Want higher rankings? You Need Google's Trust

I was reading through some articles and I came across some interesting, but not surprising news. Google still remains the most visited and used website and search engine. According to Hitwise as of 5/16/2009, Google ranks #1 for website visits in a week in all categories, #1 search engine in volume of searches in all categories in a 4 week time span and #1 in websites for the industry "Computers and Internet - Search Engines in a week. It was also the top website in the top 20 Travel Websites in a week. No wonder anyone trying to compete for website visibility and rankings thinks Google first and all of the rest are secondary.

With this type of information it is essential that your site is deemed trustworthy and relevant by Google. The real question is, how can I accomplish trust with Google? Obviously there isn't an easy answer to any question regarding Google's algorithm but here are a few tips that should help to establish some trust between your site and Google.

1. The age of your domain name is important to Google. If your building a brand new site for your business try and purchase an old domain if a suitable name is available. If you have to buy a new domain, buy it with a renewal period of two years or more. This will show Google that you plan to be around. Make sure your contact information is correct on your WHOIS records and use either .com, .org or .net as your top level domain. Finally, do not overuse hyphens in your domain to separate keywords. This might look like spam to the search engines.
2. Make sure your contact information can be easily found on your website. The more information that can be found about your business, the more likely it will be seen as a real business. You should also have a privacy policy as part of your website content. Most people do not read this but it lets them and Google know that you will not use any of the information that visitors to your site give you in any way that would abuse their privacy.
3. By now most people understand the importance of link building. While this is one of the most important techniques, it is equally important to build quality links in an ethical manner. You should never participate in automated linking schemes. If you were to create 2000 inbound links in a short time span, such as on a single day, then Google may think you are trying to manipulate their algorithm with a link system. There is a great example of an attorney's website here in Arizona being penalized by Google for unethical link building. You can read more about this on my colleague Alex Morris' blog.

As long as Google continues to be the juggernaut it is today, it is important to adhere to their guidelines. The bottom line is if you do things the right way and build trust with Google you will have a much better chance of getting high rankings.