Thanks Travis! We appreciate it.

Good question and I’m not sure I can give a great answer. I try and look at real case studies vs giving generic advice but there isn’t compelling evidence of this in particular. What we tried to do here is look at specific examples of what Google is calling out in their Quality Rater Guidelines and show how that could be accomplished.

I try to think how Google will find this algorithmically but sometimes it’s not always clearly apparent. With that said, just as with links, references from 3rd party sites to yours from trusted sources will have a positive impact. So lets say you get links and mentions from https://www.pulitzer.org/ or other reputable site that gives awards (Inc 5000, local newspapers, etc) probably a good thing… not just from an SEO perspective but also from a real, legitimate business perspective.