Written by Market My Market’s content team, with contributions from Tyesha Ferron, Hannah Kernal, Katie McLoughlin, Lindsay Bennett, and Jordan Kimmel
For many people, search engine optimization (SEO) is an unwieldy beast that requires some cryptic process to tame. Even just thinking about SEO can make certain people exhausted, but it is a fundamental part of growing a business. While SEO can be challenging to grasp, your odds of success are great if Google’s E-A-T principle is one of the core tenets of your SEO strategy.
E-A-T is a critical component of SEO today, and understanding it is crucial to improving the rank of your website in search results. E-A-T is also one of the most confusing aspects of SEO, even to industry experts. When all you may need is a clear set guideline for how it works, it’s easy to get confused amidst the sea of material out there. To learn everything you need to know about Google’s E-A-T principle, read this comprehensive guide.
Contributed by Tyesha Ferron, Content Writer
Google’s E-A-T: What Is It?
E-A-T is an acronym for “Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness,” which is far more qualitative than quantitative. This is extremely important because, according to Google’s General Guidelines, E-A-T was never intended to be incorporated into the search engine’s algorithms or updates. Instead, it’s supposed to be a practice every content creator on the internet is meant to follow.
By following E-A-T, it is almost impossible not to prioritize the end user’s overall experience. If someone is trying to find information, showing them you have credentials or expertise related to the topic is more likely to help your website rather than harm it. Additionally, by writing about a similar topic exclusively and granularly, your website and its associated authors will more plausibly appear to be authorities on the given subject.
Demonstrating your website as a source of trustworthy information is also vital. While some websites gain popularity by being outspokenly satiric, this is not the case for the vast majority of pages or blogs. The end goal for Google is to give users the information they want on a platform they’ve learned they can trust.
Contributed by Hannah Kernal, Content Writer
How Does E-A-T Affect Your Google Ranking?
E-A-T is not a direct Google ranking factor because it is not a measurable score that will push your rankings up or down. However, it is a concept that can still affect your content’s ranking. According to Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, having expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness is “very important.” Implementing E-A-T in your content may affect your Google ranking in the following ways:
- Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness all contribute to determining other actual Google ranking factors, making it essential to SEO strategy and having well-informed content
- E-A-T indirectly impacts your ranking because it serves as a framework for high-quality content, which Google rewards
- Readers are more likely to interact with content that effectively utilizes E-A-T, which will encourage Google to rank it higher
- Google is dedicated to eliminating low quality, misinformed content, so using E-A-T is essential to rank well
With Google’s commitment to push accurate, trustworthy pages, it is impossible to avoid using E-A-T in every piece of content you produce. While E-A-T itself is not a ranking factor, it does positively impact your content if you utilize it. Furthermore, if you do not use E-A-T, it will negatively affect your content’s ranking. Ultimately, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness are essential to your audience, SEO strategy, and Google ranking.
Contributed by Katie McLoughlin, Content Writer
4 Ways to Improve Your Website’s E-A-T
While there are many ways to improve your website’s E-A-T score, your primary goal should be creating high-quality content. If you focus on quality over quantity, your content may naturally contain many E-A-T principles. Some ways to improve your website’s E-A-T score include the following:
- Include author information in every post: Transparency is a vital part of trustworthiness. Build trust in your website by letting your readers know who wrote or reviewed your content.
- Have and maintain an “about” section on your site: An about section can help explain who you are and why you are an authority on the content you post. Including credentials such as your team’s years of experience and accomplishments can help you establish your authority and expertise.
- Link to reputable sources: One way to show your expertise is to use accurate and reputable data in your content. Linking to news articles and sites that end in .org or .gov can help establish credibility and improve your E-A-T.
- Edit and add to existing content: It can be helpful to go through older content to make sure it is up to E-A-T standards. Adding reputable links and refreshing content to include updated and more relevant information can improve the quality of your content as well as the accuracy of your information.
When writing content, it is essential to consider the needs of your audience. Producing trustworthy, credible, and fact-checked content will not only improve your E-A-T score but can also help you establish a level of trust with your readers.
Contributed by Lindsay Bennett, Content Writer
Contact the Content and SEO Professionals at Market My Market Today
SEO professionals use the E-A-T guidelines to better inform their content creation process and produce top-of-the-line content Google is more likely to rank well. At Market My Market, our experts take a holistic approach to SEO and content marketing by utilizing E-A-T as a framework to ensure your digital marketing goals are met. With years of experience, our best-in-class team can evaluate your site to determine the gap. Then, our industry experts can write SEO-focused content—with E-A-T guidelines in mind—that helps you stand out from the competition.
Your site will only be as valuable as the effort you put into it. Fortunately, with a digital marketing team on your side, that process can be easy. At Market My Market, our team is standing by to assist with all of your marketing needs so you can focus on what matters most. Call us at (866) 270-2250 or complete our online contact form to learn more about how we can help you.
Contributed by Jordan Kimmel, Content Lead
