What is E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) influence on SEO?

Are you familiar with the term E-A-T in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques? For those of you who may already know about SEO, you probably know about Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness which is abbreviated as EAT.

A principle used by Google to determine the quality of search results. Whether search results are helpful and meet the needs of Google users. All determined in the Search Quality Rater Guidelines created by Google. Let's delve deeper into EAT and its impact on SEO!

What is E-A-T?

As mentioned above, E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Originating from the 168-page Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Its purpose is to help webmasters understand what Google users are looking for on the web.

In short, EAT is a standard or criteria used by Google to curate content on their pages. Is the content on the website of high quality and meets EAT standards? If yes, Google will place it on the first page of search results.

Google aims to make assessments like this to help Google users find the best and most trustworthy content.

Expertise

Expertise means expertise, in the sense of how much the content creator knows about the topic they are writing about. Content created by an expert will be different. This is tailored to the website's niche, if the content is about medical, financial, automotive topics, then the website will also be different.

The expertise of the writer will also differ. However, if the article does not require specific knowledge or expertise, then expertise is not necessary. There is also a term called everyday expertise, referring to content creators who write based on their experiences.

Authority

This is related to the authority or information about the website. If the website is familiar with financial topics and discusses taxation, it will certainly be valued differently from a lifestyle website discussing taxes.

It's no wonder that if you try to search for a specific topic such as toothache medicine, most of the results on the first page will show websites that focus on health. Google's quality raters are responsible for determining authority like this.

Trustworthiness

Assessment of trust is based on who is responsible for the website. Especially if the website has a scientific niche, the responsible party must be clear. Improving this point on the website can be done by how the content refers to trustworthy sources.

The Importance of E-A-T

Speaking of the importance of E-A-T, of course, having E-A-T can provide many benefits for Google users. Users can find specific and helpful content.

For example, if you search on Google and type in beautiful landscapes. Then it's not a problem if you don't find the results beautiful. Because the beauty value is relative.

Meanwhile, E-A-T will be applied when you as a Google user search for specific keywords such as a certain drug dosage. Or legal matters like what is the punishment for a thief in Indonesia, etc.

So, the task of quality raters is to see if the content displayed on the first page contains accurate or relevant information. If not, and not written with E-A-T techniques, the article may drop. It will be replaced by another article that is more accountable.

So in essence, E-A-T is a standard for curating content related to users' lives and money. To avoid misleading users. YMYL (Your Money Your Life) topics will be thoroughly evaluated and filtered by Google. It should be noted that Google's quality raters are humans.

Is E-A-T a Ranking Factor in Google?

The answer is not the only one. E-A-T is not the only determining factor for ranking articles on Google. Because the way E-A-T works cannot be understood by computers. Because those who assess the characteristics of E-A-T are humans. Computers cannot understand the concept of E-A-T like how humans work.

However, this does not mean you should forget about E-A-T. As explained above, if your website niche deals with YMYL content, then you should pay attention to the E-A-T factors in every article you publish.

A real factor to boost rankings is how many backlinks are on your website. How many backlinks are in your content. Backlinks are the easiest to understand and work on by computers.

So, E-A-T will be a factor in evaluation when Google Quality Raters are working to determine if the content displayed on the first page of Google adequately answers user questions or not.

How to Use and Maximize E-A-T

Here are ways to maximize the E-A-T principle in the content on your website. Know the brief explanations:

Create an Author Page

Create an author page or an information page that provides information about who the author of the content article is. Because this will clearly relate to E-A-T. Is the author considered experienced enough in the topic and field they are writing about. This will make it easy for quality raters to assess the quality and accuracy of the content.

Regularly Update and Audit Content

If you have been actively writing articles for a long time, you need to check whether the existing articles are still relevant. Or perhaps they need to be updated with the latest information?

For example, if you have a website that provides ticket and vacation information, you must periodically update prices and all information on your website content. Because everything undergoes changes and developments. This also applies to your website content that suddenly drops in ranking. There may be some information that is no longer relevant.

Reference Quality Content

Make sure your website only uses quality and trustworthy sources. Each industry certainly has its own pioneers and experts, refer to them to create content. This will strengthen the credibility of your content. Additionally, you can also hire writers who are experienced in that topic.

Hire Experienced Writers

You can also hire writers who already have experience in the topic or field your website focuses on. This will add a plus value to the E-A-T concept, so quality raters can assess and consider the content as high quality.

Show Website Contact Information

Include website contact information for the owner or responsible party. This serves many purposes, not only for website audiences but also for Google who may want to provide feedback on your website. It is not uncommon for other website owners who want to collaborate with your website to need contact information.

Conclusion

Those are the things about E-A-T that can be applied to maximize the content on your website. SEO is not something that can be completed in one sitting or overnight. To maintain your website on the first page of Google, a solid and consistent team is needed.

Therefore, you can collaborate with WEBARQ which has 10 years of experience in digital marketing. Use WEBARQ Promote services to optimize SEO for your website!