Whenever Google rolls out an algorithm update, one of the hottest topics to discuss among SEOs is E-E-A-T. If you pay attention to E-E-A-T after a Google SEO update, you can prevent your site from losing all visitors due to the change in Google’s algorithm.
In this blog, we will talk about what E-E-A-T is and which strategies you can apply to improve the E-E-A-T of your website.
What is Google’s E-E-A-T Update?
Google’s goal is to give users the best results it can constantly. If a website has relevant, high-quality content that matches the user’s query, Google will prioritize it on the search engine results page (SERP).
Now the question arises on what basis the content of those websites is evaluated. So for this, Google has created a document of 176 pages used by Google’s human quality raters to evaluate the quality of different websites. And then comes the E-E-A-T, the one factor that Google uses to evaluate the quality of the web page
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. If your website satisfies these four requirements, Google will determine it a valuable resource and will rank it accordingly.
Let me break down this E-E-A-T in terms that are easy to understand.
Experience
If you are giving such information on your website or in your blog, which you have experienced yourself, or reviewing a product or service based on your own experience, then Google considers such content or information trustworthy. And assigns a high value to it.
Expertise
To write confidently on any subject on your website, you must be an expert in that field. You should be a subject matter expert on that particular topic, which means you have extensive hands-on expertise. For example, if you write a finance blog, you should have complete knowledge of the financial vocabulary, financial terms, and concepts. Google considers these kinds of blogs high-quality and will provide high rankings in SERPs.
Authority
To be considered an authoritative voice, your website content must demonstrate that you are a trusted resource. Being an authority in your field requires having your content referenced by other established leaders. You can link your blog posts and web pages to high-authority websites to build your authority. This is because they have established their status as an authoritative hub for cutting-edge knowledge and tactics among SEO experts and website owners. The higher your website’s authority, the more reliable Google will consider your website.
Trust
If you can establish yourself as a reliable information resource online, Google will prioritize you above your rivals. Securing, engaging, and assisting every website visitor are all ways to gain their trust. Google will perceive your website as a reliable source of information if it is protected by SSL encryption, has recently updated, has engaging content, and receives good feedback in the form of reviews.
“The website or content creator may not be a trustworthy source if there is a clear conflict of interest. For example, product reviews by people who own the product and share their experiences can be precious and trustworthy. However, “reviews” by the product manufacturer (“Our product is great!”) or “reviews” from an influencer who is paid to promote the product and is not as trustworthy due to the conflict of interest.” – Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines
Is Google’s E-E-A-T a Ranking Factor?
Directly- no..!!
Indirectly- Yes..!!
Google’s E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor, but Google continues to utilize E-E-A-T as a benchmark for website’s content quality.
Google always prioritizes the content and information that subject matter experts create; similarly, Google demotes the information, content, or blog post created without deep research, without any facts or relevant data that satisfies the searcher’s intent.
So whenever you create content, it should be based on your personal experience, your expertise on that particular topic, authoritative, and build trust among the readers.
According to John Muller of Google, “I assume that there is some indirect kind of work done to try to do similar things, yes.
We put this (E-E-A-T) in the guidelines to guide the quality testers to double-check these things. If we think it’s something important, I would assume that folks on the …search quality side also work to try to understand that more algorithmically.”
How Is E-E-A-T Important In Website SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is prioritized at every content development stage. In the same way, “Keyword Research” and “Keyword Placement” come first. While writing content, many Google SEO experts prioritize the keywords and where they will be used.
But doing so falls under keyword stuffing, a black hat SEO technique that can cause Google to drop your website’s ranking.
While doing website SEO, instead of using unnecessary keywords, if you make your content helpful that can satisfy the user’s intent, and provide the solution to his problem with the help of data and statistics, then Google will consider your content E-E-A-T category. And your website’s ranking will improve.
Best Strategies To Improve E-E-A-T SEO
1. Identify, Build, and Leverage High-Quality Backlinks
Quality backlinks indicate how competent and authoritative your brand, business, or website may be. To get high-quality backlinks, you must work on your content creation and promotion first. It will establish your website as a leader in your field.
And when credible individuals or organizations notice your website with high-quality content, they can mention your brand, give a backlink and ultimately build your authority.
A high-quality backlink is one in which a reputable website links to yours because it references you as an expert in your field. Images and buttons used as backlinks are low quality and don’t build authority. One of the best ways to increase a site’s credibility is to increase the number of links pointing to it.
2. Building Relationships with Trusted Sources for More Mentions
Your credibility as an E-E-A-T source may be improved by obtaining backlinks and being mentioned in reputable publications. When Google finds that your company or brand is mentioned in respectable places around the internet, it is more likely to see you as a trusted and reliable expert in your field.
According to Google Patents, the “implied Links,” i.e., the plain text that mentions your brand name, are a type of backlink.
According to Google’s Gary Illeyes, “High-authority website references are tracked and considered in the ranking process.”
To get mentioned from trusted sources, you need to focus on guest posting on authoritative websites, participate in interviews, and podcasts, collaborate with influential people in your industry and create something innovative in your field.
3. Evaluate Your Website Content and Make it Fresh, Relevant and Updated
Just imagine how much stuff you’re adding to your site every day. Yet, if your content is static, it runs the risk of becoming outdated when information changes or is no longer relevant. If you fail to update the information in your website or blog post as per the current scenario, Google will re-rank or downgrade it since it will assume the data it relies on is outdated.
To avoid this, you need to keep your content relevant and up to date. You can add recent studies, updated industrial reports, new findings, data, etc., to make your webpage search engine optimized and retain your high google ranking.
4. Gather Additional Feedback, Reviews, and Testimonials
Getting and highlighting positive product reviews online is a tried and tested method of growing your brand. These ratings and comments also boost your site’s E-E-A-T score with Google. Positive feedback from various sources (Google, Facebook, Yelp, Bing, etc.) speaks volumes about the reliability of your business.
No matter if you receive a positive or negative review, you must spend some time analyzing the review and responding appropriately. This shows that you care about what your customers think. And ultimately increases your credibility as a trustworthy company dedicated to customer satisfaction.
5. Avoid Clickbait Content as it Spoils your Reputation
Google search algorithms affect your website SEO when you use clickbait content. You must avoid writing or providing blog posts only meant to attract clicks. They are awful and mislead the reader. These things are against Google’s E-E-A-T update.
So, whenever you produce content, always put the user first. Your content must be informative, solution oriented, and helpful to the user or reader. Avoid using click baits just for the sake of earning clicks.
6. Establish a Wikipedia Presence
Having a Wikipedia page might improve your website’s SEO. Wikipedia is one of the internet’s oldest, largest, and most authoritative websites. If you want to develop your brand as an authority in your field, there’s no better place to do it than through a Wikipedia article. If your brand has a Wikipedia page, it sends a strong message to Google about the reliability of your business.
So, having a link to your site posted on this domain is like having a recommendation from a trusted source.
Thoughts
To make the website SEO strong, your first step should be to provide helpful content to users or website visitors if the information you give a website visitor is a blend of his intent and your topical authority or expertise. If you do so, you will do a great job with Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines.
Besides, by doing this, your website’s authority will increase, and you will be able to build strong trust among your audience. And all this together makes Google’s E-E-A-T update.
