Click here to jump down to our July 2024 update: How Google Core Updates Have Impacted E-E-A-T Guidelines
In December 2022, Google updated their Search Quality Rater Guidelines by adding an extra “E” to its previous acronym E-A-T. What was known as the E-A-T principle is now Google E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience (there’s your new E), Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.
That move has placed a greater emphasis on content that demonstrates this experience and expertise, and rewarding that content with better visibility in search results. As a content creator, this makes E-E-A-T arguably the most important factor you need to consider to rank high in the SERPs.
In this post, we’ll discuss what you need to know about Google E-E-A-T and how to use it to improve your SEO and rank your content better.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
What Is Google E-E-A-T?
The Google E-E-A-T model is the upgraded version of what was previously known as (and is sometimes still called) E-A.T. The change happened in December of 2022, along with a few other smaller updates in Google’s Searcher Quality Ratings Guidelines.
The E-E-A-T concept essentially assesses how trustworthy a particular article may be, based on a few different factors. It evaluates the website itself that published the article, along with the authority of the individual writer.
This is what Google E-E-A-T stands for:
- Experience. This assesses whether or not the author has personal experience with the topic at hand. Examples may be using the product being discussed or working in the field of the topic. It’s clear that there are plenty of “best of” curated product reviews that the author has never actually tested themselves, making them near pointless to read.
- Expertise. Does the content creator have the necessary knowledge or skill for that topic? As Google puts it, “different topics require different levels and types of expertise to be trustworthy.” I’d much rather get advice on insect bites from an actual doctor than from my grandmother, who swore up and down that putting nail polish on tick bites would heal them quickly.
- Authoritativeness. To what extent is the content creator or the website known as a go-to source for the topic being discussed? High-quality authors who create strong content with plenty of references in one subject over time gain authoritativeness. Most topics on a site with .gov in the website address, for example, will take precedence over third-party sources.
- Trustworthiness. Trust is the most important element here, and it determines how honest, safe, reliable and accurate a specific page is. For instance, having secure payment systems, trust badges, honest customer reviews, and accurate informational pages are crucial here.
What Is the Phantom Update?
The 2015 Phantom Update got its name because at first Google would not admit that it happened. They buried their head in the sand and didn’t acknowledge the changes in their search algorithm.
But since then, Gary Illyes, a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, has stated that “Phantom” updates simply mean a broad change to Google’s entire ranking algorithm:
Shortly after the first Phantom Update was released, a copy of the Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines got leaked, and they responded by releasing the whole document in November of 2015.
This doc explains that besides evaluating user experience and penalizing sites for excessive pagination and annoying pop-up ads, Google is also looking at who wrote the web content. In other words, they want to know:
Does the writer of each piece of content actually know what they’re talking about?
That’s where the Google E-E-A-T principle comes into play.
Why Does Google E-E-A-T Matter for SEO ?
E-E-A-T is not just some abstract Google algorithm, it’s huge for the user experience. The better the user experience is, the more they’ll come to trust the results they find in the SERPs. Win-win for everyone: Users, brands and Google.
The reality is that people make huge life, health and purchasing decisions based on what they find on Google. So they want to know that the articles appearing on the first page of the search engine will be reliable and trustworthy and actually give them the information they need.
Suppose you’re reading an article about how to plan for retirement. In that case, you’d prefer the material to be written by a fiduciary with a financial background and not just a freelance writer getting paid $.05 a word who doesn’t even know what the word “fiduciary” means. Even worse, it could be written by a scam company that tricks people into “investing” with them and then just taking their money.
The point is: If people don’t trust that the top information in the SERPs is accurate, thorough and written by an expert, Google will have a huge problem.
That’s why E-E-A-T is crucial for both users and Google.
What’s the Difference Between Google E-E-A-T and E-A-T?
The biggest and most obvious difference between E-A-T and the newer E-E-A-T is the addition of the extra “E.” The new E stands for “experience,” which works to assess how much first-hand experience the author actually has.
It’s common, for example, for well-established sites to have curated lists of “best” products in a niche, everything from The Best Bath Pillows in 2023 to The Best Project Management Tools You Need in Your Tech Stack.
Many of the posts, however, clearly say “other reviews mention” and indicate that they’ve never even tried the products themselves:
These posts are going to be inferior to reviews that come from brands like America’s Test Kitchen, where experts actually put different products in a category to the test:
The other highlight is the emphasis on “trust” as the most important part of this model:
As Google puts it:
“The most important member at the center of the E-E-A-T family is Trust… because untrustworthy pages have low E-E-A-T no matter how Experienced, Expert or Authoritative the content may seem. For example, a financial scam is untrustworthy, even if the content creator is highly experienced and an expert scammer who is considered the go-to source for scams.”
Google’s guidelines have details about how they evaluate the reputation of websites and content creators, including what it means for content to be considered as “harmful.”
You can see these in the examples of low quality pages below:
How to Improve Your Site’s E-E-A-T
Want to rank higher in the SERPs? Then you need to be factoring Google E-E-A-T into your content creation process.
Most brands that are dedicated to publishing high-quality content do this already. They’re either creating quality, trustworthy resources themselves or working with expert writers who are already established in the particular niche.
In addition to that, improving E-E-A-T performance is a process which really runs the whole gamut of search engine optimization, incorporating:
- on-page SEO
- off-page SEO
- technical SEO
Below, you’ll find tips on how to amplify your site’s Google E-E-A-T signals by optimizing each of these three areas.
#1: On-Page: How to Signal to Google That You’re an Experienced Content Creator
On-page SEO involves optimizing individual web pages to rank higher in the SERPs. It signals to Google that you’re an experienced content creator by demonstrating attention to detail, relevance and user experience, which are key factors in how search engines evaluate and rank pages.
A) Publish Content in Your Area of Expertise
The first step to becoming an expert is to create content in your area and level of expertise.
But what makes you an expert? Will Google actually check Harvard files to verify that you’re a professional lawyer before rewarding your content with page one rankings?
Not necessarily. Google explains in their General Guidelines handbook the difference between “sharing of life experience” and “advice best left to experts”:
This category of content is referred to as YMYL topics (Your Money or Your Life), and includes:
- News and current events: News about important topics such as international events, business, politics, science, technology, etc. Keep in mind that not all news articles are necessarily considered YMYL (e.g., sports, entertainment, and everyday lifestyle topics are generally not YMYL). Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale.
- Civics, government and law: Information important to maintaining an informed citizenry, such as information about voting, government agencies, public institutions, social services, and legal issues (e.g., divorce, child custody, adoption, creating a will, etc.).
- Finance: Financial advice or information regarding investments, taxes, retirement planning, personal loans, banking or insurance, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases or transfer money online.
- Shopping: Information about or services related to research or purchase of goods/services, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases online.
- Health and safety: Advice or information about medical issues, drugs, hospitals, emergency preparedness, how dangerous an activity is, etc.
- Groups of people: Information about or claims related to groups of people, including but not limited to those grouped on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.
- Other: There are many other topics related to big decisions or important aspects of people’s lives which thus may be considered YMYL, such as fitness and nutrition, housing information, choosing a college, finding a job, etc. Please use your judgment.
Take a look at Intercom, for example. They’re a customer messaging platform and regularly publish in-depth content on that topic on their blog:
Google is much more likely to view Intercom as an expert in their industry because of this content. And — you guessed it — Intercom is rewarded for their authoritative content with over 185K visitors arriving to their site each month from organic search.
Examples of Expert Content in Various Niches
a) Single Grain
We’ll start with an example from our own blog as proof that not only do we practice what we preach here at Single Grain, but also that focusing on Google E-A-A-T really does make a difference to SERP positions.
In our post on the 17 cheapest ad networks, you’ll notice that we’ve included the date our post was last updated, reassuring readers that the information provided is both recent and relevant:
It’s a small step that can make a big difference when it comes to earning readers’ trust. Elsewhere, you’ll see that we’ve included relevant facts and statistics, backed up with links to the source of those figures:
We’ve also demonstrated first-hand experience by including screenshots, showing that we really have used the tools and platforms we’re discussing:
The result? A coveted featured snippet for the search term “cheapest ad networks” and poll position in search engine results for a number of related keywords:
b) Search Engine Land
Search Engine Land enjoys a reputation as the go-to news source for the SEO industry and a valuable resource of information for professionals looking to keep abreast of the latest developments in the world of search marketing.
The site’s content demonstrates numerous Google E-E-A-T signals, two of which are clearly evident before you even pass the first paragraph of this post about Apple Maps. You can see that, right out of the gate, the writer verifies their claim about Apple announcing Maps Web Snapshots with a hyperlink to Apple’s official announcement:
However, what really impresses us about this one is the way the website sets up their author bios. The by-line includes a link to the author’s profile, and there’s a second link in this well-crafted “About the Author” box.
Here, you can see that the writer runs multiple businesses related to local SEO, making her the perfect candidate to talk about a subject like using Apple Maps to boost your web presence. The box also includes links to her social media profiles to further demonstrate her first-hand experience and expertise in the subject:
Over on the author page itself, we see the same information, but also a breakdown of the writer’s expertise and links to her previous work which bolster her credibility as someone who really knows what they’re talking about.
c) Psychology Today
Physical and mental health are prime examples of YMYL content, especially this piece on the subject of medication. Here, Psychology Today proves that this piece is a reliable source of information by not only showing that the two authors are qualified professionals, but also showing that the piece has been reviewed by a third person:
If you click on the “Reviewed by” link, you’ll be taken to details of the site’s editing standards and guidelines, which explains that the content is reviewed for “accuracy, objectivity and…domain expertise,” by credible professionals, reassuring readers that they can trust the content:
d) Rtings.com
Finally, Rtings.com gives us a great example of how to demonstrate first-hand experience when creating product reviews and comparison pieces.
This post ranks at the very top of organic search engine results for the search query “best gaming laptop”:
One of the things that helps it stand out from other, lower-ranking posts is that they don’t rely on standard stock product images, instead using their own photographs to show that they genuinely have bought and tested the gaming laptops they’re writing about.
How to Prove You’re a Subject Expert
So, how do you create content that proves to Google you’re a subject matter expert? You’ll need to check these 5 things off your content to-do list.
✅ Details
The more details you can include in your content, the more helpful it’s going to be to your users. If you’re writing about a product, for example, then you need to be sure to include all the relevant specifications, pricing information and any other key details that could ultimately influence a reader’s purchasing decision one way or the other.
If it’s a tutorial, every step of the process should be documented. Never assume that your audience will know how to get from step A to step C, so always include step B, even if it seems abundantly obvious. Skipping out these details makes your content feel incomplete and certainly less useful, ultimately resulting in lower search rankings.
✅ Value
An article must contain information of value — whether that’s news, a new development or comprehensive explanations or instructions. This means that the information must be highly relevant to the search query, keeping user intent in mind when answering questions or providing solutions to problems.
It also means providing actionable tips and insights that people can apply to their everyday lives, and ensuring that your content is updated to reflect new developments and maintain its relevance for readers.
✅ Well written and edited
Poorly written content that’s full of errors not only reflects negatively on your reputation as a content creator, but provides little value to your audience. So make sure that your content is written by an author with an excellent grasp of your audience’s native language and the ability to articulate the main points in a clear and engaging way.
That said, even the most skilled writers can miss the occasional typo or spelling error, so be sure to proofread every post before it goes live. If your content can be proofed by someone other than the original writer, like an expert editor, that’s even better, as a fresh pair of eyes can spot mistakes they may have overlooked.
✅ Good user experience
The person arriving on your site shouldn’t be assaulted with ads or pop-ups, and articles shouldn’t be excessively spread out — for example: “30 Things You Didn’t Know about Hollywood. You Won’t Believe Number Seven!” and then spread the content out over 30 pages to force the reader to click “next” over and over.
✅ Showcasing credentials and real-world experience
Highlighting your qualifications and practical experience helps establish you and your site as a credible source of information, demonstrating an in-depth understanding of the subject at hand.
Including your credentials in your author bio can go a long way in proving to your readers that they can trust you, while real-world anecdotes and examples not only provide an additional boost to your credibility, but also make your content more engaging for readers.
It’s worth evaluating your site’s Domain Rating, citation flow, and trust flow using tools like Ahrefs and Majestic as you do this. Track these as your attempts to create authoritative content continue, and watch your SEO metrics skyrocket when Google begins to view you as an expert.
B) Verify Facts and Statistics With Links to Credible Sources
If you want readers to trust you as a truthful, reliable source of information, you simply have to be able to demonstrate that what you’re saying is true.
If you’re stating facts or quoting statistics to prove a point, ALWAYS provide reliable evidence to support your claims.
Not only does this ensure that readers get accurate information from you, it also helps guide them towards further research, boosting the overall value of your content.
Wherever possible, look to quote sources published within the last one or two years. New research and figures emerge all the time, so the more recent your sources, the less chance there is that the information will be outdated and inaccurate.
C) Maintain Transparency
If there’s one golden rule when it comes to fostering trust among readers and search engines alike, it’s this: Be honest.
If you’re writing about brands that you have affiliate relationships or sponsorship deals with, be up front about it. This transparency will be appreciated by audiences who might otherwise be skeptical of your intentions.
Beyond that, providing easy access to contact information is a quick but effective way of maintaining transparency, providing an open line of communication through which readers can raise questions, concerns or corrections relating to your content.
D) Invite Authoritative Guest Bloggers to Contribute to Your Website
Just because you don’t have time to write things, or you’re not the most experienced person in your industry, doesn’t mean you can’t still publish expert content by experienced writers. It’s called guest posting.
You can open up your website to external contributors to help build your library of authoritative content. Freelance writers, guest bloggers and other experts might be happy to write a high-quality piece of content in return for a backlink. And having their name, which is already respected in the industry (and by Google) attached to your website could be the perfect starting point.
For example: Here on the Single Grain blog, we need Google to understand that we’re experts in digital marketing if we’re to improve our search ranking factor for marketing-related topics.
So in addition to creating content with our in-house resources, we also open our blog to guest writers who are experts in the same industry — like this post on quick SEO tactics by Backlinko’s Brian Dean:
In return, Google sees an already-established marketing pro associate themselves with our website. Therefore, some of Brian’s reputation passes onto us, and Google begins to believe that Single Grain is a website run by marketing experts. (Which, spoiler alert: We are!)
To do this for your own website, simply put together a “Write for Us” page that details how an expert can get in touch with you, like ours:
Or use a tool like Emplifi (formerly Social Bakers) to find experts in your industry, and ask whether they’d be interested in writing a post for your website. You might have to give a few contextual backlinks in return, but it’s a sweet deal for the authoritative content with which you’ll impress Google.
E) Create a Strong, Authoritative Bio Page on Your Site
You work hard to make your website appear credible to Google. You’re inviting guest bloggers to contribute and hitting the “publish” button on blog posts you’re truly proud to have written.
There’s one more thing you need to do to cater to Google E-E-A-T guidelines: Create author biography pages that tie your blog posts to a real person.
Remember how we mentioned earlier that Google looks at the expertise and first-hand experience of the person behind each blog post? The author bio page is a simple way to showcase this expertise.
Key elements of a compelling author bio:
- Their qualifications
- Their awards
- The other publications they’ve written for
- Their job title (aka expertise)
- The company for which they work, if applicable
Take a look at the author bio for one of our freelance writers, Ana Gotter. She is an “expert business writer,” a “regular contributor” at well-known websites and she has “multiple marketing certifications.” There’s also a link to her site for more info:
The best part? Some WordPress theme settings automatically create author bio pages for every author on your website. All you need to do is head into the page, write a short description about the person behind your content, and allow Google to crawl it.
F) Consider Using Structured Data to Add Author Info to Your Site
Structured data (also known as “Schema markup” or just “Schema”) allows you to add information to your website in a way that’s easy for Google to crawl and understand.
Here’s an example of how web pages with schema markup for events appear in the SERPs:
To put it simply, it is spoon-feeding Google and telling them exactly who your authors are so they can make connections they may not have otherwise, including recognizing established guest posters.
Here are a few helpful schema markups:
- The organization schema can be useful, especially if your site is already established and often ranks well.
- The person schema is a good one here. It allows you to add author information like credentials or awards earned, occupation and job title, and their brand for Google to read.
- The author schema is also a good one, because it tells Google exactly who has written the content:
You can learn more about how to add author data through Schema markup here.
Related Content:
* How to Prepare Your Site for the New Google Page Experience Update
* 10 Most Important Google Ranking Factors (& How to Optimize for Them!)
* CWV Update: Why Google Keeps Changing How It Measures Your Site’s UX (and What to Do About It)
#2: Off-Page SEO: Strengthening Your Reputation Within Your Niche
Off-page SEO refers to strategies used outside of a website to improve its search engine rankings, like backlink building, social media marketing and influencer outreach, to help strengthen a brand’s reputation within its niche.
A) Improve Your Backlink Profile
Backlinks (literally, links back to your website from other websites) are becoming an increasingly important factor in the world of as search engines view them as a vote of confidence in your website.
As such, it’s easy to see how the quality of your backlink profile can influence the strength of your EEAT signals.
Backlinks from reputable and relevant websites within your niche that have a high domain authority show that you’re not just being endorsed by anyone, you’re being endorsed by the leading brands and figures within your industry, a clear sign of your expertise and authority.
You can use tools like Semrush to analyze and audit your current backlink profile. This will give you an opportunity to identify any low-quality backlinks you may want to disallow.
It will also help you spot any backlinks you’ve lost. Sometimes, lost backlinks can be down to the source website or the individual content being deleted, though other times, it may be that the site remains but the owner or content creator has removed your link for some reason.
By identifying links that have been removed, you can create an opportunity to reach out to the website owners and suggest a replacement.
B) Contribute Guest Posts on Industry Websites with Your Author Bio
One tried and trusted method of bolstering your backlinks is guest-posting. Spreading your eggs (i.e. content) across multiple baskets (i.e. websites) helps you really prove to Google that you’re an author who knows what they’re talking about.
Google looks at the author of each page, so along with making your website more credible, your personal name needs to have a strong connection to your topic, too. For instance, Single Grain CEO Eric Siu regularly publishes marketing articles on other sites, like Entrepreneur:
If you haven’t already, find websites in your industry that are open to guest posts using one of these search queries:
- [INDUSTRY] + “write for us”
- [INDUSTRY] + “contribute”
- [INDUSTRY] + “submit”
- [INDUSTRY] + “guest post”
Then, plug the domains you find into an SEO tool like Ahrefs or Moz Link Explorer to judge whether the site is already well-respected by Google.
I’d advise aiming to guest post for sites with a DR or DA of over 40.
Carefully follow the guidelines that each of these “write for us” pages includes, and work with the editors to create a highly authoritative, detailed piece about a topic in your industry.
Make sure you get a byline (your name) as opposed to “Guest Writer” or under an in-house writer’s bio — preferably with a link back to your site. Do this a few times each month and Google will start to view your name as an expert in your industry. Then start to branch further afield and position your name on sites like:
- SlideShare to publish and promote your presentations
- Medium to publish and distribute your own articles, as well as curate others’ articles
- Contently, an “industry leader in creating, distributing and optimizing content,” that curates your content for you
- Amazon or Goodreads if you’re an author, which lists your publications and reader reviews
Learn More:
* How to Establish Yourself as a Reputable Freelance Writer
* My Site’s DR Is 1.2 but My Article Ranks #1 in Google!
C) Monitor Your Brand Reputation
These days, your online presence spans multiple platforms, websites and directories. These brand mentions do not exist in silo. Together, they paint a picture of your brand and its reputation which the likes of Google take into consideration when assessing the credibility and trustworthiness of your content.
This makes it crucially important that you’re proactive about monitoring your online presence. Use tools like Google Alerts, Mention, or BuzzSumo to receive notifications when your brand is mentioned.
Take stock of all the sites where your company has a profile and set up alerts so that you’re notified whenever a new customer review is published. When you receive these notifications, respond to each review promptly, politely and professionally – even the negative reviews:
Likewise, regularly engage with comments and mentions on social media platforms to maintain an active and positive online dialogue with your audience.
Responding to inquiries, addressing concerns and expressing gratitude for positive feedback not only demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction, but also contributes to building a favorable perception of your brand.
In turn, this perception can positively influence the Google E-E-A-T signals you put out as a content creator.
#3: Technical SEO: Improving Your User Experience
Though Google’s quality rater guidelines focus primarily on content, how your audience accesses that content and the type of experience they have on your website can also impact your reputation as an authoritative or trustworthy source.
Consider the following two factors when optimizing for Google E-E-A-T.
A) Maximize Your Website Security
You could be the most experienced, world-renowned expert in your entire industry, but if your website doesn’t reflect a commitment to protecting your users and their data, they’re simply not going to trust you as much. Your website security is that important.
As a bare minimum, you should at least ensure that data exchanged between your site and your user’s browser is fully encrypted using an SSL certificate.
You’ll know if an SSL is installed on your site because your users can access it using the HTTPS protocol rather than HTTP. This simple “s” in the URL signifies a secure, encrypted connection, providing users with the assurance that their data is being transmitted safely, fostering trust in your website and reinforcing your commitment to their online security:
As of August 2014, Google announced that HTTPS is a ranking signal.
What’s more, it’s worth noting that web users are more likely to perceive your site as authoritative and trustworthy when they see recognizable symbols of security and authenticity such as payment security logos from trusted payment processors can go along way to inspiring user confidence in your business.
B) Optimize Site Speed and Mobile Responsiveness
Last but not least, it pays to consider how the overall user-friendliness of your site affects your reputation. Let’s face it, a page that takes forever to load or doesn’t function correctly on a user’s smartphone doesn’t exactly reflect well on your brand.
If nothing else, it makes you appear less trustworthy and reliable, harming your credibility in the eyes of your readers. Plus, how will those readers even discover all that expertly-written, authoritative content you worked so hard to produce if that content simply doesn’t load correctly or quick enough?
This is why it’s important to make sure your website is fully mobile responsive, meaning it delivers an optimum user experience across all devices and screen sizes.
Elsewhere, consider employing techniques like image optimization, browser caching, and content delivery networks (CDNs) to enhance website loading speed.
By doing so, you’ll not only enhance your reputation with your audience, but also appeal to search engines like Google, whose mobile-first indexing policy means that well-performing sites do better in SERPs.
Final Thoughts on Google E-E-A-T
Becoming an expert content creator according to Google’s E-E-A-T rules will take time and planning, but if you’ve been building your area of expertise for a while, you have likely already laid the foundation for this.
(If you haven’t, start right now. It’s not too late!)
Make sure that you keep the new Google E-E-A-T principle in mind by prioritizing trust above all else as you create helpful content. That’s the central part of the new update, even with the addition of the extra “E.”
Google will continue to look at expert credentials for each new piece of content you post. Establishing your personal and website authority truly is the key to succeeding with content marketing and your SEO strategy.
If you need help producing high-quality content to improve organic rankings, Single Grain’s SEO content creation experts can help!👇
July 2024 Update for Google E-E-A-T Guidelines
After the November 2023 and March 2024 Google core updates, adhering to E-E-A-T has become even more crucial.
Google’s focus is increasingly on providing users with content that not only meets their search queries but also comes from credible and trustworthy sources. This means that websites now need to demonstrate high level of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness to rank well in search results.
With the latest core and spam updates, Google seems to be prioritizing websites that excel in these areas, ensuring that users receive the most relevant and dependable information. The March 2024 core update focuses on:
- Improved quality ranking: Google is enhancing its core ranking algorithms to prioritize the most helpful and original information on the web, while reducing unoriginal content in search results.
- Updated spam policies: Google is updating its spam policies to exclude the lowest quality content from search results, such as expired domains that have been turned into spam repositories and content made at scale using AI tools.
Once the rollout was complete in April 2024, Elizabeth Tucker, Director of Product Management at Google, said users will now see “45% less low-quality, unoriginal content in search results,” which is higher than the 40% improvement Google was expecting.
Is E-E-A-T a Ranking Factor in 2024?
While aligning with E-E-A-T guidelines seems essential for maintaining and improving search engine rankings, E-E-A-T is still not a specific ranking factor. According to Google, its automated systems use “many different factors to rank great content” but of the E-E-A-T aspects “trust is most important.”
Google recommends evaluating your content by asking “Who, How, and Why” to align with what its search systems reward:
Who (created the content)
It’s important for visitors to know who created the content. Here are some questions to ask:
- Is it clear who authored the content?
- Do pages have a byline where expected?
- Do bylines provide further information about the author?
Clearly indicating authorship aligns with E-E-A-T principles and can enhance trustworthiness. Add accurate authorship information, like bylines, where readers expect it.
How (the content was created)
Readers benefit from understanding how content was produced. This is the “How” to consider:
- For product reviews, explain the testing process and provide evidence, like photos.
- Detail any automation or AI tools used, explaining their role and usefulness.
Disclosing the creation process, especially if automated, builds trust. Include such disclosures where appropriate.
Why (was the content created)
“Why” is the most crucial question. The primary reason for creating content should be to help people and provide value to visitors. This aligns with E-E-A-T and Google’s ranking systems.
Creating content solely to attract search engine visits or using automation to manipulate rankings violates Google’s spam policies. Aim to create useful, visitor-focused content for success.
If you follow the above tips and everything we’ve covered in this article, you’ll be well on your way to creating content that aligns with Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines in 2024!
Learn More: Google Search Trends Decoded: What Content Truly Wins?
If you’re unsure where to start, Single Grain’s SEO experts can help you evaluate your existing content and strategies to align with Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines!👇
Related Video
Additional content contributed by David Borgogni.
Google E-E-A-T FAQs
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Why is E-E-A-T important for SEO?
E-E-A-T is important for SEO because it helps determine a website’s rank in Google’s search engine results. A high E-E-A-T score can result in improved visibility and higher traffic to a website.
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How can I improve my website's E-E-A-T score?
Improving your website’s E-E-A-T score requires demonstrating experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness in your niche. This can be achieved by creating content of substantially high-quality, having a professional website design, building credible links, and demonstrating expertise and personal experience through industry credentials and publications.
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What are the components of Google E-E-A-T in more detail?
The components of Google E-E-A-T are:
- Experience refers to a content creator’s first-hand experience with a subject.
- Expertise refers to the knowledge and skills necessary to produce high-quality content.
- Authoritativeness refers to an author or website’s reputation as a credible source of information.
- Trustworthiness refers to an author or website’s reputation for providing accurate and trustworthy information.
For more detail than this, read this entire article!
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How does E-E-A-T impact my website's rankings in Google’s search results?
Google’s search quality raters use E-E-A-T when evaluating the the quality of a website’s content and its relevance to a user’s search query. A high E-E-A-T score can result in a higher ranking and improved visibility in search results.
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Can Google E-E-A-T scores change over time?
Yes, Google E-E-A-T scores can change over time. Google’s algorithms are constantly evolving, and a website’s E-E-A-T score can be affected by new information or changes to the website’s content or reputation. It is important to regularly assess and improve your website’s E-E-A-T score to maintain its visibility in search results.
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What does the acronym E-E-A-T stand for?
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness which are important factors that Google’s quality raters consider when evaluating web content. For websites and creators, it has a major impact on search rankings.
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How do I improve Google E-E-A-T?
Improving Google E-E-A-T requires a combination of on-page optimizations such as adding an author bio showcasing your credentials, and off-page SEO activities such as increasing the number of high-quality backlinks to your site from authoritative sources and guest-posting on relevant high DA sites within your niche.
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When did Google add experience to eat?
Google added the second E to the existing EAT in December 2022, placing a great onus on content creators to demonstrate genuine first-hand experience with the subject of their content.
