Basically it is a part of our lives where, when someone does something good to you or for you, they've made a deposit in the account. Conversely when they do something negative they make a withdrawal. The more deposits are made the more you appreciate the person doing the depositing.

And this is where I want to introduce you to a concept I've been hearing about lately in relation to Google. That is, Google's Trustbox.

This has become most evident since the recent Jagger update. The trustbox is a combination of a couple of other terms that have been thrown around lately - the Sandbox and Trustrank.

The 'sandbox' is this area of the Google index where supposedly all new sites go and wait until they can become part of the regular Google index. They are sometimes spotted because of the 'supplemental results' tag that Google appends to them.

Trustrank is a concept that implies that a website becomes trusted by earning links from other trusted websites. In reality there are not too many highly trusted sites out there, so a link from one is worth more than hundreds of links from untrusted sites.

The concept of Trustbox takes these two terms and mashes them together. The outcome is that many feel there is indeed a place in the Google index where many sites, particularly new ones, start out. It is from here they have to earn their way into the regular index.

So you're probably asking yourself - how does one earn his way out of the trustbox? Well, you need to build your website's emotional bank account.

Consider that when you build a new website and unleash it for the rest of the world that it has no value to anyone but you. It hasn't earned any trust from other sites because it doesn't have a reputation. In essence its emotional bank account with Google is zero.

But let's say that you do what you are supposed to - you get a good Yahoo! directory listing, do manage to get indexed by DMOZ and also get a few other related reputable links from other trusted sources. Your bank account balance with Google begins to build. You now have a positive emotional bank account which has been deposited into (in the form of links) from other trusted sources.

Now, you are beginning to build your reputation online. Google assumes that since these other sites have 'voted' for you (because they are linking to you) that your site has some value which equates to trust.

The more your trusted link base grows the more trusted you become. And eventually you will move out of the Trustbox.

But let's say you do something you weren't supposed to like buy a bunch of unrelated links. You set out to purchase hundreds of links per month from various non-related sites.

What you are doing, in Google's eyes, is withdrawing from Google's emotional bank account. And by making these withdrawals you are making your site less trustworthy. Potentially (and quite likely) if you continue down this path, your site will lose all its Google trust and be back in the Trustbox, having to earn its way back out again.

So how do you grow your bank account?

Well, your site has to continue to grow, and build quality relevant links. That's the key to the new Google - new content and new, relevant links.

Of course I'm simplifying this. Getting new links can be very time consuming. But here's where it becomes easier:

As you create new content, you will be encouraging others to link to that content.

Take this article for example. Chances are you may be reading it on another site and not the Enquiro.com site where it was originally published. That is because another kind (and related relevant site) has determined that it is worthwhile to host this article on their site - links and all.

What I've done by writing this article, that others will syndicate, is created a way to naturally build links to this site.

It is through this content and corresponding links that helps this site deposit into Google's emotional bank account.

Now of course I know that Google the machine doesn't have an emotional bank account. After all, how can it understand emotion? But I think the concept of the emotional bank account holds true for Google.

If Google trusts your site it will rank highly. If it is untrusted it won't. A severely untrusted site will move back into the trustbox. It's (almost) as simple as that.

So the next time you are out there considering how to promote your site next, consider the concept of the emotional bank account. Will such a tactic make a deposit with Google, or will the engine consider it a withdrawal?

Rob Sullivan
Head Organic Search Strategist
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing

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