What is TrustRank?
TrustRank is an algorithm that search engines use to differentiate helpful and spammy websites. There is speculation that Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines use it.
The TrustRank algorithm works by analyzing the backlink profile of a site. It begins with a human expert manually entering a few trustworthy sites into the algorithm. Then, the algorithm starts to follow the backlinks to analyze the sites the trustworthy site links to. These sites are also considered trustworthy, as are the sites they link to.
How TrustRank Works
TrustRank is based on the premise that good, helpful pages rarely point to spammy and unhelpful pages. In other words, a trustworthy site will only link to other trustworthy sites.
The algorithm begins with an expert human reviewer analyzing several pages to determine their reputation and trustworthiness. These pages will form the seed pages of the TrustRank algorithm.
The algorithm then follows the external links on the seed pages. It then analyzes the content on the page receiving the link to determine how helpful and valuable it is. The pages will be assigned a high TrustRank if the content is relevant.
Then, the algorithm follows the external links on those pages, too. Once done, it analyzes the content on the pages for relevancy before assigning them a TrustRank. The algorithm continues like that, with each page having a lower TrustRank the further away it is from the seed page.
How Google and Yahoo Use TrustRank
It is speculated that Google and Yahoo use some form of TrustRank or an algorithm that works similarly. The original TrustRank was titled Combating Web Spam with TrustRank and was jointly developed by researchers at Stanford and Yahoo.
However, Google and Yahoo have patents for algorithms similar to TrustRank. The one owned by Yahoo, which patented it using the title Link-based Spam Detection, was authored by the same people who authored the original TrustRank algorithm.
Google cannot use Yahoo’s algorithm for obvious reasons, so it created a system called Search Result Ranking Based on Trust, which is speculated to work like the TrustRank algorithm.
However, some bloggers and SEOs believe TrustRank is just one of the algorithms and systems that Google, Yahoo, and other search engines use to determine the trust of a website. For example, it is speculated that Google may use other algorithms like PageRank and systems that analyze the domain age, backlinks, and website authority.
Importance of TrustRank
TrustRank helps distinguish between trustworthy and spammy pages. This is important because search engines do not want to display spammy content on their results pages. They only want to provide visitors with trustworthy results.
However, spammy pages may still display on search results pages. To reduce the chances of spammy content on search results pages, search engines use TrustRank to differentiate between high-quality, trustworthy content and low-quality, spammy pages.