E-E-A-T Explained: What it Means and Why it Matters to SEO
To ensure content is helpful and relevant, Google has recently added an extra “E” to the search quality standards of E-A-T.
E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, and the added “E” stands for “Experience.” To rank high on Google’s SERPs, you must demonstrate E-E-A-T in your content strategy.
In this comprehensive guide, we will dive deeper into E-E-A-T and discuss what it means, why it’s crucial for SEO, and how to use it to your advantage.
Demonstrating E-E-A-T to Google
E-E-A-T is a quality signal, and it feels reasonable since, in the real world, we trust qualified and authoritative sources. Trust is earned by exhibiting experience, expertise, and authoritativeness. Venn Diagram demonstrates how E-E-A-T works, where experience, authority, and expertise overlap in the middle, resulting in trust.
To gain momentum in search engine results pages and elevate your website to prime positions, demonstrating E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is essential. Based on three years of research involving more than 4,500 participants, Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab has assembled a set of ten principles for establishing online credibility.
These guidelines can help website administrators, SEOs, and marketing teams develop E-E-A-T right now.
Levels of E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T has three levels:
Page Level E-A-T refers to the E-A-T signals on a particular page.
Domain Level E-A-T refers to the E-A-T signals on the website’s domain.
Brand Level E-A-T refers to the E-A-T signals present for the overall brand
.
SEO Tips for Achieving E-E-A-T
To achieve E-E-A-T, you must follow the guidelines mentioned below:
- Experience: Highlight your expertise by introducing the individuals behind your website. A carefully crafted About Us page can effectively display your team’s credentials and qualifications. This approach aligns with the web credibility guidelines set forth by Stanford.
- Expertise: The author’s expertise or authoritativeness on a subject counts considerably toward demonstrating expertise. To demonstrate the author’s expertise, you can add their name, a descriptive bio containing their relevant qualifications, and links to their social media profiles.
- Authoritativeness: To demonstrate authoritativeness, you can add external links to reputable sources in your content.
- Trustworthiness: Make it easy for visitors to find information about your business, contact information, and privacy policies. Add testimonials or reviews from satisfied customers to establish trust.
In addition, Google’s search quality raters guidelines clarify what experience entails. For instance, would you rather trust advice on home electrical rewiring from a skilled electrician or an antique home enthusiast without knowledge of electrical wiring?
Regarding the WordStream article, the site may have had enough power on the subject of Google E-A-T to rank with an unknown writer.
Authoritativeness
Authoritativeness refers to the extent to which a content creator is considered a go-to source on a topic. Authority is closely linked to expertise and experience; you can only be an authority on a subject with these two.
There are three core ways to demonstrate authority:
- Building a strong content architecture that covers all aspects of a topic.
- Establishing a digital profile or personal brand as an expert in a particular field.
- Earning backlinks from other authoritative websites.
Establishing subject matter authority is beneficial in both online and offline contexts. For example, if an SEO consultant could inform you about keywords, you might perceive them as authoritative.
Their authority would increase if they could confidently discuss backlinks and technical SEO. Their authority would be significantly higher if they could showcase their expertise with case studies (experience) and connect SEO to other marketing strategies.
To exhibit authoritativeness, a comprehensive content strategy that addresses all potential questions or concerns from site visitors or customers is essential. Create and implement a plan that demonstrates E-A-T in every piece of content.
The more high-quality content Google indexes, the more authoritative your website becomes on a specific topic.
Publishing genuinely helpful content aligns with Stanford’s web credibility guidelines. By doing so, you naturally satisfy crucial elements, such as ensuring user-friendly site navigation, regularly updating content, and avoiding errors of any kind.
Backlinks From Authoritative Sites
Although backlinks carry less weight than they used to, they still indicate an authoritative site. You can be trusted if someone links to your site referencing information you published.
Earning backlinks from other authoritative sites is also an indication of trustworthiness. However, it is essential to note that authority pertains more to topical authority relating to expertise and experience rather than domain authority.
For example, Google recognizes PushLeads as an authority in SEO. A search for “SEO publications” ranks PushLeads on page 1. At the bottom of the SERPs, Google associates PushLeads as an SEO source.
As a trusted website, a link from PushLeads to an article carries some weight. Google knows it can trust PushLeads regarding SEO, so an external link to a topically appropriate website (such as an SEO study or research) will indicate that the linked site can also be trusted.
See also: Five New Features Have Been Introduced With The GA4 Homepage Experience.
Building a Digital Profile or Personal Brand
Establishing authority and expertise on a particular topic is possible if you can show Google who you are and what you do.
An SEO consultant and speaker, Sara Taher, has achieved this successfully. Taher’s knowledge panel clearly states she is a “Canadian-based SEO consultant.”
The panel displays the social links and shares details of her authored pieces.
It is evident that Google regards Taher as an expert in SEO. Consequently, it comes as no surprise that Taher’s articles secure the top position in Google for SEO-related subjects.
Trustworthiness
Trust is established by showcasing experience, expertise, and authority in aggregate. Building E-E-A-T is a long-term process, and website owners must be mindful of these core pillars when creating a content strategy for SEO to work correctly.
Levels of E-E-A-T
E-A-T encompasses a wide range, with some websites exhibiting higher levels of E-A-T than others. Google’s search quality rater guidelines provide insights into what E-A-T looks like at various levels.
The objective is to attain the highest possible level of E-A-T, but each website must progress through these levels over time, which could take years.
As long as websites produce genuinely helpful content, most will not have low E-A-T. Pages with the lowest E-A-T typically appear spammy and untrustworthy to users.
Consider pages with the following characteristics as untrustworthy:
- Insufficient information about the website or content creator for its intended purpose
- Lowest E-A-T or reputation
- Deceptive purpose, page design, or intent
- Intentionally obstructed or obscured main content (MC)
- Features of scams, malicious downloads, or other harmful behavior
- Webpages or websites designed to manipulate users into actions that benefit the website or another organization while causing harm to the user, others, or specific groups
Evaluating E-E-A-T Deficiency
According to the rater guidelines, a website can lack E-E-A-T on a particular subject despite having a positive reputation elsewhere. Page and topical relevance are of high importance.
For instance, it would not make sense for a cooking website to provide a download tax form. Even if the cooking website is otherwise trustworthy, the topical relevance is low, and it is no longer relevant.
- Pages with low E-E-A-T often need to meet the appropriate level of experience, expertise, authority, or trust required for the page’s topic or purpose. Examples of low E-E-A-T pages include:
- Pages where the content creator lacks adequate experience or expertise
Pages where the website or content creator is not an authoritative or trustworthy source for the page’s topic - Pages where the page or website is not trustworthy for its purpose.
It is essential to note that a Low rating should be used if the page lacks appropriate E-E-A-T. This is the only consideration, such as a positive reputation or the type of website, that can overcome a lack of E-E-A-T for the page’s topic or purpose.
Achieving High Levels of E-E-A-T
Websites with high levels of E-E-A-T demonstrate experience, expertise, authority, and trust. Google describes high E-E-A-T websites as including news or government sites, highly relevant videos, small business websites, and blog posts.
To achieve high levels of E-E-A-T, here are some tips:
- Consider page experience and ensure that your website’s functionality is top-notch.
- Showcase your experience and credentials by having an About Us or Team page.
- Link to authoritative sources and include different types of content, such as videos, podcasts, and webinars.
- Build topical clusters and use internal links to make your content more useful for your audience.
- Try to get a Wikipedia page and engage experts to write content or contribute to your website.
- Encourage reviews to provide proof of your expertise.
In conclusion, E-E-A-T is a crucial factor in evaluating content quality. Treat your web users like your offline customers, know their needs, and serve them. Keep your website updated, and you should have no problem achieving decent levels of E-E-A-T, providing value, and building trust at every step.
Read Next: The Importance of Content Strategy: 5 Reasons Every Business Needs One
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