In recent research on web sites that ranked on the first page of Google an interesting common thread appeared. I want to premise this with the information that this was a small view in a local area of a few competitive industries, those being Dentists and other related searches.
We looked at results from both organic and local pack results.
The MOZ trust factor was as consistent as a ranking factor as any other. Out performing Page Rank and Domain Rank. hmmm.
Here is the definition of MOZ trust from www.moz.com
“We determine MozTrust by calculating link “distance” between a given page and a seeded trust source on the Internet. Think of this like six degrees of separation: The closer you are linked to a trusted website, the more trust you have, yourself.
We score MozTrust on a logarithmic scale between 0 and 10. Thus, it’s much easier to improve from a MozTrust of 3 to 4 than it is to improve from 8 to 9.
How can MozTrust be improved?
MozTrust can be improved by getting links from other sites with high MozTrust such as government institutions and universities.
For those of us who work in the SEO field, we know getting links (earning links) from government sites and universities can be very challenging. So the question becomes, where can a business earn links that are high trust sites, or very close to a high trust site.
It should be noted that the MOZ trust ranking will change depending on what page you are listed on in a site. So you may want to take the time to see how you can have your site mentioned on a page as close as possible to the home page.
Here are some Local type sites that can add trust ranking (and traffic) to your site.
- Chamber of Commerce sites. I’ve seen several high ranked sites that have primarily chamber links (6-8).
- Your Better Business Bureau. On some, even the individual business pages have strong trust factors.
- Your local Newspapers and T.V. channels
Those are great sites to start with. And they make sense for reasons far beyond SEO.
More to follow as we look further into MOZ trust and its value and implementation on a site.
Mike
Interesting. Actually hadn’t thought too much about Trust as a linking factor but it makes sense. I know that I do spend time linking to good local directories but hadn’t considered some of your suggestions such as the local chamber of commerce. The question is how much do they cost? My Chamber of Commerce in North London costs hundreds of pounds to join. So makes it an expensive link unless you know of a free listing area?
Thanks for your comment Martina, and yes, the type links I spoke about can cost money, and perhaps thats one of the reasons they provide better trust factors. But, they are only a few examples. I would invest some time in researching sites that are related to your business, and checking their MOZ trust factors. You may find a few opportunities.
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