SEO Glossary: Trustlink

Why do trust links contribute to naturalness in link building?

A natural link building can be described with one term: Diversification. The search engine algorithms evaluate as natural those websites that use not only internal links, but also external links. Moreover, the dofollow links should dominate, but at least some nofollow links should be found.

 

Away from the technical terms and now to the actual core topic: How do trustlinks fit into the overall link building?

 

• A trust link is an external link, i.e. it leads from your own website to a specific sub-page of a third-party website.
• The name "Trustlink" already states that it is intended to generate trust. This is achieved by choosing only websites for links that Google and other search engines find trustworthy.
• It can be assumed that all websites that achieve a high ranking in the search engines are classified as trustworthy by Google and Co.

 

The integration of trust links helps to optimize the rankings of many websites. The reason for the positive effect of trust links on search engine optimization(SEO) is derived from two aspects that many website operators continue to get wrong: On the one hand, this is the exclusive use of internal links to increase the time users spend on their own website. Secondly, many website operators sell or buy backlinks which, without the integration of trust links, are quickly exposed as purchased links, which leads to the pages with the purchased links being penalized.

 

 

Trustlinks help to cover a topic more broadly and provide added value to users

The problem of increasing the time users spend on one's own website and thus not using external links, which has just been mentioned, is almost as old as online marketing itself. In principle, it is understandable that the operator wants to have users on his website for as long as possible, because firstly, a high dwell time of users is a positive ranking factor with Google and other search engines, and secondly, a high dwell time increases the probability of conversions.

 

In terms of user experience (UX), it is nevertheless desirable to set external links in addition to internal links. These ideally redirect to a trustworthy website where high-quality information on a topic that is not covered on one's own website can be found.

 

An example elaborates on this issue:

 

• The operator of a web store for bicycle equipment regularly has articles written about equipment in the blog and gives tips on what equipment is appropriate for what kind of bike tour.
• In an article about choosing the right bicycle saddle, there is a casual mention of other equipment that is available in the store. So the website owner links to the pages where this equipment can be found; they are internal links.
• At the same time, however, the store operator finds an interesting article in the online magazine SPIEGEL, which describes popular cycling destinations in Germany. He sets a trust link to this article.

 

A trust link such as the one in this example offers added value, because on the one hand it fits the topic and on the other hand it offers users further information on an aspect that is not discussed in detail in the bicycle web store. This is entirely in the sense of user experience.

 

In addition to the advantages for the user experience, the algorithm of every known search engine - from Google to Yahoo to Bing - recognizes the additional added value: On the one hand, the thematically broader coverage is determined because the content of the linked page is read. On the other hand, the trustworthiness of the linked page is known to Google and Co. so that the trust link is recognized as such. In this case, setting trust links promotes natural link building, which is particularly important when website operators sell or buy links.

 

The camouflage link to avoid penalties

Trustlinks owe their alternative name to their great effect for the purpose of "camouflage". Such camouflage is necessary wherever unnatural link building is practiced. This is the case with the purchase, exchange and rent of backlinks.

 

Generating backlinks is one of the most important measures of OffPage SEO. Because it takes a long time to generate backlinks naturally, especially for new websites, people usually choose to buy backlinks. As an alternative to link buying, links are exchanged between websites from time to time; backlink renting is less common.

 

The catch of all these practices is that they are very well detected and exposed by Google's algorithm. This is followed by penalization of the websites that have engaged in link trading among themselves - with luck, only the pages involved in the trade will be penalized and get a worse ranking, with bad luck, the entire website will be penalized.

 

In order to camouflage this trade, it is primarily important to ensure that the same link partners are not always used. Furthermore, it is important to diversify the link building. Trust links contribute to the latter: One or two of these links on a page on which there is a purchased backlink can disguise the trade in links and thus prevent penalties by Google and Co.

 

The integration of trust links to camouflage the link purchase nevertheless requires some tact and experience. Therefore, with regard to a broadly diversified link building, it always makes sense to seek advice from an SEO expert.