What is E-A-T? Why It’s Important for SEO?
If you are someone who is interested in website optimization you might have already come across the term ‘E-A-T’. It’s a newer addition to Google’s ranking factors which has a profound impact on your website. Hence, it’s essential to understand what this is and how they can benefit anyone who performs search engine optimization.
E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust. All three are the building block of Google’s quality rating that allows the search engine to gauge how much trust it should place on a website.
If you want your site to get a good ranking in Google search results, you need to think about E-A-T. As Google uses it to promote those websites that meet its standards of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Why Is E-A-T So Important?
In 2018 Google revised its quality rating guidelines to concentrate more on the web content’s beneficial intent. The rationale behind Google was simple: content marketers were creating content to catch the attention of Google, not the end-user. Rather than producing material that would really be beneficial to the reader, they were attempting to “Game” Google’s rating algorithm. Hence, E-A-T was introduced as a way of reorienting the focus back on the end user. It is one of the key criteria used by Google when determining the quality of the results.
Recently several changes to Google’s ranking algorithm have been developed to tackle page quality, which could be measured by high and low E-A-T scores. It means that if you don’t update yourself with the latest trends, a significant percentage of your web traffic and a large number of sales can be lost due to a fall in your rankings.
What Are The Each Component Of E-A-T?
Though expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness sound as similar concepts, there aren’t exactly the same. They’re all individually assessed using a different set of parameters.
Expertise
Expertise is described as having expertise or know-how in a given area. If you provide a service or sell a product you have in-depth knowledge of, you can qualify as an expert. Genuine expertise is hard to counterfeit, especially when you are a licensed professional or are routinely quoted as an expert by third parties.
Google looks for content that is created by a subject matter expert. It wants content on a website written by someone that has a good command on a particular area. Google evaluates content on its level of quality, not at the website or organizational level. However, this doesn’t mean that the author should have formal education on the topic, but they should have a direct experience with it.
This is also compounded by the fact that Google now supports a modern model of authorship in order to determine who is really the author of a piece of content and whether they are experts in that space or not. For example, if you are in the engineering sector, your content will be highly rated for E-A-T if the author of the content is a certified engineer.
Authority
Authority is about reputation, particularly amongst other industry experts and influencers. Simply, its authority when others see a person or a website as the go-to source of knowledge about a subject.
So how does Google measure authority? For now, Google relies on good old-fashioned mentions and backlinks which serve as the criteria for evaluating you as a source of information authority for the search results. Somewhat the principle is similar to other popular metrics such as Domain Authority and Trust Flow.
For Google, the author should be a well-known person on the subject or in their field. This doesn’t mean the author should have a million Twitter followers for Google’s Quality Raters. It may mean that the author or publication in their industry has won awards which makes them an expert on the subject.
While expertise is a great factor to judge for knowledge and abilities at a particular, authority takes it one step further and ranks you against other websites. When you are a genuine source of knowledge for a particular question, you are not only one of many experts anymore. You become the authority in your niche.
Trust
Trustworthiness is the willingness to count on something as truthful or real. It is something that can be quickly lost but can hardly be recovered. For this reason, Google ranks certain websites higher over a significant period of time, which have proved themselves as trustworthy.
For Google, trust is about the legitimacy, transparency, and accuracy of the website and its content. So what are Google’s metrics used to gage trust? Well, these metrics include having a large number of positive organic reviews, physical location, ethical terms and conditions for your website, and using HTTPs to protect the domain of your website. In fact, Google search quality raters examine trustworthiness by looking at the website as a whole.
Besides, focusing on the content on the trustworthiness of your content is also crucial. You should concentrate on related topics and offer insights from multiple angles on the same subject. With a focus on the detailed aspects of a topic and linking those to multiple articles with similar content will help you establish credibility.
How to Establish E-A-T in your content?
Recruit Journalists or Writers
Skilled journalists are qualified to find sources and interview them, and carry out detailed fact-checks. Some journalists may already have written expertise for your field. Search at the related magazines and trade journals to locate them.
Recruit an editor
Even the most professional writers make typos, including inaccurate figures. With a skilled editor in your team, you will have a better chance of coming up with the perfect article possible, which can be published at higher authority sites.
Train your content team
By training your content team you provide them the confidence and opportunity to become more skilled writers. Effective training can help them learn about writing better for your brand’s persona, in your brand’s voice and according to the best SEO practices.
Display the writer’s credentials
If you are working with expert writers in your niche, don’t let them be shy. Let your audience know who they are, loud and clear. You can easily do this by adding the author’s job title on their byline, include a short bio at the end of the article, and linking the article to their professional website.
Manage Your Reputation
There’s a fair chance your prospects can check out your company’s ratings before making a decision. While such reviews have an effect on somebody’s purchasing decisions, they can also have an effect on your Google quality ranking. Make sure prompt responding and providing stellar customer services should be a part of your social media strategy, which ultimately leaves a strong impression on your customers.
A Final Word
Rankings are critical for visibility, awareness, and traffic. With low rankings, fewer users are likely to view your content, which will hurt your online presence and can result in a potential loss.
E-A-T offers a way to keep websites on top by providing authentic and relevant information while not hurting the user experience. Having a high E-A-T score is your best bet for having the kind of traffic you want and get Google’s attention — a thing that is now only possible by producing content that will please your customers.
