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Good morning, Marketers, is your website credible?
So much of what we do in search marketing revolves around getting clicks – by writing that perfect title tag or irresistible ad CTA. But what happens next is often even more important to the success of your search marketing. After they click, visitors must decide whether they trust you. A website that lacks credibility also tends to lack conversions.
If this sounds like Google’s concept of E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), you’re not entirely wrong. But did you know there’s a set of 10 guidelines that actually predates E-A-T? It’s Stanford’s Guidelines for Web Credibility. Yes, the same university that produced Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Sadly, I was exactly today years old when I learned of these guidelines on social media from Bill Slawski, director of SEO research at Go Fish Digital. Here they are:
- Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.
- Show that there’s a real organization behind your site.
- Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
- Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
- Make it easy to contact you.
- Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
- Make your site easy to use – and useful.
- Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).
- Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).
- Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.
Is any of this rocket science? No. Is it easy to do? Also, no. But that’s why we have jobs. So, go. Do your job!
Danny Goodwin,
Senior Editor
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