Insufficient credibility undermines digital marketing, particularly among SEOs who now produce or promote content as part of their job. People won't share content that isn't credible; they know the things they share reflect on them and impacts their own credibility. While the importance of credibility gets mentioned in passing, little has been said about how to actually build it, until now.
Your Guide to Establishing Credibility
You build credibility by signaling to the reader that you can be trusted. The signals of trust can come from the author, the site, and from within the content itself. Each signal will appeal to different types of readers in different contexts, but they come together to make content that is credible enough to share.
Rand mentioned credibility in his Content Marketing Manifesto as one of the things we need to build familiarity, linkability, and trust. Several studies have also shown credibility's critical role in promoting and sharing. So, let's build some credibility.
1. Establish expert credibility
Expert credibility comes from having knowledge others do not. People want experts they can understand and trust, especially when trying to understand complex or ambiguous topics like new technology, engineering, advanced science, or law.
Be an expert or hire an expert with insight
A Syracuse University study found "insightful" content was most correlated with users' estimation of a blog's credibility. You can't offer interesting insight on a subject you know very little about, so obviously you need to be an expert or hire one.
Unless your expert has breaking news, he or she needs to provide quality analysis and opinion to add any value. Most successful non-news content is opinion and/or analysis, whether verbal, graphical, or textual.
If you're creating video or text content for your site, the expert should also be able to clearly express complex subjects in a way readers can understand and follow. If he can't then get a content writer to interview the expert and relay the information.
Source experts
Do not try to give your opinion as an expert in a field where you're not one. It won't work.
We've all read non-expert content on subjects where we're knowledgeable. We know what expertly-written content looks like and can easy detect pretenders. If you pretend to be an expert and get one little detail wrong, you'll blow all your credibility with the people who actually understand and influence the discussion. They won't link to or share that piece of content and they may never share any of your content again. Don't take that risk.
Rather than trying to fake expertise, try finding experts and incorporating their expertise into your post. Journalists have long understood this tactic. Even journalists who are experts use quotations from other experts in both news and analysis pieces. The front page of the Washington Post's technology print section is usually littered with quotation marks and according-tos.
People running blogs can easily get a quote from someone knowledgeable enough to have an opinion that matters. Experts with strong opinions usually want to share them.
Be passionate to build trust
The Syracuse University study and this University of Pennsylvania study show that passion is key to judgments on credibility and sharing. Readers don't just want an expert who can explain things; they want an expert who cares.
Experts who know what they're talking about tend to have nuanced and sophisticated opinions about subjects they understand. Don't undercut that understanding with a shallow piece of content. Expert pieces should be deep and thoughtful.
Legal experts who really care about Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission simply wouldn't take the time to write a bland essay on what the ruling said and how it might impact the future of politics. SEO experts don't want to report on the fact that Google penalized guest post networks. They care, and want to explain why it's good or bad.
Expert opinion shouldn't be confused with argument, and it doesn't require you to start a firefight with anyone who's taken the other stance.
Cite sources
Cite the sources for all your expert insight. Citing expert sources is the most obvious way to back up your claims and gain trust. Often citing a source is as simple as linking to the webpage from which you got your information.
Don't use weasel words like, "it has been said," or, "many people believe," to skirt the citation responsibility. Experienced writers and editors instinctively close the tab on any content attempting to unnecessarily blur their sources.
Show data
Sometimes, instead of breaking news, you can add to it with data. Data lends credibility to your post in a unique way because with numbers, your sources and methodology are more important than the author's history and popularity. The data, if it's compiled and analyzed correctly, speaks for itself.
For example, when the CableTV team heard about the potential Comcast/Time Warner merger, we knew simply sharing the news would be a waste of time. Every major news outlet would easily drown out our site, and opinion pieces where popping up everywhere. Instead, we crunched some numbers, comparing U.S. Census data with coverage data, producing a coverage and population analysis people could see and understand. A few large news organizations used the data in ongoing analysis, Reddit's founder (Alexis Ohanian) shared the post, and roughly 60,000 people ended up seeing it.
JavaScript libraries and HTML 5 tools are springing up everywhere to help non-technical users visualize data in interesting ways. Mapping examples include SimpleMaps (used in our post), MapBox, Google Fusion Tables, etc. Graphing and other data options are all over, but this site is a good place to start. Compile data in-between writing stories related to your niche with Census data or any of these data sources so you're ready to go when news hits. For more tips, Kane Jamison always has tips on data-driven content marketing, including the presentation below:
2. Harness hierarchical credibility
Hierarchical or rank-based credibility comes from a person's position or title. High-ranking members of an organization have a better chance of being taken seriously simply by nature of their perceived authority, especially when the organization is well-known.
Have important people write important things
People lend more credibility to an article written by an unknown CEO than a writer they don't know—even if the writer knows more about the topic than the CEO. For better or worse, people are simply influenced by official job titles and standing within hierarchy.
Your definition of what's important may vary. Almost everything on the popular 42floors blog is written by a founder, while CEOs of larger companies will probably have less time and less interest in regular blogging.
Use executives for guest posts
I know – I'm the guy who wrote guest posting had gone too far. Google thought so too based on its latest round of penalties. I believe, however, the lack of credibility and expertise in many guest articles was a major cause for Google's (perhaps disproportionate) response to guest blogging networks.
Don't waste an executive's time on small unknown sites no one would ever read. Instead, consider pitching an article written by an executive or other well-known figure to well-known sites. Trulia is a good example with high-ranking members adding guest posts for Google, The Wall Street Journal, and interviewing with sites like Business Insider. Moz, of course, is another place to see founders adding posts and video frequently.
Better job titles
If you want your content to be shared, make your authors experts in both title and in truth. Changing titles for title's sake may sound stupid, but titles like managing editor, [subject] correspondent, [subject expert], or even [subject] writer have more gravitas than a plain "author" or "contributor." Think about what the title says to a person reading your content (or email). The flip side: writers should actually be subject-matter experts.
You should also re-think giving quirky titles to everyone, as they can hurt credibility. I can't imagine the Wall Street Journal quoting a "digital ninja" or "marketing cowboy" in their story – unless that story is about job titles.
Leadership quotes
You can also make use of another person's position to lend credibility to your content. This works especially well if you're looking for insight into a recent news event. Quotes from company executives, government officials, and other high-title positions give you something unique and show you're not just another blogger summarizing the news built on someone else's journalism.
3. Seek referent credibility
When someone trustworthy shares something with positive sentiment, we immediately trust the shared item. The referrer lends his or her credibility to the referee. The Moz audience will have no problem understanding referent credibility, as it's the primary method Google uses to prioritize content that seems equally relevant to a user query. People also rely on referent credibility to decide whether a post is worth sharing. Those referrals build more credibility, and viral content is born. How do you get some referent credibility to radiate onto your content?
Publish on credible sites
This post will receive some measure of credibility simply by being published on the main Moz blog. Anything on or linked to from well-known sites and authors receives referent credibility.
Share referrals and testimonials
You'll commonly see "as featured on" lists or testimonials from recognizable personalities. Testimonials from anyone at Google or Microsoft with an impressive-sounding position could go a long way for a B2B product. Referent credibility is the reason celebrity endorsements work.
Leveraging referent credibility in a press push generally works well if your company is involved in something newsworthy. Consider requesting and using quotes from relevant and well-known people in press releases or even outreach emails if you've done something worth announcing.
Analysis pieces are a little trickier: pointing out past coverage can lend some credibility to a blog post or press release, but it can also look a little desperate if done incorrectly. High relevance and low frequency are key. A good offline analogy is that person who mentions that time they met a celebrity every chance they get, whether it's relevant or not. Name-droppers are trying (too hard) to build credibility, but it's actually just sad and annoying. The same celebrity encounter might actually generate interest and credibility if it's relevant to the conversation and you haven't told the story to death. Feel free to talk about times well-known people shared or endorsed you, but make sure it's relevant and don't overdo it.
Appeal to credible people
When a well-known person shares your content, more links and shares often follow. Find credible people, see what they talk about and share, and then try make something great that appeals to them. This idea has already been covered extensively here on Moz.
4. Take advantage of associative credibility
People make associations between one trait and another, creating a Halo effect. For example, several studies (1, 2, 3) have found that attractive people often receive higher pay and are seen as more intelligent, when in reality there is no correlation. Users do the same thing with websites, so making your website look and feel like other credible sites is important.
Use trusted design as a guide
Don't run in and steal the Times' CSS file. I'm pretty sure that's illegal. It's also probably not going to work unless you're running a national multi-channel newspaper. But you should be aware that people associate design elements on a site with the credibility of the site. You can help or hinder your credibility through web design in hundreds of ways. Start by looking at legitimate sites and incorporating some of their design elements into your own. Then check out some untrustworthy and unknown sites to see the difference and determine what to avoid.
Obviously you want your site to be unique, but be carefully unique. If you stray from trusted convention, know why you're doing it. Maybe you want to kill hamburger icons on mobile – just make sure you have a well-considered alternative.
When in doubt, test
Split tests tend to focus on conversion and sales, and too often the blog/news design gets dragged along for the ride. Given the importance of content and sharing on visibility, testing the impact of site elements on sharing should be as important as the tests we do on sales funnels.
You can test different design elements as they relate to sharing by creating posts and pages with a page-level variable and a canonical tag back to the original post. Always test URLs with variables against other URLs with variables to account for site owners manually removing them. This setup may also be useful for testing different content promotion channels and methods.
Tracking results externally requires a different URL. You may use a modified URL rather than a variable, but only for single-page tests. Note that results will be a little erratic with variables people might remove, but trends will still emerge.
Consider your domain name
You have probably read a news article and wanted to share it, but then looked for a more reputable source to post to Reddit or Twitter.
Sometimes I'll share content from a site I've never heard of, but usually I want the content I'm sharing to come from a site with a name that evokes trust. Everything in this article goes into a decision on whether to share, but domain name is a surprisingly large factor. When I post an article, I don't want the first response or comment to be something snarky like, "Oh, according to goodbusinessnews4u.com – sounds legit."
Domain will also impact click-through on social networks and social sharing sites. A couple years ago I wrote about choosing the right domain for your branding strategy, and I think its message still holds true.
Domain name will also influence what content seems appropriate. You don't want people asking, "Why is highspeedinternet.com writing about cooking recipes?" Make sure content strategy aligns with your domain and branding strategy.
Write like a writer; build profiles
You must have credibility in your writing if you want your content to be shared. Follow these simple tips:
- Write clearly, hire writers, or don't waste your time on text content. Even a credible expert will have a hard time being trusted enough to share unless they write clearly with native-level grammar.
- Build author profiles, use full names, and use author images. Nothing says, "I'm not proud of this" like a partial name without an image.
- Build a full section about your company. Be as specific as possible, and avoid vague statements on the value your site adds.
- Craft headlines that are easy to follow, avoid trick/cute headlines unless you have a great reason for tricking or confusing users about what the content will deliver.
- Be consistent with surrounding articles. Jumbled topics and unrelated surrounding articles make sites look inconsistent.
Avoid clip art and stock images
Just ask Ian Lurie what he thinks about stock images. When I wrote "How Google's Algorithm Silences Minority Opinions" I had the image in my head of Googlebot placing a gag on a user. Thankfully one of CLEARLINK's talented designers had a better (and less aggressive) idea:
A Google logo would have been easy, but boring. The custom image added a strong visual to the argument, emphasizing key points: a computer algorithm silencing a person, the person not caring too much. It also sent the associative message to users that the site is legitimate enough to use unique images.
Most of us can't get custom illustrations or photographs for each post, but you should consider it for high-investment pieces or pieces you think have a good shot at success.
Final thoughts
Unless you have inside information on a rumor or are willing to burn your credibility going forward, your content must project credibility. Smaller sites and lesser-known brands have the most to gain by understanding how users and journalists make judgments on credibility and working to improve those factors. You don't necessarily need to employ every strategy and tactic, but the best coverage and links will always require a high level of credibility.
Credibility is the future of content sharing. I would love to know what algorithm that Google is trying to develop to establish credibility. One thing that I would add to the article is to create authorship for your articles / items you want deemed credible. Because credibility is a two edged sword, there is what people find credible and what Google finds credible. Both will get you traffic, so both have to be optimized in their respective ways.
I'll play Devil's Advocate: Wasn't that the original purpose of PageRank?
It was and it lasted around a decade. I imagine there is going to be something like an author rank for authorship. The way I see it, is that this is a whole new uncharted territory and the landscape will change quickly with all of the insights that Google has gleaned from years in the search business. It will be a fun ride none the less though.
Very True!
Absolutely! Authorship is a great tie-in. I wish I'd talked about it a little; authorship is just one reason the need for credibility in content is only going to grow.
Slightly off topic: I'm actually a little worried about Google weighing authors' credibility. In the past they've relied SO heavily on referent credibility. It's an easy and reliable method, but lesser-known experts and rising stars face yet another barrier to entry. Google so far has been unable to judge whether the author is an expert, the truth of what they're saying, or even the sentiment about a referenced article.
To your point, the best we can do is to establish true credibility, build in authorship and profiles, and hope Google can solve some of the more complex credibility issues that humans understand naturally.
I can see issues with it too, but at the same time I am hedging myself as best I can. I am an authority in Prestashop, so that is what I want Google to recognize. This is what I am doing
Consistently write on the same subject
I guest blog on Prestashop's blog, my terms for writing are getting to claim authorship over the post
Try to keep my name as tightly associated with the term as possible.
At the point I don't really know what else to do, so hopefully all of those things will help.
Many confuse credible content with high quality content (so far so good), and that with highly technical and accurate data. Accurate data is highly sought after, no doubt about that. But the most shared content are the ones that simplify processes, answer queries, offer solutions and discuss issues of common interest/concern. They may not necessarily be data driven or technically sound.
Google authorship has come of age as a significant factor in adding authority and credibility to a piece of content.
"people won't share content that isn't credible". They also won't share content that is personal and sensitive. For example, it is a difficult task to influence people to share content from a divorce law firm, or a child sexual abuse law firm (yes, I actually have a client that has a law practice that is focussed on that). So, any advice on how to improve social sharing for content that is sensitive and personal?
Yikes, that's a tough one. It's not really a credibility issue, so I'd actually point you to another article I've written here:
https://moz.com/blog/why-content-goes-viral-the-sci...
The topics you mentioned are often sad - and as you have discovered, sadness is negatively correlated with sharing. People don't want to share things that will depress their Facebook feed. Using data, offering prevention tips, and giving useful warnings might be your best bet.
Using the negative correlation and promoting it with a positive message in a rebellious fashion against or for the topic being shared in the content helps. It is a way to play with human psychology to push negative thoughts of a reader to positive constructive thoughts.
The areas mentioned by BBuck are tough as there is not much content that could be made public because of the confidentiality regulations to safeguard the victims interest, however there had been a case in Delhi, India where a case of sexual abuse was so powerfully shared that it pushed the government to take strict actions through a special court setup.
Content is powerful when used well and when it could connect with the psychology of the people it generates credibility. But of course the content has to be produced with utmost caution.
Engraving article Carson!
To your point, Carson, it's amazing what data can do. I worked with a colleague who got a completely non-credible site's content some top-tier news links b/c the data was irresistible.
Even though the website was borderline adult and usually nobody wanted to touch it, the data she was peddling was timely and interesting enough for journalists to overlook the rest of the site's content.
Excellent article! However, may I add one critical component that I feel was missing? Ok, I will anyway, lol...
A an article becomes credible when it connects a real problem someone has with a real solution. So many are trying to sell or convince us of how great they are and as readers we all know we are left with "so what?"
However, solve their real problems or give them ideas by educating them without gimmicks or tricks and in addition to what you wrote there is a powerful recipe!
Thanks for making me think about a few new approaches I want to consider.
There is a known black-hat strategy to boost a website rank by creating fake, but "credible", personalities in social media, fill their social pages with content, likes, reposts etc., and then linking to a needed website. It is even easier/cheaper/less techy than content farms creation.
Credibility should never become a too powerful ranking factor, I believe that expert's opinion and his links/tweets/posts don't need to affect someones ranking directly at all. If a popular person mentions you - you'll get a ton of visitors and THAT should effectively increase your ranking through other old and known factors.
Thanks Carson for all the signals of trust you mentioned.
An effective (and easy) way to make your content and data easily shareable is definitely through visual representation. An infographic or a short video is an excellent way to reach more people in minimum time.
Thanks Carson Ward to share this useful post with us. These days most of the bloggers and webmasters are sharing each blog post and content in social networking sites without thinking about its credibility for others. I also think that only credible content offer desirable results if shared.
Thank you! l like the infographics and images here. l also feel like that adds a lot of credibility to content, perhaps because we are so visual, and a new image always makes a first impression.
It's just so important to be credible for what you say. Nowadays, so many people have internet access and can basically say anything. You have to stand out in a good way!
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Great post Carson, I agree with you comments on avoiding clip art and stock images. I ran a test back about 6 months ago where I replaced all the stock photo's that we where using for our blog posts with custom images and noticed an immediate increase in the CTR for our posts that where being shared.
Carson,
I completely agree on the custom illustrations part. The reality is, very few people actually spend money on getting custom illustrations designed that whenever users spot them, they make the content piece seem like it came from the brain of a real authority on the topic.
I can give you an example in the web hosting industry. Most so called 'web hosting review sites' are nothing but thin affiliate sites which have got nothing to do with actual user reviews. Enter ReviewPon by Cam Secore. This guy's made an incredible use of custom illustrations that span across his entire site, especially in his Web Hosting 101 for Beginners guide. The custom designs created a very good image of the site in my head the first time I landed on his site. They made me think that, "this site is not like those other crappy affiliate sites, maybe I should try reading some of this dude's reviews". I'm sure other new visitors to his site would think in the same way.
The only downside of custom illustrations is the cost required to getting them designed in the first place. But if you're able to bear the costs initially, they work excellently in the long term.
Credibility is not the only criterion that drives people to share content. Although it is not credible, but the presentation of the facts please (in the form of humor, irony), content has a strong chance to be shared ...
"Cite the sources for all your expert insight"
Relevant outbound linking is good practice anyway so it's very much a double whammy for both user and G-bot.
I am immediately thinking Google Authorship, too bad that they remove the author images in the SERP though...
these tips are really worthy. Thanks a lot!
The last point about stock images and clip art is good and unique information of freelancers using cartoon of themselves on their websites these days.
Sourcing Experts is always a great way to have your content shared. Can also fall into the category of 'ego-baiting', an excellent way for credible people to notice and share your content.
On the flip side, the experts get asked to be sources and give their time and expertise for little in return, and often get asked by a ton of people. There needs to be a balancing act.
Great post with a lot of much needed information.
I wonder if my content is any good sometimes even though I work hard on it and I like it.
I would guess that every industry has is way to ensure credibility to its content writing. Most likely when the author refers to other quality content, that helps increase the credibility of the post and the credibility of the domain name posted on in general. Everything should inter-relate, so quality and credibility should mean more than a one time thing..
But at the end of the day, theres more to sharing than credibility. Maybe we should add uniqueness, cause people share more, if something is new, something they never seen before.. Uniqueness to me, could also bring more via organic channels, thus more traffic and more sharing.
But at the end of the day, theres more to sharing than credibility.
I agree: I hope it was clear that credibility is required for sharing, but I'd never say it's the ONLY thing that matters.
Acquiring industry related certifications will never hurt!
Awesome post to come back and read twice! Great credibility content and sets the mind in motion on how to do our jobs on our sites better...thank you!
This was very insightful and I cannot agree more with the advice to not go with stock images or clip art. I find that when you see images that have been used all over the web it takes the uniqueness away from content or a blog post but instead attempt to be creative as that will also reflect the creativeness in the content as well making it even more share worthy.
Wow, lots of good ideas here. I think a lot of problems can be avoided by knowing your target audience and continually trying to narrow them down further.
I believe that content credibility comes from all the aspects, not just a good piece of information. It must be relevant to the host-webpage, should have a reliable authorship and gives clean and clear ideology to readers depicting a sense of entrust.
Google relies heavily on the domain authority, originality and reliable-link parameter; whereas for readers: getting their solution is what entices them to follow and share any content (though a high rank source is what drives them most to rely and believe in the article).
In the two way content marketing segments, jostled between reader’s recognition of worthy content and how Google entrusts an article, there needs to be a fine calculative analysis which dictates how much credibility can be endowed upon a content post, concerning three major aspects:
Awesome post . It was and it kept going around 10 years I think so...
I have noted some great points from this post on content credibility that are very interesting and useful. But, Sharing is not enough for content credibility you also need to make familiarity, linkability, and trust.
I agree. It is not so "black on white" as the this post suggests. Familiarity is something that is rarely mentioned when talking about content, imo it is a key factor. You can break down familiarity in 2 big sets:
1- Who is sharing your content? (friends, family, people near you....)
2-Is the content about something I care about? (it seems very well structured and whatsoever but i wont share it because it doesn't interest me and it wont be interesting for my friends. )
All of this points will lead to generating trust, trust will help generate even more shares and so on. It's thorougher then it looks.
Very good article about content marketing - Mobile Copywriter!
Great post indeed.