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Date of Publication: 18 Mar 2023
E-E-A-T to improve content quality and search ranking
E-E-A-T may not directly have a bearing on your search ranking. But it is a set of guideline the quality raters follow to improve the search algorithm. So if you can structure your content accrodingly you may get a great result.
In this blog let us undersatnd the elements of E-E-A-T and how to leverage the guidelines.
Anirban Guha
Digital Marketing Expert | Media Strategist | Entrepreneur
Table of Contents
• E-E-A-T does not directly influence serach ranking.
• E-E-A-T are set of guidelines with which the quality raters judge the relevancy of a webpage in the SERP against a search term.
• E-E-A-T can help you improve your content quality and eventually your ranking.
What is E-E-A-T?
Content development has come a long way. Spinning tools and now GPT4, have taken content creation to the next level. With GPT4 and further technological innovations in AI the volume of content created across the internet is likely to explode. It comes very difficult of search engines to identify contents to be ranked on the SERP.
To solve this, Google has previously come up with Search Quality Rating guidelines, so that quality content gets ranked based on a concept called E-A-T. Expertise – Authority – Trustworthiness.
With AI taking giant leaps, Google since December 2022 has added another element to the guidelines. The element is Experience. Thus Google Quality Rating Guideline have now become E-E-A-T.
Google employs third party contractors, Quality Raters, who assist Google in the evaluations of websites that appear on search results. Every year, they manually check lacs of landing pages with regard to their relevance to the respective search query. They then provide feedback to improve the search algorithms for better and relevant results. These feedbacks are based on the four elements, E-E-A-T.
The most important element of the four in E-E-A-T is the ‘T’ – TRUST.
As a reminder, these guidelines (E-E-A-T) are what are used by our search raters to help evaluate the performance of our various search ranking systems, and they don't directly influence ranking. They can also be useful to creators seeking to understand how to self-assess their own content to be successful in Google Search.
Let's Breakdown E-E-A-T
Experience
This is the new ‘E’. Since December 22, google added this new element for quality raters to evaluate the quality and relevance to a webpage.
So through experience what does Google wants the quality raters to evaluate?
Say, for example, you love following blogs about the latest smartphones. Would you not like to follow the blog of a person who has actually got the phone and tested its features?
Google now caters to this set of content creators who can provide first-hand experience about a particular topic. Be it travel, fashion, cars, etc, if someone is searching for something specific, the search engine page results would promote content from a source that has real experience on the particular topic.
For e.g, when write about different facets of digital marketing through my blog AG’s Digital Tales, I try giving examples, personal experiences, try using technical jargon to an extent and make it understandable to a beginner. And offcourse give reference about where I have got a particular information from.
So what are you good at?
Think original. It could be a ‘me too’ but your experience ought to be different from others. Build your content so as to share your own experience on the topic. You need to do a lot of introspection to understand what you can do to build value so that the reader can get a share of your experience from the content.
“Do you have firsthand or life experience on the topic?”
Tips to demonstrate Experience
- Share personal experiences
- Include examples
- Reference sources
- Use technical language and explain
Expertise
To evaluate expertise the quality raters reviews the creator the content in a page. They check whether the conetnt creator has any expertise, qualification or credibility rtealted to the topic.
There is a place for ‘everyday bloggers’. These content creators may not have expert credentials but can provide useful information on a topic. For e.g. let;s take the case of a food blogger. A food blogger is some who goes to restaurants, shacks, joints and eateries to taste their food and share their review. The bloggers doesnt need to be a chef or a culinary expert.
Similarly, say someone is reviews an ayurvedic personal care products. She writes reviews about the products and people read them and follow them.
While, there are serious topics (YMYL Contents) where google have strict rules, for these everyday experts the quality raters rate their content well.
To demonstrate your expertise you need to understand your audience and have a keyword strategy that matches your area of expertise. Say for example you run a blog on Modern Indian History. So your expertise is in Modern Indian History. so choose keywords that match modern India History. Simply doing content and keywords around history would not fare well. Because when it comes to medieval history or International history you do not have that following.
So you need to come up with useful blogs more often on a regular basis sticking strictly to a genre or niche. This will help you build your expertise in the eye of quality raters and eventually the search ranking algorithms.
“Do you have professional training, knowledge, or skill?”
Tips to demonstrate Expetise
- Know your audience
- Choose keywords from your niche
- Research and publish elevant & useful content
- Blog often with regularity
- Use infographics, stats & models
- Do videos – DIYs, Informatives, Tutorials etc.
Authoritativeness
To demonstrate authoritativeness you need to build a reputation in your niche/industry. It is:
- Do you train people?
- Do other experts rely on your content?
- Do other experts in your industry certify or talk about you?
- How many quality backlinks do you have?
Basically, it is about proving your authority in your area of expertise. Say, for example, you are a blogger who reviews films. So how many film portals be it of publishers, production houses, celebrity posts on social media, or online film magazines mention your reviews on their article or blog and give a link to your web page? Having these backlinks will enable you to prove your authoritativeness. So you need the relevant audiences and experts to know you, look at you as a leader in your industry, and accept you as a good source of information.
“Are you the go-to source for the topic?”
Tips to demonstrate Authoritativeness
- Build quality backlinks
- Leverage social media plaforms
- Get into online conferences
- Bulid you topical authority
- Do a lot of Digital PR
Trust
Trust is the most important element for quality raters to evaluate your webpage. It evaluates the main creator of the page and the website to gauge its trustworthiness.
Here the raters check for factual accuracy. It checks for security,
- Is the domain secure?
- Does it protect users’ personal information?
Another, important factor when it comes to trustworthiness is the reviews. While positive reviews boost your trustworthiness, on the other hand, if you have a lot of negative reviews, the search engine will evaluate your site to be of low quality and impact adversely the search results.
“Are you factually accurate? Are you secure?”
Tips to demonstrate Trustworthiness
- SSL certificates
- Reviews
- Deal with negative reviews
- Have data compliance
- Privacy policy, refund & returns policy and terms & conditions
- Include Name-Address-Phone information
What is YMYL Content?
The acronym YMYL stands for Your Money Your Life. Google is strict about YMYL topics because these contents can have a significant impact on the health, financial stability, safety, and/or well-being of the reader.
YMYL topics include: • Finance • Health • Current Affairs.
Check page 12 of the Google Search Quality Rating Guidelines. There you will find the YMYL classifications in details.
Search Quality Rating Guidelines by Google
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About the Author - Anirban Guha
Anirban Guha is an MBA graduate from Amity University, Noida. Starting his career with The Times of India Group, he has spent over 16 years in advertising and has been the founder-director of an award-winning digital marketing agency, Tejom Digital for over 6 years. He has worked with some of the top brands in India and beyond. He is an expert in creative design and digital marketing. He is passionate about helping businesses reach their goals. Beside his professional life, Anirban is an avid reader, a movie buff, a passionate gardener, an art enthusiast, and a foodie.