When it comes to ranking higher on Google these days, it’s about more than just picking out the right keywords and sprinkling them through your meta and page content.
Today, you have to prove you can be can be trusted. For content creators, that means aligning with Google’s EEAT concept, which stands for:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
According to Google, pages demonstrating these characteristics are more likely to offer a higher accurate, honest, and reliable answer for searchers—important when searching “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) topics like your retirement or healthcare questions—and a better page experience overall.
Although not a direct ranking factor in Google’s ranking algorithms, “many of the factors that go into its calculation are ranking factors,” says Search Engine Land. That means pages able to demonstrate these four points will have a head-start in climbing the rankings.
So how can you create content that aligns with EEAT and gets gobbled up by searchers? Our digital marketing experts offer up some thoughts on this important SEO concept.
3 Ways to EEAT Better on Your Website
Again, there’s no one EEAT number or metric to watch—it’s more of a mindset that needs to be in place every time you create content for the web.
That's because it's getting harder to fool Google with your content. Its algorithms can now handle natural language queries like questions, and its crawlers are able to build a more nuanced understanding of your webpage’s content and intent. It can understand a webpage’s relevance to an audience, and how deeply and accurately it’s written.
Gone are the days of using lots of keywords in hope you'll get to the first page. Google is now prioritizing webpages with clear, authoritative content users can trust. But how do you show that on your website?
1. Include About Us information on every page
A big part of establishing expertise and authority is knowing the author. Make sure your website has an About Us page, and preferably author information at the bottom of every blog page. Show Google who you are and why people should listen to you, and even consider linking out to your social media accounts. You’ll build valuable trust that could translate into clicks.
2. Establish your expertise in more than one way
Like a good reporter, Google likes to see multiple sources when establishing your expertise and experience. That’s why it pays to post or upload examples of your experience in different formats—maybe a YouTube video showing how to use a tool, or an image gallery showcasing your creative work.
You could also ask your customers or fellow experts to leave you positive reviews on Google, LinkedIn or anywhere else applicable to your work. This serves as a public notice to Google that you have experience and can generate good outcomes.
3. Work with experts or quote them in your work
If you’re not writing your own content, or bringing content together for a broader, topic focused website, make sure you’re involving experts in your field. Either give them an authorship credit (and run their bio) or even just quote them in your work. This will help Google make that tie between experts and your company—if you work with trustworthy people, you’re probably also trustworthy.
Of course, Google's search algorithm is constantly evolving, so don't consider your work done after this. Building your authority—much like SEO itself—is a never-ending task. The good news is you don't have do it alone. Our Digital Marketing experts can make sure your content strategy always aligns with the latest search practices. Just reach out!
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