It’s estimated that over one billion websites exist, with new ones being added every few seconds. With so many of them, it’s essential to assess the trustworthiness of a site before you engage with it—especially if you intend to provide personal information for access to products and services. Doing this will protect your data and reduce cybersecurity concerns while you spend time online.
To help you determine if a website is trustworthy, we’ve put together a brief guide highlighting key trust signals to look for when visiting a website. You’ll also find specific items to review for industries like healthcare and gaming.
Trust Signals Across All Websites
Regardless of the industry, every trustworthy site includes a few key elements, such as a professional and user-friendly design, transparent policies and terms, strong security measures, quality content, and easy-to-find contact information. These signal that a site is professionally operated and that it takes its users’ security seriously. Let’s take a closer look at each of these trust signals.
A Professional & User-Friendly Design
A professional and user-friendly design doesn’t just look better; it provides a streamlined experience for users that makes it fast to load, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly. It will offer high-quality images and features like a site map and alternative text, improving accessibility for all users. Trustworthy sites recognise the importance of these qualities for website users and will invest in creating a website that fulfils these needs.
Transparent Policies & Terms
Transparent policies and terms include information about how a website delivers its products and services, as well as information about data collected and how it’s used. Websites should clearly display these policies, and they must align with the UK’s robust data protection policies, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Strong Security Measures
Trustworthy websites will use HTTPS encryption, which encrypts data exchanged between the site and the user. You can check this in the URL of a website and by looking for a lock symbol next to the URL bar. Some sites will also have security seals and certificates from reputable third-party security organisations. These will usually be found in the footer of a website.
Quality Content
In addition to these technical security signals, you also want to assess the quality of the content published on the site. Ensure that the content is grammatically correct, thoroughly researched, properly sourced, and updated regularly.
Clear Contact Information
Websites should provide clear contact options for support in the event of questions or concerns.
Industry-Specific Trust Signals
While the trust signals outlined above are relevant across the board, there are additional trust signals in some industries because of their different purposes. For certain industries, you should not only be looking for the trust signals outlined above but also for those relating to specific regulations. For instance, healthcare and finance rely on sensitive personal information to deliver their services, so you want to ensure that you’re placing this information in reliable hands to avoid potential fraud or other security concerns.
Key industries with specific signals to look for include finance, health, gaming and entertainment, and e-commerce.
Financial Websites
Financial service providers, such as banks, investment firms, credit card providers, and insurance firms, must be authorised or registered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Ensuring that a financial service provider is connected to the FCA protects your assets should the business go bankrupt through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Because of this, websites showcasing businesses with financial services should state whether they are FSCS-protected. If you’re doubting the legitimacy of a site or service provider, you can use the FCA Firm Checker.
Health Websites
For health websites like telemedicine and wellness platforms, it’s crucial to assess content quality to ensure you’re getting reliable, safe information. You’ll want to see indicators of professionalism and subject expertise such as authorship, peer reviews, publication dates, review dates, and evidence-based information with clear citations. Beyond this, you also want to check the URL. The most reliable healthcare sites in the UK will use the following in their domain:
- uk: This indicates that the UK government hosts the site. Often, you’ll find accurate and updated information relating to healthcare policies rather than healthcare services through these sites.
- uk: This indicates the National Health Service (NHS) hosts the website and that it meets their strict requirements.
- uk: This indicates that a charity organisation hosts the website.
- uk: This indicates that a UK university or college hosts the website.
Additionally, a healthcare site may have endorsements from a reliable healthcare organisation, signalling trustworthiness.
Online Gambling Websites
The gaming and entertainment industry has a diverse set of regulations that businesses need to follow. While all websites are subject to the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act, those in the iGaming industry must include a few other essential elements. The Gambling Commission outlines several key requirements, including:
- Licensing and registration
- Fair play certifications
- Game rules, descriptions, and the probability of you winning
- Problem gambling resources and tools (such as timers, self-exclusion tools, and deposit limits)
- Terms and conditions
The list continues and can be found on the Gambling Commission website, but these are the most notable in assessing the legitimacy of a site. Because there are so many elements to look for when gambling online, it’s not uncommon for people to turn to a trusted third-party site that reviews the quality, credibility, and legitimacy of sites. These also provide guides like a curated list of the UK’s top 20 slot sites, making it easy to find trustworthy gaming options.
E-Commerce Websites
Online shopping is incredibly common, with over 62 million people shopping online. Because it’s so popular and requires sensitive financial information to facilitate purchases, it’s important that you take the time to recognise what a trustworthy e-commerce site looks like. Look for trust signals such as:
- Familiar payment methods (like Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay, or Apple Pay)
- Secure checkout processes
- Transparent return and refund policies
- User ratings, reviews, and testimonials
As with online gambling, there are many trusted review sites you can consult if you’re unsure about an e-commerce site.
