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Understanding E-E-A-T Importance for SEO Strategy
At its core, SEO – or Search Engine Optimisation – is about making your online content stand out among billions of similar pages on the internet. What does EEAT stand for? The concept of E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is extremely important for SEO. It guides all search queries and is a key focus within the SEO community. By improving E-E-A-T, you align your content with the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, thereby enhancing your visibility to search engines, which is important for SEO.
While there are certain behind-the-scenes tricks you can apply to boost your site’s SEO, a key component of any successful SEO strategy is the content itself. Under the current Google acronym, any website’s quality is determined by its E-E-A-T score.
What does E-E-A-T stand for?
Recently, Google has changed the Search Quality Rater Guidelines (SQRG) to include an additional E in the acronym E-A-T, making it E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. These are the four core attributes that Google wants online content should exhibit – at least if it expects to be elevated in the Google search page rankings. Google uses the E-E-A-T framework to determine the quality and relevance of website content. Here’s a breakdown of what each attribute entails:
Experience:
This refers to the level of expertise and knowledge that the content creator demonstrates in their field. Google looks for content that is informative, accurate, and useful, providing a valuable experience for users. The author’s experience and expertise are assessed to determine if they possess the necessary knowledge to create reliable content.
Expertise:
Google assesses whether the content is created by individuals or organisations with expertise in the relevant subject matter. This is determined through various factors such as the author’s credentials, education, work experience, and recognition within the industry. Content from recognised experts is given more weight in search rankings.
Authoritativeness:
Authority refers to the reputation and credibility of the website or platform hosting the content. Google prioritises content from authoritative sources, such as reputable websites, recognised organisations, and industry publications. Content hosted on well-established platforms is considered more reliable and trustworthy.
Trustworthiness:
Trust emphasises the importance of content that is perceived as trustworthy and reliable by users. Google evaluates factors like information accuracy, sources’ transparency, and user feedback or reviews. More likely, content that exhibits transparency, avoids misleading information, and receives positive user feedback gets a higher chance to rank higher in search results.
By analysing and incorporating these four attributes in every piece of content on your website, Google considers your site as a good source of information. Google aims to prioritise high-quality content that provides valuable and trustworthy information to users. This framework helps Google determine which content should be displayed prominently on search engine result pages.
Why does Google care?
While businesses rely on Google to draw more eyes to their products or services, never forget that, from Google’s perspective, their customer is the person looking for things through their search engine. In the old days of the World Wide Web, you could get a web page trending with little more effort than stuffing lines and lines of keywords at the bottom of the page. Traffic would go to the most elaborate keyword-stuffers, rather than more relevant websites.
Of course, those days have (mostly) long gone and each new iteration of Google’s search algorithm is an attempt to improve the user experience [UXP] of their client, the search engine user.
Ironically, the more sophisticated methods employed by website owners to game the system, the more reliant they become on bespoke content created by a real human being. Every time an automated content production solution rears its head, Google cinches the noose tighter about that particular workaround. Hence the importance of E-E-A-T.
How can E-E-A-T improve your website?
Aside from the obvious benefit of an improved Google ranking, there is much to be gained from concentrating on EEAT.
First, by improving your online content’s expertise, authority, and trust, you will get your site noticed more. Google and other search engines may notice first and you will see your content elevated to that all-important first page of search results. This has a knock-on effect. The more people see your content, the more they are liable to share it through social media. This, in turn, produces backlinks to your own website. Google is not shy to pick up on these transactional links and they, in turn, improve your E-E-A-T scoring within the search algorithm.
Perhaps more importantly, being recognised as an authority – regardless of the subject–helps establish your brand as the de facto place to go for information on a given subject.
Expertise denotes authority, authority breeds trust, and trust improves Google rankings.
Is E-E-A-T a Ranking Factor?
E-E-A-T is indeed considered a ranking factor by Google. In its quality evaluator guidelines, Google emphasises the importance of high E-E-A-T content. It helps establish credibility and gives users confidence in the information they find online. Google looks at various signals such as the experience and expertise of the content creator, the website or author’s reputation and authority, the information’s accuracy and reliability, and the user experience. Google also considers the purpose and type of content when assessing it. For example, medical advice should come from subject matter experts and reputable sources with relevant expertise. Google aims to provide high-quality and trustworthy search results, and E-E-A-T plays a significant role in achieving this goal. Website owners and content creators should focus on producing valuable and trustworthy content that meets Google’s E-E-A-T criteria, as it can positively impact their search engine visibility and rankings.
Developing SEO Strategy with E-E-A-T in Mind
When developing an SEO strategy, it is important to have E-E-A-T in mind. For YMYL topics, demonstrating expertise is very important but it is also applies to non-YMYL topics. These factors are essential for search engine optimisation as they help search engines determine how reliable and credible a website is. To optimise for expertise, focus on creating high-quality content that showcases your knowledge and expertise in your industry. Provide accurate and up-to-date information and cite credible sources to build trust with both search engines and users. Establishing authoritativeness involves building a strong online presence, such as collaborating with other authoritative websites, getting mentioned in well-known publications, and being active on social media and relevant industry forums. Lastly, to enhance trustworthiness, display trust signals on your website such as customer testimonials, case studies, and certifications. By implementing E-E-A-T principles into your SEO strategy, you will be able to improve your website’s visibility and credibility, ultimately leading to higher organic search rankings.
Original Published Date: October 10, 2019
Last Update Date: July 04, 2023
