What is Google E-A-T?
Google’s goal is to provide the best results that will be useful to its users. This is evident in updates such as Page Experience that introduced core web vitals as ranking signals. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness.
E-A-T first appeared in Google’s Search Quality Rating Guidelines as a key aspect in the model of ranking a website’s content. Although no algorithm from Google focuses directly on E-A-T as a ranking factor, it is important to understand that it is more of a principle.
How is Google EAT assessed?
Expertise
Being an expert is the start of creating good quality content, and your expert knowledge will give your audience what they are looking for. It also comes down to effectively engaging your audience, by also providing correct information.
Google looks for great content, and it needs to be unique, informative and meets their needs. The best way to do this is by utilising keyword research and discovering our audiences true search intent. It’s crucial to find a balance between providing comprehensive and easy to understand information.
Authority
Expert content is just the beginning because showing your authority is also vital. Most of your competitors and brands will be citing sources and information, giving an authority aspect to their content. So, make sure you are linking to relevant and authoritative websites when using statistics or referring information. This will ensure you become not only an expert but gives authority to your brand.
Trustworthiness
Building trust is essential to maintaining your ranking. If you are a trustworthy expert, your users will trust that you will deliver honest, correct, and accurate information. The most common way to build trust is through customer reviews and comments. Your main goal should be pleasing your users and resolving problems. Google has made it clear that bad reviews influence your ranking.
Positive reviews on Google, Facebook and other places will build your brand up.
YMYL: Your Money or Your Life Content
Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content can directly impact a user’s health, safety, happiness, or financial stability. Google view YMYL content very seriously, making sure it is relevant and contained expert advice or opinions.
Content topics considered YMYL:
- News, updates and current events topic
- Topics relating to government and law
- Financial advice and information
- Shopping information and review websites
- Medical advice or information
- Information about people
Google evaluates these topics to determine if your page meets the criteria of a YMYL topic. Pages that meet these criteria need to focus more on E-A-T to provide users with the best possible information. 
6 Some tips on improving your E-A-T:
#1. Cite your Sources and give credits
Citing and giving credits to sources has been taught to us in school. It is the number one death blow when creating content. Sources can become even more important when content writing as they will directly affect your SEO ranking. Citing a website through a link sends a signal to Google that you think the website’s information is credible.
If you are linking to low-quality websites or broken links, it will affect what Google thinks.
It is important to note that sourcing your information also extends to any graphics or images from other websites.
#2 Create amazing Content
Creating amazing content is the pillar of all your SEO practices, content is still king now. Content should be original and engaging. If you want high ranking content on Google, it should include the three aspects of E-A-T.
Above all, your content should promote your audience to re-visit your website. Google will evaluate all your posts, if your content is not fresh or unique you may take a hit on your rankings.
#3. Audit Your Content
Online content is constantly changing, and so yours should as well. Unlike other forms of writing like books and newspapers, you can always change and update your blogs and pages. A common mistake website owners make is allowing old blogs to become stale and irrelevant.
You may be thinking that evergreen content is the only way to grow traffic, but you can also revive and bring life to your old content. Old content can also have a negative impact. If your once well-performing content has a drop in traffic, it may be time to perform an audit.
#4. Use Social Media
Most website owners think that off-site activities such as social media won’t improve your website ranking. But this may not be true.
Your brand activity on social media encourages trust among your audience. You will be able to share your knowledge and build a good reputation on another platform. If you have higher engagement than your competitors, then it will surely make a difference for your online presence.
#5. Secure your website with HTTPS
#5. Secure your website with HTTPSUsing HTTPS will increase the trust factor in E-A-T. Most browsers will flag your website and show an “insecure” message to users if you do not have HTTPS. An SSL certificate makes your website more secure and this is what Google looks for. Google has strongly indicated that SSL affects your SEO rankings.
#6 Increase Quality Backlinks
Backlinks are loved by Google, as it is an indication that you are providing expert content. When a high-quality website links to your website, it will only add more authority to your website. However, the same is for low-quality links, and these can hurt your authority score.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Google E-A-T is more of a principle that you should include in all your content. Especially if you fall under the YMYL category, it is even more important that you follow the E-A-T principle. The main goal is to provide the best experience for your users, that is both engaging and informative.
