E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.
The concept is covered in detail in Google's Quality Rater Guidelines and is considered a major ranking factor for many websites.
E-A-T is thought to be important for most sites. However, not every SEO specialist agrees that E-A-T is itself a ranking factor. Some research has identified websites that appeared to be negatively affected by Google's quality updates because they lacked E-A-T.
This article explains what E-A-T means and how you can improve it through changes that may support better rankings and more traffic.
Update: In February 2019, Google confirmed that E-A-T was a very important part of its algorithms.
What Do the Quality Rater Guidelines Say About E-A-T?
Google's guidelines express the kind of quality it wants to see in websites. Rather than a list of actions that directly influence rankings, they are a guide to the characteristics of a high-quality site.
Google states that following its General Guidelines helps it find, index and rank your website.
Ben Gomes, Google's vice president of search, described the relationship between the Quality Rater Guidelines and the algorithms in these terms:
The guidelines indicate the direction Google wants its search algorithm to take. They do not explain how results are ranked; they show what the algorithm should accomplish.
The algorithms do not mirror every detail of the guidelines, but the document reflects what Google wants them to do. It includes extensive information about E-A-T.
E-A-T Matters for Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Websites
Your Money, Your Life: Google treats pages whose content may affect a person's health, happiness, safety or financial stability as YMYL pages.
Strong E-A-T is especially important for medical, legal and financial websites. If your site offers advice that helps people make an important decision, it may be considered YMYL.
Personally, I think many websites can fall into this category. You might argue that a website selling ballpoint pens does not help people make major life decisions. But if it processes credit card payments, people must be able to trust it, so it may still be considered YMYL.
These page types may affect users' future happiness, health, financial stability or safety. — Google Quality Rater Guidelines
A Focus on Signs of Expertise, Authority and Trust
Answers to the question of how to recover lost rankings are becoming less clear-cut. Producing excellent content and following the quality principles discussed above have, however, been important in making a website visible.
In SEO communities, I increasingly hear about Google's focus on E-A-T. The term appeared in the guidelines before the updates and means more than a narrow analytical metric.
- Expertise concerns how knowledgeable the website owner or author is about the subject. It is particularly important for YMYL sites, less so for forums and similar settings.
- Authoritativeness concerns the credibility of the website publishing the content, including references and external endorsements or links.
- Trustworthiness concerns how reliable the website is, including its general quality and, particularly, security.
In short, E-A-T is about evaluating whether users can trust you. Google's greater attention to this concept serves its familiar objective: offering people the best possible results for their queries.
How Can You Apply Google's E-A-T Principles?
1- Examine and Question Your Work More Carefully
A recurring point in SEO is that the aim should not be to trick search engines into sending traffic. Understand instead that updates like these are intended to provide better results for users. Google wants the most relevant, highest-quality results. Your task should follow the same direction and contribute to that goal.
Start by reviewing your own website. Even a preliminary assessment should consider whether any content or practice could be harmful to others. If such issues exist, addressing them is the first step toward better organic performance.
2- Optimize Your About Page
Google's guidelines emphasize the importance of making clear who is responsible for information published on a website. Visitors want to know who you are so they can decide whether to trust you.
An About page is one of the simplest ways to provide that context. To communicate E-A-T more effectively, include information that demonstrates relevant expertise, authority and trustworthiness.
- Your experience and expertise, and those of team members.
- Awards won or nominations received.
- Positive news coverage.
- Customer reviews.
- Academic titles or other formal qualifications.
- Your business address and contact details.
If you do not have this page, or it is incomplete, there is no reason to wait. Review it now :)
3- Show the Expertise of Your Contributors
What applies to the website overall also applies to its authors. Create profiles that introduce everyone who produces content.
What should an author profile include to address E-A-T?
Blogs or businesses you have worked for.
Speaking engagements, conferences and industry events.
Notable companies you have worked with.
Awards you have received.
In short, include the personal equivalent of the information recommended for the site as a whole.
4- Manage Your Reputation
SEO includes off-page activity as well as on-page optimization. E-A-T therefore also concerns the environment around your website. Beyond the steps above, make sure your online reputation is as strong as possible. Important factors include:
Press coverage: If there is an opportunity to appear in reputable news outlets, work toward it. Google can be good at distinguishing paid coverage from someone's genuine opinion, so do not try to deceive it.
Reviews and mentions: These can be as valuable as press coverage. Seek relevant industry coverage and reviews of your services. Positive mentions in social media, service-related content and blog comments can contribute. If they are not helping, another issue may exist; keep analyzing carefully.
Customer testimonials: Collecting feedback and publishing it on your website can be persuasive. Visitors often want to see it. Demonstrating that it is presented transparently is both difficult and important.
Pay attention to these four points:
- The heading should summarize the review's most positive point.
- The body should contain the complete testimonial.
- Include as much useful customer context as possible, but obtain permission before sharing anything more detailed than a name and website.
- If the reviewer gives permission to use their photograph, include it. Otherwise, a company logo or another appropriate image can also help.
5- Improve Your Content
Content remains central to search performance. Your website should also develop in line with Google's E-A-T concept.
Start improving content for the Google E-A-T algorithm update by reviewing existing posts and whether they support your services. Older content can sometimes damage your overall reputation; as your experience grows, you may now be producing better work.
Begin with your analytics. Identify pages that perform poorly in traffic and conversions, then work on improving them. You can update them, combine them with other articles or remove them entirely to support overall site authority.
If you decide to delete a page, make sure you implement the necessary redirects.
In Brief
Anyone aiming to improve search rankings must keep pace with SEO's changing patterns and rules. Major Google algorithm changes are always a reason to reassess your strategy.
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