E-A-T is within the top considerations for page quality when it comes to Google rankings.
E-A-T first came to the SEO world in 2018. But the principle is NOT a ranking factor in itself, but a principle that signals to the algorithms (and human visitors) that you are a worthy source of information.
Google says:
Note (Updated March 2020): Since we originally wrote this post, we have been occasionally asked if E-A-T is a ranking factor. Our automated systems use a mix of many different signals to rank great content. We’ve tried to make this mix align what human beings would agree is great content as they would assess it according to E-A-T criteria. Given this, assessing your own content in terms of E-A-T criteria may help align it conceptually with the different signals that our automated systems use to rank content.
But it isn’t just about content.
E-A-T is an algorithm that Google applies when they come to crawl your site. This principle is not limited to copy or to blogging either. There are design, UX and other elements that Google looks at to determine if you are ticking the E-A-T boxes.
It is good to note that there are going some instances where websites are more weighted towards two of the principles. There are then others that need to work equally hard on all three. But more examples of this will be touched upon throughout this article.
Regardless of whether you are a blogger, business website owner or a Government department, the E-A-T principle applies to you if you want to be “discovered”. In this section, we are going to give you some essential advice to support each area of E-A-T.
It is as simple as that. Now, some websites, including businesses, industry spokesmen and brands, need to show expertise in their field. This is to ensure that consumers interact, hire and purchase from them versus a competitor. These websites will showcase their knowledge at every point. Usually, accreditations, qualifications and possibly awards are openly displayed wherever possible. Case studies and content creation also go towards ticking the E box; even the team page with individuals and their qualifications or experience can help.
There are other websites where the owners may be knowledgeable on a topic or even fan-based. These sites include bloggers and magazine-type sites where the E in E-A-T is not as easy to come by because of the angle they are coming from.
It just means if I am looking for “how to polish a dent out of my car”, it is more likely a video on YouTube from a reputable car manufacturer or sales website:
Will come up over a blog of a car enthusiast. Unless that enthusiast has 50 years of experience in the field and has shown this to their readers and the search engine bots. But that is another conversation.
This means not only do you have to showcase your knowledge, but you also need to back it up and give a face to it.
To give more authority to what you are saying, you need to show the expert behind it and not leave the author as admin or Team [COMPANY NAME]. Google is building profiles of individuals as they crawl the net, so they want to obtain everything you put out online to determine if you are an authoritative source.
This element can take you beyond your website. What other public channels do you and your employees have? Do you all speak with authority about the topics you would be expected to write about across the WWW? Do they all marry up from LinkedIn to Twitter, articles in the online press, or your blog?
For example, in a legal firm, you will have several lawyers and solicitors, all with their own fields of expertise. Showing who these people are and then adding their content to the site within their specific area nurtures the websites and individuals’ authority ranking.
Trust lives and dies by whether you are not only practising what you preach but whether you are keeping your website visitors safe when they do discover you.
Trust is particularly important for eCommerce sites that are asking for personal and payment data from their customers.
These principals cross over in many areas, so you can’t just focus on one area. For each new page, post, product and more, you have to look at the E-A-T principle as a whole.
For more information on the E-A-T principal or to receive an audit and recommendations for your site, please contact The Typeface Group or order a FREE basic SEO performance review now.
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