Someone telling you to E-E-A-T might need clarification if you are new to SEO. They’re not telling you to get three square meals a day, but instead, a core principle of the Google Quality Rater Guidelines.
Introduced in 2014 and originally just Google E-A-T until 2022, it stands for experience, expertise, authority, and trust.
With high-quality content, backlinks, and search intent being the top three ranking factors in 2024, you want to make sure that you are implementing E-E-A-T to stay at the top of your game [AIOSEO].
Keep reading, and we’ll introduce you to the key principles of Google E-E-A-T and how you can implement them in your content.
What is E-E-A-T?
Google’s E-E-A-T framework forms part of its quality rater guidelines. These help to determine the quality of a site and its overall relevance and value to users. E-E-A-T is what it uses to measure the quality of uploaded content, and it stands for:
- Experience
- Expertise
- Authority
- Trust
Initially, the acronym was just E-A-T, but in 2022, Google added an extra “E” for experience, helping to demonstrate companies and creators that have first-hand knowledge of the topic that is being covered to users.
We’ll look at each part in more detail as we keep going.
Why is E-E-A-T Important?
So, why should you factor Google E-E-A-T into your content creation strategy? Here are three key reasons why It is so important to implement E-E-A-T correctly, and the potential benefits it can bring to your content quality and SEO strategy.
Improves Content Quality
By following all of the tenets of E-E-A-T, your content will naturally be of a higher quality. This, in turn, will influence positive reactions to your content.
Leads to Higher Engagement Levels
One of the main reasons Google E-E-A-T works so well is that it focuses on human-first content. This means that the page was created with human users in mind, not just to fulfill the needs of a search engine algorithm.
This leads users to better engagement with the content, potentially leading to conversions and backlink opportunities.
Increases SERP Performance
E-E-A-T forming a part of the quality rater guidelines means that content that conforms to it will usually rank higher by Google than content that doesn’t. This, in turn, will boost the SERP performance of your pages.
It is important to remember that Google E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor, but it does improve the relevance of your pages and, subsequently, their performance in search.
What Are the Google Quality Rater Guidelines?
The Google quality rater guidelines is a document that Google sends to its ~16,000 employees worldwide. Their job is to monitor and assess the quality of search results on its platform. The Google quality raters score queries based on the criteria given in the Google E-E-A-T guidelines and to what extent they meet users’ needs.
The raters then provide feedback based on the tasked searches they have completed, allowing Google to improve the overall search experience.
1. Experience
Experience factors are the author’s first-hand experience with the subject being covered in the content. For example, suppose you are looking to find the best air fryer for your kitchen. In that case, you will want to review content from someone who has tested the air fryers and has some experience with cooking rather than someone who is simply writing about their features with no real-world experience of how each model works.
Take me—the author of this post—as an example. My years of tenure as a content writer mean I have experience understanding how different content approaches and SEO content strategies can make or break the pieces I write. Not only that, but I have proven experience writing about SEO topics, as you can see from my author page.
How to Meet It
There are some simple ways to demonstrate you can meet the “experience” section of E-E-A-T.
- For instance, in the author’s bio, you can highlight specific projects or experiences related to the covered topic. This will give readers a clear understanding of the author’s relevant experience.
- Does the content directly reference the writer’s experience with the topic?
- Or, can you provide “behind the scenes” images and content to support the first-hand experience being discussed?
2. Expertise
Expertise demonstrates the amount of knowledge an author has about the topic they are writing about or covering. The more in-depth and knowledgeable the content, the more likely it is to be rated highly using the Quality Rater Guidelines.
For example, a piece on a health issue written by a medical doctor is likely to contain more facts, information, and research pertinent to that topic than if it had been written by a general copywriter and is more likely to be trusted by the reader.
How to Meet It
- Consider enlisting the help of expert guest bloggers who can write about their specialist subject for you.
- Back up your content with relevant facts and statistics, and include your own data and research where applicable.
- For instance, in the bio section, you can mention the author’s qualifications, years of experience, or specific achievements that demonstrate their expertise in the field. This will help establish the author’s credibility with the readers.
3. Authority
Authority is the metric Google uses to see whether a company or piece of content is seen as an important and go-to place for information on a given topic.
The more engagement a site has and the more meaningful visits it receives on its pages, the more likely it is to be seen as a good, authoritative source.
Google also monitors the backlinks a page or site receives from other websites as a ranking metric. The more regularly other trusted sources reference and link to sites, the higher their authority and search ranking are likely to be.
How to Meet It
- For example, you can reach out to other reputable websites in your industry and ask them to link to your content. This will not only increase your site’s authority but also drive more traffic to your pages.
- Reduce bounce-back rates by providing helpful information that answers users’ queries in an efficient and informative manner.
- Build up a portfolio of resources on your “expert” topic for users to navigate through.
- Build a brand or author profile as an expert in your field.
- Create a solid content strategy that consistently meets the needs of your user base.
4. Trust
Trust is considered to be the lynchpin and most important factor behind the Google E-E-A-T system. It is built by meeting the other criteria — experience, expertise, and authority. Doing so demonstrates your site as a trustworthy and reliable source to users.
How to Meet It
Other ways to increase trust include:
- Generating positive user reviews for your site, content, and services.
- Being transparent about every aspect of your content and user experience.
- Providing ways to contact and interact with your brand and business.
Monitoring for Success
There’s no explicit E-E-A-T ranking you can reference to make sure you are doing a great job with your content. But here are some general tips to ensure your efforts are as successful as possible.
- Make sure your technical SEO is on point—ensure your site loads seamlessly, images and files are optimized for swift loading times, and navigation is intuitive for users.
- Curate your existing content to make sure it meets the Google E-E-A-T criteria. Check its relevance to user needs and that it demonstrates the expertise and experience of your writers and contributors throughout.
- Update with schema-rich content — this helps to provide enriched search results, including details such as author information, which can help to fulfill the E-E-A-T criteria.
- Use structured data — this assists Google in easily assessing the E–E-A-T score of your website and content.
Key Metrics to Track
Here are some metrics you can use to determine whether your E-E-A-T content overhaul is producing the desired results.
- Engagement levels — the number of people actively engaging with content on your page.
- Time spent — the time spent on a particular page.
- Conversion rates — the number of users that complete a desired outcome, such as subscribing to a newsletter or making a purchase.
- Search ranking — usually, once E-E-A-T enhancements have been completed, you can see an increase in your page’s search ranking.
- Organic search traffic — creating quality content that meets users’ needs usually leads to more clickthroughs from organic search queries.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
When creating Google E-E-A-T-friendly content, there are some things you want to avoid. Here are some misconceptions and mistakes you may come across.
- Overuse of AI content — while AI content isn’t prohibited by Google, it won’t do you any favors in generating quality content and meeting E-E-A-T. For example, an AI can’t demonstrate the expertise and experience that a human writer can.
- Not citing the sources — to show trust and transparency, make sure to cite the sources of any quotations, images, or unique information you are using from another business or site.
- Neglecting your reviews — you can’t show trust without engaging openly with your customers. Make sure to reply to reviews and feedback, even the negative ones, in a constructive manner.
- Not updating content—If you do not review and update your content regularly, the credibility of the information provided could be up for debate if there are changes in your industry or around the topic being discussed.
Wrap-up
So, to meet E-E-A-T, think of detailed content created by those who know their stuff on an easy-to-navigate and user-friendly site.
If you need assistance in upgrading your content and creating a robust content strategy for success, talk to us here at AnjasDev. Our SEO experts and copywriting wizards can help you meet E-E-A-T for high-quality pages your users will find valuable.
