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What Is E-A-T and Why It's Important For SEO
In this article, we will dive deeper into this question and discuss the impact of E-A-T on SEO with some experts who participated in our Twitter Chat:
at Serpstat
of Hum JAM
at Go Fish Digital
at Hill Web Business
at RemcoTensen.nl
at Holistic SEO & Digital
at Serpstat
at Yıldırım Sertbaş
1.1 E-A-T: A Focus In Google's Quality Rater Guidelines
1.2 What Does E-A-T Stand For?
2. The Impact of E-A-T On SEO
2.1 E-A-T as a Ranking Factor
2.2 How Does E-A-T Influence Google Results?
3. How to Optimize E-A-T From an SEO Perspective?
3.1 Short-Term Measures
3.2 Long-Term Measures
Conclusion
1. What Is E-A-T?
1.1 E-A-T: A Focus In Google's Quality Rater Guidelines
A team of about 10,000 Quality Raters is hired by Google to continuously classify thousands of websites according to the Quality Rater Guidelines' criteria. With this data, Google can review whether the search results have improved, i.e., whether the listed pages with keywords are ranked in correlation to the Quality Rater Guidelines criteria.
In 2018 for the first time, a version was published that intensively describes quality criteria based on the E-A-T principle. This was followed in August 2018 by a Google Core Update, which caused strong fluctuations in search results in the medical field. Although far more than just pages with a medical character were affected, the update was called "Medic Update" by the SEO branch at that time.
Nevertheless, most site operators will not avoid this issue if they want to benefit from valuable search engine traffic in the future.
Now, if you want to rank well on Google, you need to build your brand's expertise, authority, and trust. You should always take it into account!
As it can't be defined, I believe we can put it on a checklist and be fairly accurate with what we think Google wants ... we are smart #SEO's! LOL!
1.2 What Does E-A-T Stand For?
E-A-T is the abbreviation for three central terms: Expertise - Authoritativeness - Trustworthiness.
Depending on the topic, formal quality criteria are more or less important. Topics that significantly influence health, legal, or financial aspects of life require expertise from Google's point of view, which can be formally proven by qualification and training.
- Google describes these topics as YMYL — your money, your life:
- Nevertheless, practical life experience is not ignored. This is especially important beyond the YMYL pages:
- Google even considers personal experiences if these correspond to the search intent:
"Look for reviews, references, recommendations by experts, news articles, and other credible information created/written by individuals about the website […] Look for information written by a person, not statistics or other machine-compiled information. News articles, Wikipedia articles, blog posts, magazine articles, forum discussions, and ratings from independent organizations can all be sources of reputation information. Look for independent, credible sources of information."
The more independent voices are added up, the more an author is seen as an expert on other sites. The more positive reviews for good experiences with a company are reported, the higher the level of expertise is considered.
As in link building, the relevant context is decisive here. Expertise must be proven for those topics that a website should be listed in the Google search results.
- YMYL sites must also meet higher requirements than private websites:
Furthermore, the correctness of statements is contributing to credibility. If false statements or unreasonable objections against an established consensus of other experts are accumulated, the trustworthiness of content decreases.
I don't see how truthfulness as a factor could ever not be a legal risk to Google. And the reality for the most part is dynamic as hell. Truth finding is a constant process, more than a list of facts.
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2. The Impact of E-A-T On SEO
2.1 E-A-T as a Ranking Factor
Followup: There is no EAT algorithm.
We do use a variety of signals as a proxy to tell if the content seems to match E-A-T as humans would assess it. In that regard, yeah, it's a ranking factor.
It's almost like we look for signals that align with expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. We should give that an acronym like E-A-T and maybe suggest people aim for this. Oh wait, we did :)
But there are overlaps between some of the things that the GQRs look at and the signals/features that G uses as factors.
Things like Bio Links etc., Google does not have a specific system or different handling of those links, but it does use links.
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2.2 How Does E-A-T Influence Google Results?
Let's see the insights that were published in one of the Google articles:
Nevertheless, it is possible to work towards a new form of public relation and presentation. If the Quality Rater Guidelines describe the main mission that Google is working towards, then it makes sense to base all SEO measures on these quality guidelines.
It is possible to start with small steps: existing expertise has to be highlighted and transparency about the site operator and authors in the background has to be established.
E-A-T is a communication term with quality raters to let them evaluate a source in their own personal metrics.
3. How to Optimize E-A-T From an SEO Perspective?
3.1 Short-Term Measures
For the E-A-T principle, it is essential that it is clear who is running the site. An imprint is a minimum, which in some countries worldwide is already a legal requirement. It is better if there is also an informative About Us page and structured data is used to make information available in machine-readable form.
Pages containing substantial information should mention a specific author. This author should also be identified within the structured data. Ideally, an author box should link to an author detail page. This page should provide further information about the author's experience and qualifications that enable him or her to give advice. If the author maintains social profiles, these should also be linked. Structured data can be used to store all information in machine-readable form.
If the website is dealing with YMYL topics, there should be telephone contact options in addition to an email and postal address. Ideally, the telephone number should be clearly visible on each page and also be marked with structured data.
If no experts are working in your own company or if there is a lack of reputation, it is legitimate to cooperate with experts. For example, experts can be recruited to publish guest articles on your own website. Freelance journalists with expertise in a certain range of topics can also be engaged.
1. Contribute to smaller publications. But make sure you choose blogs with authority and create great content to establish yourself as an expert.
2. Find an author whose authority is high and ask them to write for your blog.
You need the connection of the entity. Those author boxes need to point to all social profiles and would recommend a bio link that links out to all of your sites for node connections.
Correctness of content:
- avoid misspellings/typographic mistakes;
- don't include falsehoods/erroneous information.
Term coverage:
- use words/terms/phrases that are commonly associated with the topic/subject — incluse "entities" (names, places, etc.)
Reference sources:
- add citations to relevant and established/trusted sources — you may be perceived as more knowledgeable.
Citations:
- try to be seen as a reliable/trusted source, inbound links may be seen as indicating expertise;
- create snippets of content quoted could potentially do similar? (Overlaps with Authority?)
But it's all guesswork.
Other systems look at things like the presence on platforms, answer to question ratios, duration of the activity, the number of answers per period, any "votes" or approvals (or disapprovals), appearance on trusted sites/publications, qualifications, etc.
- Exist on other websites as the main content creator.
- Have a consistent definition with the positive sentiment on the surface of the web.
- Create Information Gap.
- Use unique visuals and styles of content.
- Use badges, certificates, years of experience, and news.
3.2 Long-Term Measures
The Quality Rater Guidelines emphasize the importance of reviews. In the long term, it should be ensured that there are more and mainly positive evaluations. It is forbidden to incentivize evaluations, i.e. to combine them with something in return.
However, depending on the business model, it is possible to invite customers to write reviews in the after-sales process. Positive business relationships deserve a "thank you", which can be combined with a little attention and an invitation to write a review. Who could decline to give feedback at this moment?
Negative reviews should be reduced by paying attention to a customer-centered service that takes criticism as free advice and reacts to it with optimization measures.
Both for the website and for the authors themselves, a reputation should be permanently worked on. The most important means for this is the generation of links and mentions. This requires a profiled corporate identity and a good network.
Both can be addressed through clear marketing messages and participation in professional discourse at trade fairs, conferences, and industry events, and in the digital area through interviews, guest post articles, and much more.
- check website backlinks and get relevant ones from authority sites that are critical for higher search engine rankings;
- look up the sources of your competitors and gauge the quality of their backlink profiles;
- monitor your site backlink health and strategize on your link-building campaign with Serpstat.
- Provide links to reputable sites.
- Get links from authoritative websites.
- Ensure a great user experience.
- Establish your brand and drive traffic with social media.
In case visitors find relevant content, which resonates with their needs, they will spend more time on your website and promote it to friends. This factor rocks for Google!
But as with Expertise, we can look around. Aside from links, there are established/suggested methods for identifying measuring authority — we do it socially all the time!
- Trusted sources: appearing on, and/or receiving links from noted/reputable sources may count more than others.
- Longevity: are there mentions, quotes, citations, and/or links dating over time? Is there a degree of consistency?
- Consistency: is there a history of topical content from that source?
- Prominence: does that person get to present, appear on panels, etc.?
Conclusion
The major challenge is to make this expertise visible to the world outside. Whoever accepts this challenge will gain a decisive competitive advantage in the future and be successful in organic search in the long term.
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