What is E-E-A-T in SEO? How Does It Impact SERP Rankings?

April 9, 2024 News Vervelogic

1. What is E-E-A-T?

Earlier it was just E-A-T i.e., Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. However, in 2022, Google confirmed the inclusion of an additional E or the Experince. Such resulted in the origination of E-E-A-T. It can further be identified to be a key element of Google’s Quality Rating Guidelines.

The E-E-A-T factors can be compared with the working of the human brain. When you read any news/content/blog, your brain tries to critically evaluate the content on several factors. Similarly, Google evaluates the content and website through the E-E-A-T parameters. But what do these parameters mean?

Source: Google Guide

1.1 Expertise

Expertise simply reflects the knowledge and skill of the individual working on a specific content type or SEO strategy. For instance, content for a medical blog written by a healthcare professional is more likely to have accurate details as compared to a blog written by a writer from any other field.

As the individual has a degree in medicine, hence is well aware of the terminologies and the intricacies of the field in comparison to other writers. Hence, such a difference can easily be highlighted or noticed in the content written. So Google prefers providing users with content written by experts. So this is where you need to ensure that the content developed should reflect on expertise.

Irrespective of content marketing, it also applies to product/service pages. Your product/service description must have all the relevant information required. Such can include your product ingredients its use case other information that can help the user decide.

1.2 Authoritativeness

The next approach associated is the authoritativeness of the content or your website. Google crawlers scan for website authoritativeness on various factors. Such most commonly include;

Website’s Reputation: You must have seen several websites at the top positions in certain sectors.

For instance, irrespective of your concern related to SEO, whenever you search on Google, you will see an article link from SEMRUSH, among the topmost results. It is because, over the years, the website has built its authoritativeness, by delivering quality content, acquiring backlinks and eliminating any spammy content.

Post Details: A key way to ensure your content and website authoritativeness is to work on your post details. Such include mentioning the author’s name, the date published or if possible getting it peer-reviewed. However, these factors don’t guarantee your post ranking, but help in building authority and relevancy.

There are several other approaches that Google checks on to justify the website’s authoritativeness. These approaches are often mentioned by Google through its newsletters. Also, you can partner with a leading SEO company in Jaipur to ensure that your website and its content are regularly updated as per Google’s announcements.

1.3 Trustworthiness

The above two factors help in identifying the overview of the content or the website. However, along with these factors, there is also a need to check for the trustworthiness of the content. Let’s consider, a detailed content piece that has been written by an expert which includes all the industry-specific facts and definitions. Hence, it can reflect on expertise, but what about the credibility or the trustworthiness of the content?

Hence, this element is such a credibility of the content. Such would include mentioning the source from where the data has been picked. Also, evaluate the trustworthiness of your website. The organic user reviews and trustworthiness of your website and content help in improving trustworthiness. Apart from the content, if we consider a product/service website, then the trustworthiness depends on the image quality used, the reference to the claims made as well as user reviews.

1.4 Experience

A recently included element is the Experience. It simply indicates that along with the current statistics, there is also a need for experience. For instance; let’s take an example from the fintech sector, an article from a recently graduated student will talk more about the present and future. But a similar article if written by a veteran in fintech, then it will include a better overview and comparison of past, present and future of the industry.

An experienced author can indicate more about their personal experiences/opinions and can make content more interesting. There are several SEO tools that you can take help of to evaluate your website/content E-E-A-T ranking. However, the most accurate SEO tools are paid and may not be economical for website owners. So the best approach is to connect with the leading SEO experts and get your website optimised.

2. Why E-E-A-T Is Important?

The breakdown of the E-E-A-T factors may have helped you understand its role in optimizing search results for users. But why you should focus on such an aspect? Key Benefits associated with E-E-A-T.

Content Marketing with E-E-A-T factors helps you to reflect on your website or brand’s experience or expertise in the sector. With time these factors can help you climb up the SERP ladder and secure topmost rankings.
Helps in attracting organic traffic and positive word-of-mouth. Hence, you can easily attract new readers with every new post or content.
Makes the website both algorithm-friendly and user-friendly.
With time and relevant changes, your website gets advanced and is unlikely to get impacted by newly entered online players.
Constantly working on E-E-A-T factors helps you gain not only Google’s trust but also your audience’s trust. Such a trust factor can support you on days when you have a declining ranking due to any of the associated factors.
Such a factor does not apply only to content marketing but is significantly important for developing any product/service website.

3. Google’s Guidelines for E-E-A-T

Google has worked on developing a workbook of 168 pages containing quality guidelines. It aims to provide SEO experts and website owners with in-depth knowledge of quality websites. However, reading the entire document and interpreting every message is not feasible for everyone. So let’s leave it to the SEO experts/professionals. Here, we will highlight some of the important guidelines or factors mentioned by Google.

E-E-A-T is important for specific pages

If your webpage contains an element that the users are concerned about or must know about. Then focusing on E-E-A-T is important. If we talk about the overall scenario, it can be stated that almost every webpage has some sort of content that users are concerned about.

Let’s consider you are selling hair oil, then you need to ensure that you make authentic claims and provide references to it. Similar goes with the scenario if you are in the finance or healthcare sector.

Author/Content Writer Details

You need to be clear on the author and the writer’s details of the post/content. It is one of the most basic elements to be focused on to retain your website authority.

Eliminate Any Spammy Content

Throughout the guide, Google has mentioned several times and in different ways to eliminate any spammy or unauthorised content. Several authors make promising claims through their content, to attract audience attention. However, most of these claims are false and impact the user’s experience with the brand. Hence, any of such content must be eliminated.

3.1 E-E-A-T Ranking Levels

Lowest E-E-A-T

It reflects that your webpage has fraudulent or misleading content. However, there is also a chance that your website has not been well-optimized for the user experience. Google has stated multiple times that while planning your SEO strategy you must prioritise the user experience rather than just focusing on algorithms.

Lacking E-E-A-T

The next level is that your webpage has been designed to deliver a better user experience, but still lacks E-E-A-T qualities. Such a ranking can be given if any one of the four elements is missing. For instance; the author may have no experience, the content lacks trustworthiness, or your website has poor authority.

Higher Level of E-E-A-T

Such a rating is given to pages that can manage a balance between the four elements. These websites have quality backlinks and experienced author have invested their time to build the trustworthiness of their web pages.

Very High Level of E-E-A-T

At last, the highest rank is the very high level of E-E-A-T. However, it is for the webpages that have the exceptional quality of trustworthiness, credibility and expertise. However, gaining such a position requires a lot of experience and effort over the period.

4. Is E-E-A-T A SERP Ranking Factor?

Now you might be thinking that working on E-E-A-T can help you secure higher SERP rankings. But is it true?

Maybe or Maybe Not? Confused. Don’t worry, we will explain it to you.

If you follow the press releases and newsletters by Google, you must have observed that Google never states that doing this or that will lead you higher ranking. Not only Google, but every search engine player stresses more on user experience. If the user is satisfied then only they will use a search engine.

The same goes with Google, hence the introduction of E-E-A-T has always been aligned with improving the user experience. So, it can be summarised that if you are working towards the E-E-A-T factor then it will help enhance user experience. Further, if your website is delivering quality content and generating a better user experience, then there are chances that you might rank better.

Also, E-E-A-T are not the only four factors impacting your rankings on SERPs. There are several others, which constitute to be part of your entire SEO strategy. So, it can be summarised that E-E-A-T is not the factor having a direct impact on your ranking. But if you are ignoring it then definitely it would be challenging for you to rank competitively.

5. Tips To Improve Your Website’s E-E-A-T

Now let’s move on to identify key tips that can help improve your website E-E-A-T criteria.

5.1 Focus on organic and authenticity

It is recommended that every element of your website should reflect an authenticity or organic approach. If you are selling a product, consider attaching original/high-quality images, invite audiences to post reviews, and don’t manipulate the information. While creating content, you must always ask “Who, How and Why”. it will help you better evaluate your content and identify potential loopholes.

A common misconception that brands have is that should not have negative reviews on their website, hence they try to delete them. But such can impact their authenticity. It is recommended that you aim to have both positive and negative reviews, but more positive reviews than negative ones. Only the positive reviews leave an impression of being fake.

5.2 Work on quality backlinks

You must ensure that the websites or blog pages from where you are gaining backlinks are authoritative and trustworthy. You must also ensure develop quality and engaging content that can invite shares or influence other writers to quote your content. These practices actively help in boosting your website’s credibility.

5.3 Don’t just stick to a pre-determined approach

To score high on E-E-A-T it is important to adopt constant/continuous changes. Such change must be aimed towards improving your overall website rather than just optimizing a portion of it. Also, the SEO experts state that you must not always wait for any announcement from Google to make changes to your website. You must identify the need and should ensure constant optimization to suit audience needs.

5.4 Avoid Clickbaits or Spammy Content

Placing CTA across your website has never been wrong, but in the process, you must avoid misrepresentation or spam. Google also evaluates your CTA and checks for any spammy or misleading content claims being made. These factors lead towards creating clickbait. So if you are aiming for a higher E-E-A-T ranking you must avoid any kind of spammy content.

5.5 Integrate E-E-A-T Approach with SEO

SEO involves focusing on link building, keyword research, website optimization as well as other technical practices. Hence, rather than considering E-E-A-T as the only factor for content generation, you must keep it in mind while executing any of the SEO strategies. It is important to work on approaches that your website, meta tags and other aspects should also reflect trustworthiness and credibility.

Final Words

If you are still interested to know more in-depth about how these E-E-A-T factors you can connect with our SEO experts at VerveLogic. We are the leading performance marketing company in India having a team of SEO company in Jaipur. Our experts have worked with brands across the global marketplace and have helped them gain higher SERP rankings.

With over 18+ years of SEO experience, we can help you excel at the E-E-A-T level and attract organic traffic to your website. Also, can assist you with key practices that can help in your brand’s digital growth.

FAQs

How To Get My Website Optimized As Per E-E-A-T?

You can partner with an experienced SEO company in Jaipur, which can help you optimize your website as per the current and emerging SEO trends. They have a set of SEO tools, through which they are able to analyse your website ranking or level and based on such plan customised SEO strategies.

Can AI Help in Improving E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T earlier was based only on expertise, but now a new element has been added which is experience. Hence, if you are taking the help of AI, it might give you an expert answer but will fail to deliver an experienced answer. So it is recommended that for now AI must be placed aside while focusing on SEO.

How can I measure my Website E-E-A-T level?

Various SEO tools can help you evaluate or determine your E-E-A-T levels. These tools precisely evaluate and judge your website on several factors. Based on such an evaluation they are able to provide a detailed audit report. Such a report includes the gap as well as key recommendations that can be adopted to eliminate the threat.

How Google Will Know that I Have Updated My Website?

No fixed duration or approach can define how and when Google with re-crawl your website for new content. It is an automated process, and every website has to wait for it. The best you can do is constantly monitor your website, and its SEO performance and work on potential gaps that can emerge.

(Visited 86 times, 1 visits today)