An IT expert recently told me that he doesn’t use any antivirus software or internet security tools because he doesn’t need it. His secret to avoid malware? “I don’t click on anything unless it’s on the first page of Google.” While this simple rule may have been decent advice in the past, it’s certainly far from foolproof anymore. With SEO poisoning attacks designed to infiltrate search results (or compromise the entries already there), there are plenty of infected sites showing up “above the fold.” Even worse, they’re targeted on the things many users are actively looking for: trending topics, celebrity gossip or major world events.

There are a number of website reputation ratings tools designed to help you stay safe online. Most of them are backed by professional security software companies, and provide a non-intrusive way to surf the web without compromising security. The add-on toolbars are usually free, and are a great addition to robust antivirus software.

The most visible (and arguably most important) element of the application is the search engine advisor. Each tool we looked at works basically the same way, by presenting a color coded icon next to each search engine result. They use the traditional traffic-light color system; green is safe, red is definitely dangerous, and yellow is at least somewhat risky (and grey is often used for unknown sites). Usually you can hover over the icon for more details.

But not all of these web reputation tools are created equal. Some focus purely on security while others incorporate user opinions. Some are available on more web browsers while others are compatible with more search engines. One may block risky sites completely while another will simply warn you about them. Overall, they’re very effective and an easy way to ensure safer surfing without sacrificing speed.

With the best website reputation and security rating application you can proactively avoid malicious downloads, phishing sites, browser exploits, identity thieves and even just annoying pop-ups or traps. Whether you’re downloading files, shopping online or just looking for information, it’s a good idea to implement some protection.

Here we will take a look at five popular website safety rating tools (in no particular order) and discuss the unique benefits of each.

AVG LinkScanner is actually composed of two components, the surf shield and search shield. The search shield provides security ratings for Google, Yahoo and Bing results. The surf shield scans every URL you type in your browser and stops you from opening any infected pages. We particularly like that AVG LinkScanner checks websites as they are accessed in realtime rather than just using a list of known bad sites.

McAfee SiteAdvisor was one of the first site rating add-ons, and continues to be one of the best. More than just locating bad sites, McAfee SiteAdvisor analyzes traffic, content and behavior to provide a fairly accurate reputation rating for each website. McAfee claims to have over 95 percent of the web rated, and we really like how the program is compatible with so many search engines rather than just the top three.

TrendProtect has a similar setup as the other web reputation plugins, but just isn’t executed as well. The most noticeable difference is that instead of little colored icons next to each search result, they are actually highlighted. While this makes the warning harder to miss, we found it fairly annoying. The other major complaint with this tool is that it currently only works with Internet Explorer.

WOT: Web of Trust is a popular reputation rating tool that varies a bit from the others because it focuses primarily on user generated trust and reputation. Users can rate a site on reliability, privacy, child safety, and overall trustworthiness. But more than just a popularity score, the Web of Trust community continues to provide security and additional insights for safer browsing. WOT offers ratings for many popular search sites, and is available for IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

Norton Safe Web combines security ratings and user generated reputation. The utility uses advanced scanning and behavioral detection to identify dangerous websites. We liked that you could hover over the security icon for more details, or click on them for the full report. The website ratings tool is effective, but we’d like to see a few more browsers supported.

We recommend each of these website reputation rating programs. Depending on your preferred browser and search engine, you should be able to find an option that will work for you. Some are a little stricter than others, but each provides a good proactive layer of protection. For a more comprehensive security solution, consider the best internet security software or a premium security suite.

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