What is Google E-A-T and How to Incorporate it into Content Strategy?

Google is often secretive about how it works, what it actually wants and what changes are coming after each update, which undoubtedly means a lot for marketers. Back in 2015, Google has introduced its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines in a sum to respond to a leaked content making the buzz on the internet.

These guidelines are comprised of three golden rules which gives a clear understanding of how Google looks at web pages and how they differ quality content from low-quality ones, which include:

1. Beneficial Purpose

2. E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

3. YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)

Gone are the days when you can use poor quality links and keyword stuffing to appear in the search results overnight. To rank higher on Google and make the most out of your search engine optimization efforts, you need to thrive your brand by focusing on expertise, authority and trustworthiness.

Below we’ll outline the three pillars of E-A-T and some useful tips on how to integrate them into your content strategy so that you can appear in the good books of Google.

Understand Google’s Definition of Quality of Web Pages

Google has added YMYL and E-A-T to hit loads of websites and push marketers away from notorious practices. YMYL is a quality rating for the content which describes that Google doesn’t only want relevant information but the most accurate ones.

If we talk about health, safety and financial issues, Google doesn’t want to serve links to web pages that deliver irrelevant content, uneducated opinions and certainly fraudulent sites. It is advisable that websites should showcase a great level of expertise, authority and trustworthiness. These were designed to protect searchers from low-quality content and incorrect information.

According to the figures of RankRanger, it is clear that this update has majorly affected the health industry.

In 2018, Google made a few additions which describe that quality evaluators would now ask to review not only a site’s E-A-T but also content creators E-A-T as well. So, it is important to be clear about what Google E-A-T exactly is.

What is Google E-A-T?

Google E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness which are the three pillars of website evaluation as shown by its quality raters. It manually accesses the quality of search results by evaluating the top-listed results. The quality raters operate as per the Google guidelines, which is publically available as Google Quality Rater Guidelines.

How to Incorporate it into Your Content Strategy?

The simplest answer comes down to not only offer information but also know what your audience loves and the best way to convey the information to them. To sum up, here’s what you can do to create great content: –

1. Determine what your potential visitors are seeking and then meet their expectations. The process starts with keyword research using a Keyword Planner.

2. Publish your text using visuals or rich media such as audio and video to make it more comprehensive for searchers.
3. Create links on genuine websites to rank higher and boost your brands’ credibility.
4. Share your content widely across social media to grow authority and engagement.
5. Make sure your website domain is secure. For this, imposing HTTP is crucial to keep your users’ data confidential.
6. If you’re accepting transactions, you have to be clear about your refund and return policies.

Websites that involve topics under the context of E-A-T in their Quality Rater Guidelines, they should focus on producing high-quality content which seems trustworthy to users. It is necessary to use a holistic approach to bring positive results from SEO and content marketing techniques. Covering the above-mentioned pillars could be the best bet to rank higher on Google and build a strong web presence naturally.