All You Can E-A-T SEO

All You Can E-A-T SEO

For those who don't already know what the acronym E-A-T means, it stands for " Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness". All puns aside, E-A-T's role in Google's algorithm is pretty interesting. These three criteria are part of what Google looks for in a website, helping it decide its ranking in result pages. It was first ever seen in 2014 when the "Search Quality Guidelines" from Google were leaked. However, this was officially released at later date, showing just how important it is to SEO.

The three criteria behind the meaning of this acronym each look for separate things in whichever website is being indexed. 

The first being " Expertise", which literally is checking whether the information on the website is coming from someone who is considered an expert. This just means that the content must actually be of use to whoever would be visiting the site. If per se you are running a medical practice and had pages about different diagnoses, it is then very important that your content is accurate and informative. So make sure that your content is true and can be of help to the people reading it, this is where Google finds it to be good in regard to this first category. 

Onto the second: " Authoritativeness", which is much easier to understand how Google evaluates a website, normally this is either determined by how respected the website is, or the writers. Yes, often times the credentials are taken into account when checking for authoritativeness. It makes sense though, you need to provide proof that you can back up the content on your webpage. There are still ways around it. For instance, if you are hosting a page that is driven by a community, Google's algorithm would check the quality of the discussions, posts, or any form of conversation. If questions are being answered and resolved regularly, this helps immensely. Remember: credentials are great, but they're not everything. 

The "T" at the end of E-A-T, " Trustworthiness", can already give you a sense of where this one is going. Basically, what needs to be done is to prove that your website and the content can be trusted. When your website requires users to input credit card info this is very important, everyone should feel safe using it. Something easy to do right away when improving your trustworthiness is to get that "s" on the end of your "HTTP" (HyperText Transfer Protocol). In order to do this, you need to get an "SSL certificate", which is highly recommended for anyone starting a website. These are purchased from a trusted Certificate Authority such as VeriSign, GeoTrust, Digicert, etc. Once a website has been certified, there are a few changes that are visibly noticeable in the address bar. There is now that much desired "HTTPS" before the URL and also a lock is displayed in the address bar. This lock states that the connection is secure, and, in some cases, when clicked on, how many cookies are being used.

This should give you a basic understanding of what E-A-T is and how you can make use of this knowledge to improve your online ranking. Having a good quality rating on Google is a key factor when trying to be on the top of result pages. We hope this helps get you into gear and start working on becoming a website that offers expertise, authority, and trust in all of your content!