trust, particularly affecting local search results and directories like Google My Business.
• Balanced advertising: Excessive advertising visible on a webpage can decrease its trustworthiness, as highlighted by Google's 2012 page layout evaluation update.
• Absence of spam: Spam practices, such as unnatural link growth or excessive keyword usage, negatively impact domain trust.
• Verifiable information on the website operator: Transparency in registration details and avoiding questionable hosting environments are crucial for maintaining trust.
• User behavior: High bounce rates or short visit durations indicate lower content quality and can reduce domain trust.
• Outgoing links: Websites with excessive outgoing links might be viewed as link farms, especially without the use of nofollow attributes.
• Seriousness of the web host: The hosting environment can influence domain trust; hosting in 'bad neighborhoods' can lead to devaluation.

How can I influence domain trust?

Webmasters aiming to enhance domain trust should focus on quality content and technology while maintaining their sites. Regularly checking for errors and following webmaster guidelines is important.

It's also crucial to review your link profile for suspicious links, using Google's Disavow tool to mitigate harmful links.

Registering your site with the Google Search Console is advisable. This free tool offers critical optimization data and alerts for unnatural links, hacks, or other issues.