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What is E-A-T and Why It’s Important for SEO

What is E-A-T and Why It’s Important for SEO

What is E-A-T? In short, It’s the guidelines that manual Google content reviewers follow to ensure Google algorithms are ranking the right content. Find out why it’s important!

Image by Hebi B. from Pixabay

The Google algorithm is designed to judge whether or not the content of a website is trustworthy and of good quality. However, there’s also a team of people known as quality raters that Google contracts to check search results and ensure that they are the exact thing that Google users need. These contractors check Google searches naturally to be sure about the accuracy of Google’s algorithm. 

Regular updates are made based on Quality Rater Guidelines that they follow. Google review the data from this team of raters to improve the quality of their search results.

Although these Quality Raters are not staff of Google and work on a contract basis, they are trained to understand an excellent search result. The main principles behind the Quality Rating Guidelines that raters use are known as E-A-T. 

What is E-A-T?

According to content creators at assignment help UK, E-A-T is an acronym for the three main principles behind the Quality Rating Guidelines.

E stands for Expertise, A for Authoritativeness, and T for Trustworthiness. 

  • Expertise

This describes the quality of the content. In doing this, Google places more emphasis on the author primarily rather than the organization. Formal quality criteria might or might not be significant depending on the content’s topic.  Suppose it’s a topic related to or has a substantial influence on legal, financial, or health aspects. In that case, Google expects some level of expertise, and this is proven formally by training and qualification. If the author doesn’t have any formal education along that line, then it might be that they have experienced it directly. Topics like these are referred to as YMYL – Your Money Your Life topics/websites by Google. 

  • Authoritativeness

This primarily relates to reputation. In this case, the quality raters are expected to look up the website and the content’s author. The number of independent voices that add up will determine the author’s level of expertise on other websites. Another thing to consider is the number of positive reviews that people give, and the good experiences reported about the company. This will also be used to determine the level of expertise. Websites have to prove their expertise for all the topics that Google list their website on in search results. 

An easy way to boost authoritativeness is for a famous person to author the content within their niche. This could be someone with a previous award in their niche or someone with a large social media following in a niche – which makes them authority figures in their industry. 

  • Trustworthiness

This has to do with a website’s credibility. In this case, Google makes a good case for transparency. Is it clear on the website who wrote the content or is responsible for it? Is it easy to reach out to or contact supporters if there’s a problem? Is there a number that you can reach for quick solutions to problems? 

Also, one thing that boosts credibility is statements being correct. If statements made on the website content are false or objects unreasonably against the established consensus front, the website’s credibility and trustworthiness drop. As easy essay states, there has to be proof that the content of the website is trustworthy. What quality rater do it to look at the whole website and not just specific content. Their focus will be on security updates, editorial policies, and privacy policies. 

How E-A-T Impacts SEO

The question of whether EAT are ranking factors is straightforward, but it doesn’t have a direct answer. In a real sense, it is there to ensure that the Google algorithm follows quality guidelines to provide users’ quality responses. However, it can also affect how the search page results are put together, so in that sense is a ranking factor. 

One thing that isn’t up for debate is that EAT affects websites referred to as YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) websites. The quality of the web pages on these websites is higher than that of non-YMYL websites since they can directly impact the lives of their readers. 

The kind of websites that are seen as YMYL websites by Google have a potential impact on the financial stability, health, future happiness, and safety of their users. Websites like this provide detailed information on financial transactions and finance generally, medical information, legal information, etc. 

Conclusion

E-A-T applies to all websites, whether they are YMYL or not, according to Google. However, the emphasis is on YMYL websites. So, if your website falls under this category, you must be more careful with what you publish on your website. Verify your claims well and make sure that they are correct and cited appropriately. You can go the extra mile to prove the expertise and authority of your content authors. You will be given more priority, and you’ll get more traffic if you can prove to EAT on your website. 

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