Interesting BBB stats

[Rich Owings]

Came across this today: 150k Small Business Website Teardown 2019 • Fresh Chalk

This finding stood out: "Sites that mention the BBB outrank those that without a mention by a median 18%."

 

[Tim Colling]

... "Sites that mention the BBB outrank those that without a mention by a median 18%."

That is interesting but not surprising. It seems like Google has a fetish for BBB membership even though BBB is essentially an advertising scheme.

 

[Rich Owings]

Yes, and contrast the above with this!... Google Does Not Use BBB Or Other Trust Building Sites For Ranking

"Google's John Mueller confirmed yesterday in a video hangout that Google does not use the BBB, Better Business Bureaus score or reviews as well as other third-party trust sites in their ranking algorithm. "

He said nothing about links and mentions though!

 

[MeganR]

Came across this today: 150k Small Business Website Teardown 2019 • Fresh Chalk

This finding stood out: "Sites that mention the BBB outrank those that without a mention by a median 18%."

When you say "mention," I presume it's insufficient to have a logo and alt tag. Client should write, "We are proud members of BBB and have an A+ rating" or something like that?

 

[djbaxter]

This finding stood out: "Sites that mention the BBB outrank those that without a mention by a median 18%."

Of course, it just might be coincidental/correlational rather than causative.

For example, it may well be that companies that are willing to pay BBB for a listing are also doing a whole lot of other things that Google actually does use in rankings. In that case, the fact that they also pay BBB doesn't mean anything more than that they are working hard on all avenues and options for SEO, whether Google actually uses them or not.

 

[Rich Owings]

Wait, correlation doesn't equal causation?