Google E-E-A-T: How to Boost Your Authority for Better SEO

As your SEO journey progresses and you start reaching new audiences and a higher ranking, staying ahead of the competition requires more than just regular content. Now, it demands that your brand and business start exercising authorship in your industry niche. To make the search results more valuable to the users and to determine the level of authority, Google has specified a few guidelines. Now, smart algorithms and human raters prioritise websites that demonstrate expertise, experience and authority, as the combination of these three fosters trust and builds brand value. To help you do the same, in this blog, we will walk you through some actionable steps that can help you enhance the authority of your site and win trust as well.

EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Earlier, it used to be just EAT, as the E-for experience was added recently. In simple terms, EEAT is a well-defined framework that Google uses to ensure that the information presented to its users is reliable and comes from credible sources. Whether you are running an e-commerce site or business pages, understanding and implementing EEAT in all your content is crucial for boosting your search engine rankings.

However, it's important to note that EEAT is not a ranking factor, and these guidelines are only utilised by human search quality raters who don't have a direct influence on rankings. These raters, along with expertise and authority, also determine the first-hand experience of the content to determine its quality. Here is a brief discussion of what each of these factors means and how raters assess their quality.

1. Experience
   
   By experience, Google refers to the content creator's practical knowledge or first-hand understanding of the topic. It prioritises the creator's direct involvement with the subject. This can either be through personal experiences, experiments or real-world interactions.
   
   The reason Google values such content is that when information comes from personal experiences, the results are more reliable and authentic. Raters look for such evidence throughout the content to find details that might point out that the creator deeply knows what he is writing about.
2. Expertise
   
   Understanding the second E of EEAT, expertise, is all about knowing how deeply a content creator has understood a certain topic and expressed it. This can usually be determined by reviewing the qualifications, education and work experience of the author. Content that demonstrates a deep understanding of the subject is more likely to be accurate and trustworthy, which is why Google favours it in search rankings.
   
   To do this, Google has employed more than 10,000 search quality raters worldwide who review the depth of the content. Factors such as a track record of accurate information and being an expert in the field are considered while evaluating for the best results.
3. Authoritativeness
   
   After considering the experience and expertise of the content, the next key factor to consider is the reputation of your website within the community. Building this authority is a long-term and time-intensive process that is built through citations, backlinks and mentions from various sources.
   
   To decide if a website is authoritative, reviewers examine how the website is viewed by others in the industry, who wrote it, and the number of backlinks coming back to the website. This helps Google know that your website has authority in your industry niche and is a valuable place to find information.
4. Trustworthiness
   
   Lastly, we come to trustworthiness, which, for Google, is all about reliability and honesty. It encompasses everything from accurate information to secure website transactions. Google needs to show information from websites that people can trust, so websites need to be clear, accurate, and secure.
   
   Raters assess the trustworthiness of the website by evaluating the transparency of the site, the accuracy of the content, and the overall user experience. This includes assessing the presence of clear sourcing, author information, and secure browsing such as HTTPS.

To boost your website, here are some key areas to focus on:

1. Start by showing that your brand has the experience to provide valuable content. To do this, you can include personal stories, reviews and case studies. You can also encourage users to share their experiences via testimonials or comments.
2. To boost expertise, you need to hire qualified experts to create or review your content and add detailed author bios that inform the reader. You must also keep updating your content with the latest information.
3. Building authority is primarily about building reputable backlinks from already established and reputed peers. The best way to build quality backlinks is by participating in guest blogging and pan-industry discussions.
4. To enhance trustworthiness, your site should be transparent about its purpose and content creators. At the same time, the technical security of your website also reflects your dedication to protecting customer data. Another great way to enhance trustworthiness is by engaging with and responding to comments and feedback.
5. After ensuring all the above, you must also regularly audit your site's EEAT and update it accordingly if needed. So stay informed on Google's latest guidelines and keep a flexible strategy for the best results.