Over the years, Google has specified many guidelines for content writing to ensure that it is helpful and relevant to readers. Back in 2018, the Medic Update shined a light on Search Quality Rater guidelines and placed an emphasis on page and content quality.
What was previously E-A-T (expertise, authority, and trustworthiness) is now E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness), which prioritizes the human experience for content that is valuable to readers.
Understanding the Components of E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T, or “Double E-E-A-T” is a new feature of Google’s updated Search Quality Rater Guidelines. The premise of the update explores how content producers can write content that not only contains reliable information but also captures the nuances of how people seek out information. This should ultimately lead to diverse content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
Learn more about these qualities and how they can be incorporated into your content below:
Experience
Experience is going to be essential to content in a world that is moving toward generative AI. Incorporating the true human experience into content is something that AI will never be capable of, so this personal touch will help add to your credibility. At best, AI will be able to predict what the human experience is like, but we all know that this is incredibly different from actually living it.
For this reason, it is no surprise that experience is a new feature of the popular E-A-T acronym. By incorporating the element of experience, it is possible to:
- Illustrate that there is a real organization behind your website
- Highlight your organization’s expertise in both the content and services you are providing
- Demonstrate that credible and trustworthy people are the ones delivering the information
These tactics all match up with Stanford’s web credibility guidelines, and can easily be done by adding a page to your site that defines your team’s expertise and credentials in your particular niche or industry.
If you are struggling to find a direction in which to take this content, consider asking yourself what you would want to see in a company before you purchase its products or services. Then, you will see the power that the true human experience can add.
Expertise
Building the trust your audience has can lead to positive engagements across your site, building your industry credibility. Expertise refers to the extent of knowledge your writers or writing team can present. Demonstrating authoritativeness can also portray expertise, but authority alone cannot change the way that some featured snippets rank.
Therefore, expertise should be prioritized, as it will adhere to Google’s content guidelines and also increase the reader’s perceived confidence in your company.
Consider adding the following components to your content to demonstrate expertise in your industry:
- Author name (and author bio boxes to the bottom of your blog posts)
- Relevant qualifications
- Links to social media (if applicable)
- Schema markup
Authoritativeness
When you look at authority, you explain the extent to which a creator has a reliable reputation in a certain area. It goes a level above the previous two qualities, as it looks beyond your formal training and expertise. If you train, certify, or inform experts in your industry, you are considered authoritative.
Ways to demonstrate your authority include the following:
- Create a strong content structure that explores all aspects of a single idea
- Build backlinks from other reputable websites
- Establish a digital profile or personal brand that exemplifies you as an expert on a particular topic
In a way, authority, experience, and expertise all work together. Therefore, putting in the effort to show authority can also help fill your experience and expertise requirements, and vice versa.
Trustworthiness
Lastly, we explore the idea of trustworthiness. At the end of the day, you will see that trust is built by establishing your authority, expertise, and experience. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully build the foundational pillars as you develop content strategies for your digital marketing efforts. From here, the rest will fall into place.
Concrete Ways to Enforce E-E-A-T Across Your Website
If you are still concerned about your ability to portray E-E-A-T or just want to continue to learn about it, use the following as a checklist (or to-do list) for completely optimizing your website:
- Consider the user experience and make your site accessible to all (add alt/title tags to your images, for example)
- Get technical by reducing 404s and fixing duplicate content
- Demonstrate your experience with an “about us” or “meet the team” page (and don’t be afraid to brag a little, if that’s what is going to help you be seen as trustworthy)
- Link to authoritative sources and share the sites that are useful in helping you create your content, like this one
- Create new content to show Google that you are actively engaging with your audience and staying current with trends
- Update your content frequently to demonstrate that you are keeping your information accurate
- Build clusters of topics to keep your diverse content organized
- Practice internal linking
- Try diversifying your content with videos, podcasts, and webinars
- Encourage your customers to leave reviews and testimonials to prove your expertise
While this list may seem extensive, the reality is that you are probably doing some of it already. And if you are not, that is okay! Our team can provide the strategies you need to help you improve your content quality over time.
Stay Informed on Digital Marketing Updates Like E-E-A-T
Overall, keeping your website organized with consistent information across channels can really provide value to your audience, therefore improving the credibility of your content and company as a whole.
If you want to chat more about E-E-A-T or SEO in general, be sure to reach out, as our team would be happy to engage with you. Otherwise, sign up for our newsletters for more updates like this one!
