GOOGLE'S E-A-T: INCREASING YOUR EXPERTISE, AUTHORITY, AND TRUSTWORTHINESS TO RAISE SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS

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When Google started releasing more information about their search engine algorithm, Google's E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) became a popular topic among SEO professionals. Website owners are expected to increase their expertise, authority, and trustworthiness to rank higher on Google searches. This blog post will explore Google's E-A-T and why it is important for website owners to focus on increasing these three aspects of Google's search engine algorithm.

GOOGLE'S E-A-T EXPLAINED

Google's E-A-T can be summed up by Google's three main objectives in the search engine algorithm: – Deliver more relevant results to Google searchers – Improve relevancy for users and advertisers – Promote high-quality content on Google Search. Website owners should focus on increasing their expertise, authority, and trustworthiness to Google search engine rankings. Google's E-A-T is not a black and white concept but instead can be described in a gradient with three levels of quality:

WHAT ARE THE THREE COMPONENTS OF GOOGLE'S E-A-T?

E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness and is not an update or an algorithm. It’s a principle. Expertise, authority, and trustworthiness are the first of many factors Google considers when determining a website’s ranking in search results pages. And we all know that if you're not on the first page, you’ll likely not be seen. It has been an important one as far back as businesses existed on the web - which can be evidenced by the use of what was called rel=author before they dropped it in 2014. Since the Google Core Update of 2018, there have been plenty of articles on E-A-T, but a lot of them just repeated expert opinions instead of looking for evidence. As a digital marketer, you must understand that Google refuses to disclose how the algorithms work publicly. This article can't give you a recipe for success, unfortunately.

IS E-A-T A RANKING FACTOR?

The most important question is whether E-A-T is a ranking factor. This is hard to answer. Google’s Gary Illyes said in his 2019 Q&A with Marie Haynes that Google does not have an internal E-A-T score. That’s why some experts say that E-A-T is becoming irrelevant. But, in the same interview, he explained that increasing E-A-T is a good thing. He also said that several algorithms conceptualize E-A-T. The big takeaway is that there is no single Google update that focuses on E-A-T as a ranking factor. Nor is E-A-T the leading ranking factor after the 2018 Core Update.

WHAT IS YMYL? YMYL stands for "your money or your life,"  and Google deems YMYL websites more critical than others. These sites include medical advice, banking, and financial advice or services website, government-regulated or medically related websites, Google Shopping results pages (formerly known as Google Product Search), legal advice sites like law firm databases that offer case previews, and search tools for consumers, etc.

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT E-A-T IS A RANKING FACTOR?

Another piece of evidence that the E-A-T principles are important is the amount of information about it in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. This document for Google employees who check website quality lists the E-A-T principles.

WHAT IS A SEARCH QUALITY EVALUATOR (SEARCH QUALITY RATERS)?

Google contracts people to rate how good their search results are. They do this by looking at actual searches, then rating the pages that come up in the top results. They are called quality raters. Quality raters cannot change the Google search page. If a person marks a listing as low quality, the page will not be banned or lose ranking. Instead, the data generated by quality raters is used to improve Google’s search algorithms, an automated system of ranking pages. Over time, that quality rater data might impact low-quality pages spotted by raters, but the algorithm will also affect pages that weren’t reviewed. 

SO WHAT DOES ALL OF THAT MEAN FOR A SMALL BUSINESS WEBSITE OWNER?

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As a small business owner, you want to rank higher than your competition in search engine results pages.  After all, that's how you get more business.  Google is using every ranking factor at its disposal, and that includes E-A-T.  If you want to rank well in SERPs (search engine results pages), focusing on E-A-T matters more than ever before. Furthermore, Google's search quality guidelines for Google employees confirm that the E-A-T principles matter.

EXPERTISE, AUTHORITATIVENESS, AND TRUSTWORTHINESS

Google wants to rank websites that are high quality and relevant for their search engine. Google evaluates three main components of Google's E-A-T: – Expertise – Authority – Trustworthiness Each component has a different level of quality, with the highest being at the top, each lower than the one above it. Google grades your site on Google's E-A-T by assessing these three components and assigning them a numeric score, with the higher numbers being better.

Expertise Small business website owners should focus on increasing their expertise in Google search engine rankings.  You can increase your expertise by: – Having Google My Business page – Being active on social media platforms like Google Plus and Facebook, with good reviews.  Google can use this to help determine your expertise in specific business areas you're trying to rank well for in search engine results pages. – Writing content that Google's search engine will understand. Google says your site needs to have expertise in several topics to rank well with Google. Still, Google does say they'll assign more weight to sites where the author is an expert or has demonstrated this by publishing many news articles on one topic. – Any other way that demonstrates the content creator is a subject matter expert.way behind the competition.

AUTHORITY

Small businesses should focus on increasing their authority by: – having a high number of backlinks – being linked from other authoritative sites (such as universities, journals) – having trust and recognition on social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn – If you have a Wikipedia page, it means that you are an essential person or company. It's not easy to get one because you need to be a well-known person/company. But Google says that it is something they think is important, so keep working on getting one.

TRUSTWORTHINESS

– Providing a straightforward way to make contact with the website owners. – Associating the website with a physical location, i.e., your office or store address. – Having a term and conditions page, which is easily accessible to users (usually from the footer). – Making sure your website’s domain is secure. Correctly implementing HTTPS is very important to Google and helps to ensure a 3rd party entity won’t intercept any data your users’ input. – Having a privacy policy that is clearly accessible (usually from the footer). – If you’re accepting transactions, you should have clear refunds and returns policies. – If you’re selling products, try to include comprehensive specifications of the product and include any safety advice that might be relevant. – If you’re sharing knowledge, in general, it's a good idea to have an author biography included and to cite external sources where relevant. Linking out to authority sites is a good thing.

Why should you care about Google's E-A-T?

As a small business website owner, Google's E-A-T is a more significant factor in Google's rankings than anything else. Google assigns more weight to the three components of Google's E-A-T because it strives to provide searchers web pages that are high quality and relevant for their search engine. Google wants to rank websites with what its users want, which is content they can trust, and Google wants them to find the most relevant information. The more Google trusts a website, the higher its place on the SERPs will be.

CONCLUSION

Many factors go into Google search engine rankings. Still, Google wants its users to find the most relevant information possible so it makes sense that they wish to websites with a high level of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Google is all about finding the most relevant information for their users, and Google's E-A-T can help your small business website rank higher in search engine results pages. Google wants to know that you are an expert, have authority within your niche, and a trustworthy business, so they will want to show links from sites with these attributes on Google search engine rankings. Higher Google rankings mean more visitors coming into your site, which could lead to new customers or increased sales.

HIRE AN EXPERIENCED SEO AGENCY

Do you want to increase your E-A-T with Google to increase your rankings, generate more web traffic, and get more sales? Our team here at BlakSheep Creative has the passion, experience, and know-how to make your business stand out, from developing and maintaining websites to social media marketing to content marketing to affordable small business SEO. If you want to increase Google rankings for your small business website but don't know where to start, contact us today for your free consultation.  We'll look at where you stand and create a strategy to better your rankings.