Everything you need to know about E-A-T

E-A-T- stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It comes from Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines—a 168-page document used by human quality raters to assess the quality of Google’s search results. Google uses the scores given by the raters to evaluate how well the algorithm is serving quality results to searchers.

Because these guidelines are used to evaluate how well Google search is performing, we know that these are signals that Google is looking for in the websites they rank. This makes incorporating these principles into your own website and marketing strategy a no-brainer.

E-A-T becomes important for some search terms more than others. Some topics could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety. Google calls these types of pages/topics YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics. One of Google’s big goals is to serve the most relevant result for a query. By encouraging E-A-T in niches that directly impact someone’s well-being, Google, in theory, is fulfilling this goal with accurate information that doesn’t cause harm to the searcher.

Since Chiropractic Care sites are built around a YMYL topic, then demonstrating EAT becomes crucial.

Expertise:

The amount of knowledge and experience in the field: Onsite content niche and deep enough!

Expertise means...

Expertise means having a high level of knowledge or skill in a particular field. It’s evaluated primarily at the content level, not at the website or organizational level. Google is looking for content created by a subject matter expert. For YMYL topics, this is about the formal expertise, qualifications, and education of the content owner.

That is why we prefer to interview our doctors and get the information directly from them to help us create high-quality content.


Authority:

How do other authoritative figures validate you: how many highly credible 3rd parties talk about you and link you!

Authority is about...

Authority is about reputation, particularly among other experts and influencers in the industry. Quite simply, when others see an individual or website as the go-to source of information about a topic, that’s authority.

Trust:

How long have you been around the same ideas: How many links have you had around the same topic over a period of time!

Trust is about...

Trust is about the legitimacy, transparency, and accuracy of the website and its content.

Is E-A-T a ranking factor?

For something to be a “ranking factor,” it has to be something tangible that a computer can understand and evaluate. Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the number of quality backlinks to a page.

E-A-T can not be measured by computers. Therefore can not be a direct ranking factor. However, Google Engineers use the tangible signals that align with E-A-T and adjust the ranking algorithms accordingly. In other words, pages that would receive high-quality ratings from E-A-T point of view from the Quality Raters are the kinds of pages Google wants to rank well.

Here is a great article from Google if you would like to know more about how search works, but in summary, a high level of E-A-T leads to better rankings naturally.

How do we improve EAT?

1. Quality of the website content


Quality of the website content. Google evaluates the relevance on the document level (i.e. each individual content in relation to the respective search query and its search intent).

Create subject matter expert content. Write content from a position of expertise. Your pieces should be the go-to resources for readers interested in a given subject. High E-A-T medical advice or information should be written or produced in a professional style and should be edited, reviewed, and updated on a regular basis if there are updates and changes.

Message sculpting. Focus on the needs of the audience you’re writing for. People searching for YMYL content want relatable messages that speak to their personal situations, so make sure your writing reflects this.

Check the facts. Any articles must be factually accurate to demonstrate a high level of E-A-T.


2. Build more links

Links are one of the known direct ranking factors that contribute to demonstrating EAT; e.g if the Washington post mentions you, that's a high-quality link. Google is really good at understanding which links count, so make sure you’re prioritising the building of high-quality links over low-quality ones. Google puts less weight on the number of incoming links and much more on the proximity of the linked documents to authority or seed websites.

3. Get more mentions

Mentions on well-known industry websites can help to improve your authority. Google looks for reviews, references, recommendations by experts, news articles, and other credible information created/written by individuals about the website.

A couple of ways to increase mentions
1- publish unique insights and data that others in your industry will reference.
2- use a service like HARO to connect with journalists.

To find references that identify a publisher and/or author as an authority and expert, you can make Google’s review easier by linking to publications, interviews, speaker profiles at professional conferences, articles in external media, etc., from your website.


4. Overall online reputation

Get more reviews: Google uses online reviews as a source of reputation information about businesses, which relates to trust and authority. Reviews on all higher authority sites are important. It is important to have reviews on a good variety of sites like Facebook, Yelp, Yellowpages, ZocDoc, and Google Business Profile. (inline with jurisdictional advertisement rules)

Flesh out your social media profiles and interact with your audience.

Be part of podcasts, videos, and events related to your field of expertise.

Establish yourself as an industry leader in your area of expertise. You can do this by participating in discussions on trusted platforms, or sharing your own experience and advice on industry-leading websites as a guest speaker or writer.


5. Flash your credentials

If you have a PhD, have spoken at well-known industry conferences, or have won prestigious industry awards, let the world (and Google) know.

There are two obvious places you can do this. Your author bio and about us/team pages. Remember, the point of this is to demonstrate your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness to Google. Don’t exaggerate or embellish the truth.


6. Show contact details

Businesses that fail to give visitors sufficient contact and customer support information may be perceived as untrustworthy. This is especially important for YMYL pages.

7. Invest in Technical Security

SSL Certificate for website security, Verifiable badges and certifications will let visitors know your site is safe to visit contributing to your reputation.