Using EEAT: 4 Great Ways to Transform Your Site

The new Google Search update impacts how businesses are ranked using a new metric called EEAT.

Remember the last time you fancied cooking something, searched a recipe on Google and found that you had to scroll through affiliate links and spatula recommendations before finding the ingredients?

Frustrating, no?

Google is aware of this and for the majority of 2024, it has been changing how it ranks websites.

Its focus – how helpful is this website to the reader?

This has a serious impact on the content that websites have created. So much so it reduced “low-quality” content by 40%, practically wiping out some business sites from the search rankings altogether.

This explains why some businesses have seen a dip in their traffic.

Luckily, it’s easy to fix.

If you have old content, it’s time for a refresh.

Experience and Trust

Google is now hyper-focused on original content that’s well-sourced and written by someone who knows what they’re talking about.

Their goal is to remove the sheer tonnage of low-quality content written simply to boost the rankings of a website.

Human reviewers now decide whether a website is Lowest Quality, Low Quality, High Quality or Very High Quality.

It does this through a system called EEAT.

What does EEAT stand for?

Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. This was Google’s main drive for content. But now there’s another, very important E. This stands for Experience.

To continue to rank highly, content but pass more rigorous tests.

To help you understand if your content passes this test, here are some questions you can ask:

Expertise

This refers to how much time the content creator has taken with the subject. This is important. You wouldn’t want advice from someone without much experience in what you’re trying to learn. They could miss steps, make mistakes or provide misinformation (perhaps because they are more interested in you buying a product than reviewing it properly).

Questions to ask:

• Does your content come from reputable sources with a depth of knowledge related to the topic?
• Is the author credible and do they have an author profile readers can view?
• Have you included citations and sources?

Authoritativeness

This measure depends on how much a content creator puts themselves out there. A creator who regularly writes for newspapers, is invited to speak on the radio and has a regular Ask Me Anything podcast is more authoritative for Google than an equally skilled professional who doesn’t do those things.

Questions to ask:

• Are you consistently posting high-quality content?
• Do other trustworthy and popular sites link to your content?
• Are you posting across multiple mediums?

Experience

A new addition, this requires that content creators have first-hand experience with what they’re writing about. This can be anything from using the product they’re reviewing to having a degree in the field. Experience is crucial as Google uses this to define whether you have a better EEAT score.

Questions to ask

• Does your content reflect authentic, first-hand experience?
• Have you written your content in a way that demonstrates this?
• Does the author’s profile show this experience?

Trustworthy

Credibility in your content is more than the information there, it should also be authentic and honest. If you have been sent a product to review, make sure that you say this in your content. Make sure you are honest about your expertise and skill level as this will directly impact your EEAT. Trustworthiness is the most important metric.

Questions to ask

• is it easy to see who has written your content?
• Is there clear contact and customer service information?
• Does it demonstrate authenticity through the language used?

While this may sound challenging, remember that most businesses have first-hand experience in their sector. This means that you have the knowledge to create content that scores well on the EEAT scale.

A key thing for businesses is to make sure that the content is written in a way that is optimized for EEAT so that this authentic expertise is obvious to the reader.

How To Make Sure Your Content Is High Quality or Higher?

Google advises against quick fixes. Nor will a high reputation help businesses here. The guidelines are based on the content of the sites themselves. They are moderated by a raft of 3^rd parties who use a 170-page guide to test the EEAT of your website.

You can improve your EEAT rating so that you don’t and score lower because of low-quality content.

Improving Expertise:

• Make sure that data is sourced from good quality places and link them. This may require more research, but it will pay dividends.
• You can also include a credible reviewer – this is great for smaller businesses as it provides a boost in expertise while in the early stages.

Enhancing Experience:

• Content must be experience-based and written from the perspective of someone who has been there and knows.
• Your content needs to display up-to-date information so refreshing your content every 6 – 12 months is essential.
• Make sure you include revision dates so that readers know they are receiving the most up-to-date information.

Adding Authoritativeness:

• Your content needs to be useful. So useful in fact that it’s shared on social media or referenced by other businesses.
• Make your content more authoritative by having trusted sites link to yours.
• Ensure you have citations from places like Google Reviews and Trustpilot.

Creating Trustworthiness:

• Use proper bylines in your content and include references from people who have helped create the content – like a journalist using credible sources in a story.
• Make sure your site is secure and uses HTTPS to secure user data. While this is more technical SEO, it’s vitally important to your site’s score.
• Post to multiple social media sites, via a variety of content. The more visible you and your ideas are on social media, the more trustworthy your content.

What about AI AI-generated content?

Google supports the use of AI, it’s a big part of its business model going forward.

These updates are designed to reduce the content spam that AI has come to be used for.

This means that sites will be punished with lower rankings, or even deindexed if they are pushing a deluge of low-quality, useless content to try and boost search rankings.

The answer – use AI tools to enhance human-written content. It’s a powerful productivity tool but should not be used exclusively to generate content. This will cause businesses problems in the long term.

General Best Practice According to Experts

Sites like Search Engine Journal offer exceptional advice for businesses seeking to create the highest quality content.

In broad strokes, they suggest making sure you cite reputable sources, study examples of great EEAT-based content and, if using AI-generated content, make sure a human reviews and edits it to make sure it’s useful and engaging in the right way.

It’s important to note that EEAT is not the only ranking factor. Your site still needs to be optimized, perform well and hit keywords that potential customers are likely to search for.

But businesses ignore EEAT at their own risk – it could be the difference between Google page 1 or the depths of page 2.

Need To Increase The Quality Of Your Content?

Businesses have a wealth of first-hand knowledge but making sure that this is accessible, engaging and original can be time-consuming.

Advice from Google? There’s no need to start fresh. The best way to overcome a dip in your search rankings is to refresh your content so that it’s easier to read and navigate.

A copywriter like us can help you refresh high volumes of content so that customers get the most value out of your business’ expertise and experience. We take your words and polish them so that they are easy-to-read and clear for your audience, while leveraging your expertise and experience.

Examples speak louder than words, so send us some content you’d like to refresh and we’ll send you a sample, absolutely free.

References

Google Development Updates: https://developers.google.com/search/updates/core-updates

Popular SEO Blog: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-e-e-a-t-how-to-demonstrate-first-hand-experience/474446/

RankMath Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzH-P1feVz8