Trust is a factor in Google's ranking algorithm. Reputable websites that can be trusted get better rankings than websites of dubious origin. Google does not want to show low quality websites in the search results.
For that reason, it is important that you can convince Google that your business is for real and that your website can be trusted.
1. You need a trustworthy domain name
- Old domains with a spam free history usually get better rankings than brand new domains. If you can buy such a domain name, your business might benefit from it if the domain was used for similar businesses before
- Do not use exotic top level domains. If you are in the USA, use .com, .net or .org. If you're in another country, use the official top level domain of your country.
- Order your domain with a renewal period of 2 or more years to show search engines that the domain is not a throwaway domain.
- Do not use more than one hyphen in your domain (better avoid them at all). Domains with hyphens often look spammy, especially if they contain many keywords.
- Of course, it is possible to get high rankings with a brand new exotic domain, but it is more difficult.
2. You need a trustworthy website
- A trustworthy website has easy to find contact information. Dubious websites do not have any contact info at all or they hide it. Make your contact information easy to find. List your full address on your website.
- The more information about your company can be found on your website, the more likely it is that it will be considered a real business.
- Your website should have a privacy policy and terms and conditions (if applicable). Both should be easy to find.
3. You need trustworthy links
- Even if you have a new domain, Google will trust your site if it has many links from other reputable websites.
- Low quality links will damage your rankings, links from high quality sites will have a positive influence on the Google rankings of your site.
- Links from reputable websites are by far the best way to show search engines that your website can be trusted.
If Google trusts your website then it will be much easier to get high rankings. Of course, your website still needs optimized web page content and good links.
