Checklist to create perfect backlinks, seo tips.

1. TRUST RANK
CHECKLIST
TrustRank is THE more underrated Google ranking factor on the planet.
(You can see all 200 here: http://www.backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors)
Why would Google rank your site if it didn’t trust it? It doesn’t matter how many links you have or
how great your content is, if you don’t have TrustRank you don’t have a search engine-friendly site.
Here’s how to get the TrustRank you need.
Moz and Majestic SEO have their own indicators of a site’s trust. They’re not 100%
accurate (after all, it doesn’t come from Google). But they do give you a good idea of
where you stand.
You can check MozTrust in Open Site Explorer:
http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/
You can check TrustFlow in Majestic SEO:
http://www.majesticseo.com/
Most of TrustRank is based on the trustworthiness of
the links pointing to your site. But Google also pays
close attention to trust signals on your website.
Link Out to Authority Sites: I know you’ve seen those
paper-thin niche affiliate sites in Google.
Did you ever notice that they NEVER link out to other sites?
Can you say red flag?
But look at any REAL site, like The Huffington Post or
NYTimes.com: they’re linking out to sites left and right!
Keep in mind that the sites that you link to reflect on your
site, so spread the link love to .edu, .gov and authority
news sites early and often.
Privacy Policy, Terms: Make sure your site has a thorough
privacy policy, terms of use and/or affiliate disclosure.
These are “boring” pages that Google pays attention to.
Check Your Site’s MozTrust and TrustFlow
Tune Up Your Site’s On-Site Trust Signals
1
2
HERE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT:
YOUR SITE

2. Believe it or not but you can actually take advantage of
Google’s big brand bias. How? By looking like a big brand!
Branded Domains/Site Name: Forget exact match or
phrase match domains. The EMD update made it very
clear that exact match domains don’t do jack. Instead
of MostComfortableMaleThongsX.com, go for
ComfyThongs.com.
Thorough About Us Page: Don’t skimp on your
about page. Real brands have MASSIVE about pages
that talks about their company, mission statement, etc.
Make an epic about us page that tells your story.
Active Social Media Accounts: All big brands are
super-active on social media, including Facebook,
LinkedIn, Pinterest and the like. Even if you run tiny
MFA site, get your social accounts rocking and rolling
(especially LinkedIn).
Branded Searches: People search for brands, whether
it be Ikea, YouTube or John Deer. When you’re off-site
marketing is in check (ie. YouTube videos, display
advertising, podcasting), people will search for your
brand more often.
Brand Name Anchor Text: People naturally link to
brands with brand name anchor text. So if your site is
Thongs4Less.com, you want to get some links with the
anchor text: “Thongs 4 Less.”
Build Brand Signals3
Bounces and Blocked Sites: Google has confirmed
that that user interaction is a ranking factor. They’ve even
gone as far as to consider how many Chrome users block
your site. Make sure you don’t have a high bounce rate or
anything that would encourage people to block your site.
References and Sources: Consider having a list of sources
and references at the end of your articles. This shows
Google that your content is well-researched (and therefore
legit). For one of my best-performing properties I actually had
a list of links marked “references” at the end of every article.
HERE’S HOW:
TRUSTYOUR
SITE AUTHORITY SITES

3. HERE’S WHAT TO DO NEXT
2
Follow me on Twitter
where I share helpful
content on SEO, conversion
rate optimization and
inbound marketing.
Send me a message to my
personal email address
brian@backlinko.com
to let me know what
you think of this checklist.
1 3
Pat yourself on the back.
You just read a
3-page checklist ; )
Register your domain for 2+ Years: Google wants to see
that you’re in this for the long haul. Although the influence
of domain registration in SEO has been debated to death,
it’s something that can’t possibly hurt you and might help
you... so go for it.
Make it public: No real company has private whois
(check if you don’t believe me).
Put whois info on your contact us page: To really show
Google I’m all about transparency and openness, I always
put my whois address and phone on my contact page.
This is another brand signal. Posting your address tells
Google that you have an “office” somewhere (even if your
office is your mom’s basement).
And here’s the big one. Like everything in the Google
universe, trust revolves around links.
And they do it based on an SEO version of Six Degrees
of Kevin Bacon.
The trust you get from other sites is often referred to as
TrustRank.
Here’s how it works:
Harvard.edu → your site = best case scenario
Harvard.edu → some other site → your site = not too shabby
Harvard.edu → some other site →→ some other site →→ some other
site →→ some other site →→ some other site →→ some other site
→→ some other site → your site = not good
Here’s how to get Trusted Links:
Use The Skyscraper Technique: White hat link building
strategies like The Skyscraper Technique tend to attract
awesome, highly-trusted backlinks. Use them often.
Reverse Engineer: Use a tool like ahrefs or Majestic SEO
to find your competitor’s most trusted links and get them for
yourself.
Manually Eliminate Low-Trust Links: Low trust links can
come back to bite you. Regularly audit your link profile and
trim any links that your mom wouldn’t approve of.
Trustworthy Domain Info4
TRUSTWORTHY DOMAINS