E-E-A-T
Google has updated its search quality raters guidelines from what was known as E-A-T, to E-E-A-T; but what does the extra E stand for?
For those who do not know, the acronym E-A-T, stands for expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness and these three key terms help websites to be ranked based on the relevancy that they provide to individuals who are searching on Google. But since its latest update to the term, an additional 'E' has been added, standing for experience, what Google explains as content which demonstrates that the text was made with some form of experience like having utilised a certain product. The reasons behind this addition is that they think that those who have experienced a variety of situations first hand; thus making their perspectives and content, not only relevant but authentic too.
In the middle of experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness; lies one big element and that is trust. The reason being is because unreliable pages have a low E-E-A-T regardless of persuasive they may seem. Some YMYL (Your money your life) topics may be considered to have a substantial amount of E-E-A-T, as long as the content is trustworthy, safe and consistent. Even though these do not have a direct influence on rankings, it does provide Google with feedback to enhance and better its algorithms.
Expertise
Expertise is determined by the search quality raters based upon the main content of a page, does the individual who has written it seem to be an expert on the topic? They also look for everyday expertise which refers to someone who is knowledgable in a specific topic but does not necessarily have expert credentials. An example of this could be a food blogger, who provides extremely helpful reviews for restaurants or a forum participant sharing experiences.
Authoritativeness
Authoritativeness is defined as your overall reputation in the industry, google quality raters are instructed to review the authoritativeness of the creator of the main content, the main content itself and the website. An example would be WebMD, as they are well known for their publication for medical advice, the authors are wellness professionals and they commonly ask doctors and nurses to check their content for legitimacy.
Trustworthiness
The creator of the main content is also reviewed, as an indicator of trustworthiness. You need to be straightforward who wrote your content, edit it as and when to improve factual accuracy and cite trustworthy sources. This could also include a shopping page as classified in section 6.1 of the quality rater guidelines, as by having an insecure connection would therefore redeem the page as untrustworthy. For this reason you need to state that the transactions are secure and encrypted to give customers a peace of mind.
E-A-T (Original)
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
E-E-A-T (Updated)
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
Having worked on a variety of websites in several different industries, Smart Domain Group will embrace this change with open arms as nothing is too challenging for our dedicated and experienced SEO team.
Category:
- Search Engine Optimisation,