Only EEAT Guide You’ll Need

In today’s era of misinformation and clickbait content, search engines like Google are continuously looking for ways to improve the quality and reliability of their search results. One of the main initiatives Google has undertaken is developing guidelines around the concept of E-A-A-T – Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.

E-A-A-T represents the core criteria Google uses to assess the overall quality and trustworthiness of websites and content. It refers to the level of expertise, authoritativeness and trust that is conveyed both by individual pages as well as the site as a whole.

Optimizing for E-A-A-T is becoming increasingly important for SEO success. Websites that rate highly on E-A-A-T tend to earn Google’s trust and be rewarded with higher rankings in search results. On the other hand, sites with low E-A-A-T are more likely to get penalized or downranked during Google updates focused on content quality.

So what exactly does Google look for in evaluating a website’s E-A-A-T? Expertise refers to the depth of knowledge and proficiency demonstrated about a topic. Authoritativeness relates to whether a site is widely recognized as a credible and influential source on its focus area. Trust refers to the confidence Google has in a website based on its reputation and transparency.

While E-A-A-T sounds straightforward in theory, practically improving it can involve significant work. In this guide, we’ll break down the specific steps you can take to optimize your content and site for each aspect of Google’s E-A-A-T guidelines. By following an E-A-A-T-driven content strategy, you can improve search visibility and strengthen your site as a respected authority.

Introduction

• E-A-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is a key part of Google’s search quality guidelines.
• Following E-A-A-T guidelines can help improve your content quality and search rankings.
• This summary covers what E-A-A-T is, how Google uses it, why it’s important for SEO, and how to implement it on your site.

What is E-A-A-T?

• E-A-A-T is an acronym summarizing Google’s core criteria for high quality, trustworthy content.
• The criteria focus on assessing a website/content creator’s Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
• E-A-A-T helps Google identify content that is accurate, credible, and created by genuine experts on a topic.
• Bing has a similar concept called Quality and Credibility (QC).

How Does Google Use E-A-A-T?

• Google created E-A-A-T guidelines in 2016 to protect users from misinformation, especially on YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics.
• The search engine doesn’t directly measure E-A-A-T. Instead, Google quality raters use the criteria to assess algorithm performance.
• Raters check whether content comes across as highly authoritative and trustworthy. This human feedback trains Google’s algorithms.
• There’s no E-A-A-T score you can check. Focus on optimizing for the criteria directly instead.

Why is E-A-A-T Important for SEO?

• E-A-A-T helps inform Google’s overall quality assessment of your site and content.
• Adhering to E-A-A-T can make Google more likely to trust and reward your pages with higher rankings.
• E-A-A-T content creates a better user experience by being credible and reliable. This aligns with Google’s goals.
• Optimizing for E-A-A-T is completely white hat, involving no shortcuts like keyword stuffing.

Breaking Down E-A-A-T

Experience

• Experience reflects your hands-on knowledge about a topic earned through direct involvement.
• Share personal experiences, case studies, customer testimonials, and real-world examples to highlight experience.

Expertise

• Expertise shows in-depth mastery of a topic, often proven through credentials like degrees, certifications, training, etc.
• Thoroughly detail author/creator qualifications and credentials (e.g. through author bio pages).
• Use relevant schema markup to highlight expertise.

Authoritativeness

• Authoritativeness reflects your consistency as a source on a topic with external recognition and endorsements.
• Build authoritativeness through high-quality backlinks, positive reviews/mentions, engagement metrics, branding, etc.

Trustworthiness

• Trust refers to positive reputation, transparency, honesty, and credibility as a publisher.
• Foster trust by sharing info about your business, avoiding black hat SEO, and aligning with Google’s guidelines.

Implementing E-A-A-T on Your Site

Improve Trustworthiness

• Share detailed company information (address, phone number, founder info, etc).
• Create pages explaining editorial guidelines, content philosophy, and review process.
• Use schema markup to link to official business profiles and convey transparency.

Demonstrate Expertise

• Create detailed author bio pages highlighting credentials, qualifications, education, and experience.
• Use schema markup (e.g. knowsAbout, alumniOf) to further convey author expertise.
• If needed, have authoritative external reviewers vet and endorse content.

Reflect Experience

• Use compelling language conveying hands-on knowledge and direct experience with topics.
• Include unique images and media (e.g. from social media) to prove first-hand experience.
• Share case studies, testimonials, and real-world examples demonstrating expertise.

Build Authoritativeness

• Produce high-quality content that earns links/mentions from authoritative resources.
• Monitor social and search trends to create content on currently popular/relevant topics.
• Gather positive reviews and testimonials, increase engagement metrics, and leverage branding.

By optimizing for E-A-A-T across your website through detailed author/creator information, relevant schema markup, compelling on-page content, and recognizable authority building, you can improve Google’s assessment of your content quality and expertise, earning more trust and higher rankings.

Here are some more tips for improving your E-E-A-T score with Google and Bing:

Expertise

• Make sure author bios clearly convey qualifications and expertise. List credentials, education, training certifications, and relevant experience.
• Have authors link back to profiles on authoritative external sites related to their field of expertise.
• Use the knowsAbout and alumniOf schema markup properties to highlight author expertise and credentials.
• Recruit some guest authors who are recognized industry experts to contribute high-authority content.
• Interview credible experts in your niche and quote their insights in articles. Cite properly.
• If budget allows, hire an expert consultant to review/factcheck your content for accuracy.

Experience

• Include behind-the-scenes images and videos that demonstrate first-hand experience with using specific products/services.
• Share original research studies and surveys your business has conducted or commissioned related to your field.
• Write detailed case studies of projects and clients showcasing real-world experience.
• Create comparisons of before/after scenarios for topics where you have hands-on transformation experience.
• Use language conveying personal stories, observations, lessons learned, eyewitness accounts, etc.

Authoritativeness

• Build links from respected .edu, .gov and .org sites related to your industry.
• Gain backlinks from known authoritative sites through guest contributions of articles.
• Request testimonials from satisfied clients/customers and industry peers.
• Encourage engagement through comments, forums, polls and social sharing of content.
• Register your website/brand in relevant industry directories and listings sites.
• Maintain an active social media presence and build followers/engagement on those platforms.

Trustworthiness

• Make sure your real business name, location and contact info are displayed prominently.
• Ensure your website has clear branding related to your business/industry.
• Publish and follow an editorial policy detailing your content philosophy, ethics and practices.
• Disclose owners, authors, and editors identities and credentials prominently.
• Avoid paid links, hidden ads, hype or sensational claims. Focus on transparency.

Optimizing for E-A-A-T takes effort but pays dividends in improved quality signals. Use a combination of author expertise, hands-on experience, authoritativeness building and trust signals tailored to your site and niche.