Google E-E-A-T

Date of publication: 30/November/ 2024
Written by: Ryan Walsh at Walsh & Partners

 

In this article, we will discuss:

• What is Google E-E-A-T?
• Why this is an important Google update
• We explain what Google E-E-A-T is all about
• We describe a brief history of how Google E-E-A-T came into existence and how Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines were incorporated into Google’s algorithm

What is Google E-EAT?

For those who don’t know, Google E-E-A-T stands for, it simply stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. The Google algorithm uses this to assess the quality of content marketing, such as main pages, evergreen content marketing and the blog posts that businesses add to their company website.

 

 

Google’s relentless efforts to enhance its core algorithm and combat spam (Google Penguin and Panda updates) reassure those familiar with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) that the system is constantly evolving to maintain quality of the search engine results pages.

Google’s mission is to provide the best answers and the best possible advice, which should motivate businesses to align with these goals, when writing content marketing. That’s rather than copywriters seeking shortcuts that undermine the SEO process.

Therefore, the Google Penguin update, for example, required websites that may have had low-quality links to be removed. So, businesses that were once say high on page one of Google, after the core Google algorithm update, business with spam links were removed from Googles SERP’s.

Now, Google E-E-A-T is slightly different because it assesses the business’s content marketing quality and how written the work is. For example, the algorithm checks which experience the author has regarding what they are writing about, whether that’s a chain saw or a space rocket. Also, what level of expertise?

A Brief History of on Google E-A-T and its Quality Rater Guidelines in 2014.

So you might have seen countless blog posts written about Google E-E-A-T; yet this is nothing new. This update’s first version was back released in 2014; however, it was just called Google E-A-T. At a much later date, Google added “experience” to the acronym.

 

Independent evaluators

 

We often think of Google’s algorithm as a robot, and while an algorithm is somewhat robot, it is significantly shaped by human input . This human input comes from independent evaluators, which Google calls “quality raters” which help to design Google’s algorithm. These quality raters play a crucial role in assessing the quality of websites and content marketing, which then influences the algorithm’s rankings.
Quality raters once independently evaluate whether a company website is of high quality or if the text is poorly written, and looks like spam.

 

In December 2022, Google added experience to make its Google E-E-A-T.

The additional E-therefore sensible experience and this was a major update to the algorthim.

 

Why E-E-A-T Matters

We live in an era of quickly produced, low-quality and AI-generated content marketing

Businesses that want to do things fast, and as results pay the lowest cost possible. Yet, at the same time they want to rank as high as it can organically with Google’s results, well often this is not possible.

So, a blog post like this, which is around 3000 words, needs a lot of work and effort and links to where sources come from. However, many businesses do not do this, they may want to use AI-generated content.

In short Google only rewards businesses with higher rankings if the written work is high quality.

So, let’s begin by dissecting this Google E-E-A-T.

 

Experience

Google wants to see real-world experience of what you’re talking about- so if your writing about planes, have you say 10 years+ experience in the avivation sector?

So, Google wants to see real-life experience; for example, you might even say where your plumber with 25 years of experience writing about how repair leakly shower tray. When you start clearly stating different tools to make the job easier, what to look out for when ripping out your shower tray, and just giving helpful tips and advice, it is clear that somebody has in-depth knowledge of what they’re talking about so

Google is looking to workout how much experience the author has about what their writing about.
This is precisely the type of work that the Google algorithm wants to see.

 

Unique perspectives and opinions

What separates AI content is that content is written by someone with real-life experience and expertise, as if the other person has a unique perspective.

 

 

So, for example, let’s say it’s how to remove a scratch on a car door; if the person recommends different clothes or scratch removing products and goes in-depth on how to lift that scratch off the door best, it is often apparent that the author knows a lot about what their writing about.
So again Google’s algorithm is looking for real-life experience.

 

Expertise

So we think the Google algorithm here also looks at authors level of expertise; for example, is there a bio at the top to show the author’s background and experience level.

For example, you might include a link to the author’s page, within the About Us page or LinkedIn profile, which details the author’s experiences.

For example, if they’re talking about the benefits of a new boiler, such as a heat pump, and the author puts a link to their LinkedIn profiles, it clearly shows that they are highly experienced heat pump engineers on LinkedIn as they worked for various heat pump companies over last 10 years, then this adds credibility and shows they have experience and expertise in what their writing about.

 

The problem with some SEO agencies

In the past, SEO agencies were churning out content marketing for various clients at hyper speed. A copywriter might write five content marketing pieces daily to write for various other businesses. So, this begs the question- how much experience can you have in one business sector? That’s if they writing say 5 articles a day for different companies, from different business sectors?

If they are constantly producing thin content, content marketing that is a bit wishy-washy and doesn’t offer any helpful advice- well this will damage the companies SEO.

This form of SEO is now dead; that method is done, dusted, and finished. Now, since the emergence of Google E-at, you will have to demonstrate you have clear knowledge and expertise on what you’re writing about at an in-depth level if you want it to rank on the first page of Google.

 

Authoritativeness

Authoritativeness is another aspect of Google E-EAT; we think you can prove authoritativeness by earning a lot of high-quality backlinks.
if the website has accumulated a lot of really good, quality white hat backlinks, proving that that page has authority then your companies SEO will improve..

 

Trustworthiness

If the information is to be deemed trustworthy, it has to be well-written and reliable. For example, we recommend citing your sources, so this shows that you are researching what you’re writing about.

 

SSL (Secure Socket Layer)

An SSL certificate can ensure the information is encrypted. This can improve the confidence and trustworthiness of the website.
To improve the page’s trustworthiness, you must keep the content marketing updated as well, cite your sources, and offer contact details for the business.

For example, if the company provides good customer service through web chat, local phone numbers, and email, you can contact the company if you have questions this increases confidence in the business.

We also believe that content marketing needs to be Updated.

For example, you don’t want to read facts and statistics, say, from 2017 when you are in 2024, because it shows that the page might not have been updated that much and you may as a shopper think, well that information is outdated, and leave to visit another company website, therefore increasing the bounce rate.

You can check your websites bounce rate using Google Analytics.

 

So, how do you obtain a very high Google E-E-A-T’ score?

We believe that all content marketing must be written by an expert, whether it’s a main page on your website, or it’s a blog post, or any evergreen content marketing. You must make sure the work is written by an expert.

 

Copywriters
You might want to hire marketing agency to write all of the content marketing for your business; however, the copywriter should closely liaise with the experts within your business.

For example lets say you run a well-regarded solicitors practice. You might not want your top barristers or solicitors writing endless blog posts of 3000+ words; so what they can do will be closely in conjunction with the marketing agency’s copywriters.

Then, your gain real-life expertise is inputted into the article, so, for example, the copywriter can email the companies barrister for input or a solicitor for advice. This can be directly inserted into the article, so that you get their expertise added into the article.

 

YMYL content

YMYL stands for your money or your life. This work covers a subject related to your life and is scrutinised more by Google regarding the accuracy and quality of advice that’s being offered.

In summary, the work written today must be high quality, well-written, and written by an expert.

We hope this article has been helpful.

Why not contact us for a free SEO quote.