What does E-A-T mean?
To know what E-E-A-T means, we will first briefly explain to you exactly what E-A-T without an extra E means. The abbreviation stands for Expertise, Authorativeness and Trust. Google uses E-A-T as a guideline to better assess search results and show the most reliable information.
Expertise
An expert is you the moment you have gained a lot of experience and knowledge within your field. This can often be inferred from your profession. In a particular field, you are an expert yourself if you have many years of work experience here.
Authoritativeness
Authority is all about being considered authoritative by others within your field. Good indicators of authority are backlinks to your content from other experts within your field. If an expert marks your content as interesting by linking to it, Google sees that as proof that your content is strong and relevant.
Trustworthiness
When you are trustworthy you will treat confidential information respectfully. You are consistent and you will not do anything that could harm another person. This manifests itself in your online presence by offering content that is respectful and contains the right information. According to Google, when your contact details are easy to find and you also have reliable reviews from customers, these are indicators of the trustworthiness of your online content.
Why Google (E)-E-A-T is becoming increasingly important
The focus on user experience is incredibly important to Google. The moment you are presented with poor content that does not meet your information needs with every search, you are more likely to drop out. So Google focuses heavily on the user experience. Because bad content is often still published where very strong backlinks go, this bad content will still rank high. So then you as a user are dissatisfied when this bad content comes up in the search results.
This already shows how important it is for Google to rank relevant, honest and well-written content by an expert higher. As a result, Google is increasingly forced to incorporate the thinking behind E-A-T into its algorithm. So that is the ultimate reason why Google E-A-T will become increasingly important.
Google is progressive in this and always evolving. For more than 20 years, Google has consistently made changes to its algorithm. On average, Google presents 2-3 updates a year. On behalf of Breda-based full-service marketing partner Rubberplants, we empower many clients in the field of online marketing.
The main change in the E-A-T guidelines
Google’s last update released on 15 December 2022 was a document with 176 pages of content. That’s a hefty tome. No need to go through these yourself, we have already done that for you and worked out the most important change for you. The most significant change in the Search Quality Ratings document is the addition of the E of Experience to the existing E-A-T guidelines.
The introduction of E-E-A-T
Google is now introducing the concept of E-E-A-T:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trust
By adding “Experience”, Google now indicates that the quality of content is judged partly by the extent to which that content is first-hand. This is really about the personal experience someone has. Or rather, the more the content comes first-hand from the person themselves, the sooner Google sees this content as relevant and rewards this in the Google results. Because if you have experienced it yourself, then you are someone who can write about it with experience.
Is E-E-A-T affecting your ranking in Google?
Your website will be assessed by Search Quality Raters. These people use the guidelines to test the performance of Google’s ranking system. Ranking of content is done based on the Google algorithm. This algorithm of Google is designed to show useful, reliable information. It is a formula that assigns certain values to websites to then show the best results for the search query entered.
Evaluators provide feedback on the performance of this system. Are the results shown useful and reliable according to the reviewer? Based on this feedback, certain facets may change to Google’s algorithm, ultimately displaying the most useful and reliable information. So indirectly, this does affect your ranking in Google.
When is my website E-E-A-T-proof?
At Google, the user is always the focus. So it’s important to start thinking from that user’s point of view and optimise your online offering for that. The most important question you can ask yourself when improving your website is the following:
“Can I fulfil the promise I sell online?”
Google prefers to rank companies where there is a certain certain certainty that a company can deliver on its promises.
Key ways how you can make your website E-E-A-T-proof:
- Get quality backlinks and mentions by websites with authority. Links are better in terms of SEO than just a mention, but still a mention can help in better meeting E-E-A-T guidelines.
- Get a good online reputation through online reviews, awards and recommendations from experts in your field. Substantive reviews carry more weight than reviews in which only a rating is given.
- Have content on your website written by experts and name (preferably on a separate page) the author, his function and a short biography.
- Make sure all the facts you mention are true. Work with good sources and references. This way, you make it easier for Google to check the sources.
- Make sure your content does not go out of date. The information contained in your content should provide the right information for the reader
- Be transparent in your expressions and include the following pages in your website:
- A well-stocked FAQ page
- Easy-to-find contact page
- Extended About us page;
- Privacy statement and Terms and conditions;
- Secure connection (SSL).
Need help with E-E-A-T?
Not quite getting there by yourself and need help improving your Google rankings and online find and visibility? Then contact Rubberplants or drop by our beautiful office in Breda, we would love to help you!
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