- The way Google determines a site’s credibility and rank can be remembered by the acronym EEAT: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
- The best ways to improve EEAT include providing transparency, create positive brand reputations, the use of credible sources, current high quality content, backlink building, and the monitoring of user-generated content.
- Boiling Point Media is a full service marketing agency that includes these SEO practices.
E-E-A-T in search engine optimization (SEO) is an acronym that stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. These elements are what Google uses to determine whether or not a site is credible enough to have an effective result that will help users. With that being said, E-E-A-T is not considered a ranking factor, HOWEVER it can impact the rank of your site’s content because it is the guidelines that Google uses to determine if your site contains high-quality content. If you’re new to the world of SEO, then you might have a lot of questions, like how is E-E-A-T determined, or what does YMYL stand for and how is it related to E-E-A-T and SEO? Whatever your questions may be, keep reading to learn the ins and outs of E-E-A-T, how to improve your E-E-A-T, and where you can find a marketing agency whose services include improving your site’s E-E-A-T via SEO strategies.
Why is E-E-A-T Important?
There’s a saying in marketing and especially in the world of SEO that “content is king”. The written content on a website is how Google categorizes a site, determines if it is a site that can help answer a lot of search queries, etc. Like we mentioned above, E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, and all these factors combined in the content on your website means a better chance your website will rank high in Google’s eyes, therefore leading more clients to your site.
YMYL & E-E-A-T
YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life” and is used as a guide to pages that have been classified as impacting your finances, health, safety, or happiness. These types of pages are held at the highest E-E-A-T standards because these are the pages that are created to impact the user’s health, happiness, etc. In regards to YMYL pages, Google has said, “We have very high Page Quality rating standards for TMTL pages because low-quality TMTL pages could negatively impact a person’s happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.”
Types of YMYL websites include:
- Groups of people
- Claims about ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, veteran status, etc.
- Shopping
- Product featured sites, services that involve a purchase, etc.
- Civics, government, law
- Information that relates to voting, government agencies, social services, legal advice, public institutions, etc.
- News and current events
- International events, business, politics, technology, science, entertainment, sports, etc.
- Health and safety
- Advice on health/medical issues, etc
- Finance
- Financial advice, or information on taxes, retirement, loans, banking, insurance, investing, etc.
How is E-E-A-T Determined?
In July of 2022, Google updated their guidelines for how Google rates sites giving the acronym E-A-T, standing for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. However, this past week, Google has added yet another “E” to the acronym, now making the guidelines E-E-A-T which stand for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Let’s dig a little deeper!
Experience
Google has added yet another dimension of trustworthiness to assess search results. Regarding this update, Google said, “some situations where really what you value most is content produced by someone who has first-hand, life experience on the topic at hand.” Experience differs from expertise in the way that experience reflects only real-life, first-hand experiences. Let’s break it down a little bit more. Imagine there are two reviews for the same restaurant. One review is from someone who has personally been to the restaurant and experienced its atmosphere. The other review is from someone who has only ordered delivery from the restaurant, but still talks about the atmosphere. Who are you going to trust more–the reviewer who was actually IN the restaurant, or someone who just talks about what it might be like?
Expertise
Expertise refers to the level of expertise the creator of a page has, like if they’ve gone to school for the topic in discussion. However, Google also recognizes that a person who writes content for a page can be considered an expert in the topic at hand even without any formal training. When asked to clarify the Expertise quality rater guidelines, Google responded with, “Some topics require less formal expertise. Many people write extremely detailed, helpful reviews of products or restaurants. Many people share tips and personal experiences on forums, blogs, etc. These ordinary people may be considered experts in topics where they have life experience. If the person creating the content has the type and amount of life experience to make them an “expert” on the topic, we will value this “everyday expertise” and not penalize the person/webpage/website for not having “formal” education or training in the field.“
Authoritativeness
Authoritativeness refers to the authority of the creator of a page. Now, authority can be defined as a person or even an entire organization having power/control in a particular area of expertise. A site that has high authority is considered highly reliable. Now with that in mind, many sites don’t have the authority on the topics they write about–and that’s actually alright, as long as it’s not a YMYL page. Google aims to provide users with the best possible results for their search queries by asking “Who is the best source when it comes to more information on this topic?”
Trustworthiness
With the addition of Experience in the rating guidelines, Google has reinforced the importance of Trustworthiness. In fact, Google has said that trustworthiness is the most important of member E-E-A-T. Pages that have a low E-E-A-T are considered untrustworthy pages, regardless of how experienced, expert, or authoritative it may seem. Without trust, there isn’t a good relationship between customers and companies.
6 Tips to Improve Your E-E-A-T
Now that you know what E-E-A-T is referring to Google’s algorithm, here are 6 tips from experts on how to improve your E-E-A-T.
1. Provide Transparency
By providing transparency on your website regarding who wrote the content and who you are, tells Google that you are a legitimate source of knowledge for the topic at hand. Simply adding an About Us page or Who We Are, etc. can greatly influence how Google views your content because you’re being transparent about your level of expertise.
2. Create Positive Brand Reputations
Your online reputation impacts your site’s trustworthiness. A way to create positive brand reputations would be like responding to any negative reviews, or keeping an eye out for bad press and addressing it promptly. Claiming all your brand’s profiles is a great way to ensure someone else doesn’t try and claim your brand’s profiles, spreading slander.
3. Update High Quality Written Content Regularly
Google receives an incredible amount of data each day, making yesterday’s content considered more outdated than today’s. Aside from the influx of new written content from thousands of websites, tools also get updated, sites get removed, new roles are created and Google updates their algorithms AGAIN. Adding new, high-quality content regularly will greatly increase the respect Google has for your site.
4. Use Credible Sources
Experts use credible sources, period. The information that’s on your site should come from real data provided by credible sources. Links on your website that go to other credible websites proves that you know what you’re talking about.
5. Build Your Backlinks
Speaking of links that are connected to your site, building your backlinks are another way to prove your credibility and expertise.
6. Monitor User-Generated Content
Many sites use different viewpoints from people to help generate trust throughout new and recurring customers. However, it’s important to monitor everything that’s on your site, ensuring there are multiple user-generated content viewpoints so that all the content isn’t coming from the same person or group of people.
Improve Your E-E-A-T with Boiling Point Media
With nearly 15 years of marketing experience, Boiling Point Media has knowledge and experience with what makes a site’s content high-quality. We have achieved position zero multiple times for multiple clients through our SEO E-E-A-T strategies, reaching the ultimate goal of position zero more than once. Our team of SEO and media managing experts can help your business achieve zero position rankings by increasing your E-E-A-T. We have numerous advertising services on our marketing agency side including SEO, SEM, brand development, custom jingles, content creation, marketing research, transparent reporting, and more. We also have numerous film production services on our film studio side including visual effects, virtual productions, and more. Visit our website to learn more about us and who we are, send us a message online, stop by in person, or give us a call to discuss how we can help your company reach its boiling point.
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