What is EAT and why is it so important for SEO?

E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, and has been a huge part of SEO ever since a major Google update back in May 2019.

Google always aims to give its users the best possible experience by providing the most relevant results from trustworthy sources, which is where E-A-T comes in. Websites that display their expertise, authority and trustworthiness are most likely to be rewarded by Google with better organic search positions. 

So how can you improve your website’s E-A-T? It’s all about improving your website, its content and the user experience you’re offering. 

Expertise

Your website content should be written by an expert, or by somebody who holds the relevant experience to write about this topic. 

It’s also necessary to understand what your audience are searching for, and what their needs are. You want your website to be the go-to source for expert knowledge in your niche, and so it’s important to provide content that is written with strong purpose, meeting your users needs in an accessible way. 

By adding an author name to your content, along with author information such as a short bio and links to other online profiles can help to raise the author and websites expert status, particularly if the author is actively sharing high quality content on their own social media channels or other authoritative websites.  

Authoritativeness

As well as being seen as an expert, Google also looks for signs of authority. Some of the key things Google looks for when reviewing the authority of a website include:

• Links. Backlinks from relevant, authoritative domains will help to increase the authority of your website

• Shares. If your content is regularly shared across social media, Google will recognise this as a sign of authority
• A strong brand. If you have a lot of branded search volume (a lot of people are searching Google for your brand name), this indicates to Google that your brand is an authority
• Authority score. There are tools such as ahrefs and the Moz Domain Authority Score that can give you an indication of how authoritative your domain is.

Trustworthiness

Finally, Google wants websites to be a trustworthy, credible source of information. In order increase your trustworthiness, ensure you tick off the following points as a starting point:

• Build up your customer reviews. Positive reviews on independent websites such as Google My Business, TrustPilot, TripAdvisor and Facebook are a great trust signal. Not only are these good reviews helpful for SEO, but they’ll also help to positively influence potential customers.
• Clear contact information. Ensure it is clear to visitors as to how they can get in touch with you by displaying your contact details in a prominent position.

• Have clear policies. Make sure you have a privacy policy, returns/refund policy (if you’re selling online), and a terms and conditions page all easily accessible to your visitors

• Secure domain. Be sure your domain is secure by correctly implementing HTTPS

Following the E-A-T approach to SEO and content marketing is by no means a quick win.  Building authority and trust takes time, but is a great way of improving your online presence in a natural way. 

If you need some help building up your website expertise, authority and trust, get in touch with our digital marketing team today. We’d love to hear from you!