By: Many of Google’s updates have been leading up to EAT, and many more to come will likely be related. This update can essentially be summed up as Google’s fight against disinformation. Given that Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines has plenty in there to do with E-A-T, we can safely say that this isn’t going away any time soon. Whether it’s a direct ranking factor, the waters are a bit muddy. But from our experience, here at Erudite, ensuring your website is optimised for EAT and addressing any concerns can be as important as a technical audit in some cases.
YMYL Websites
First we need to understand that Google’s EAT update will affect some websites more than others. Google has recently updated their guidelines, reframing its definition of YMYL websites. Essentially, the more influence the piece of content or advice could have on someone’s health, well-being or finances, the more you really need to know what you’re talking about. You will need to show Google and readers you are qualified to be writing about the topic, and giving information or advice around it. You can read more about what we audit for EAT SEO, as well as a summary of the recent update to Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines here:
Search Engine Land: Google search quality rater guidelines update: What has changed
Content writing and EAT
So, you are tasked with creating content for a site and want to ensure you are keeping EAT signals in mind while doing so. Here are our top 5 ways to write with ‘Expertise’ for Google’s EAT update:
1. Choose content topics in your niche or area of expertise
Your content can go a long way in developing a trusting relationship between your audience and your brand. Find topics that your audience wants to know more about that relates to your product or service niche, and write a comprehensive piece of content about it. Include everything they might want to know about on the topic. Exhaust the topic as much as you can and explain your points well. This builds confidence with your audience showing that you know what you’re talking about; if you are knowledgeable and helpful on the subject, you have very likely created a superior product or would provide a superior service too with your expertise.
2. Ensure your content is relevant, has a purpose, is up to date and accurate
Your content should be useful and have some benefit to the reader. The days of content for the sake of content, keywords and minimum word counts are long gone. Be useful, provide insight into the topic and keep your content up to date. Ensure you don’t have any outdated facts or discredited opinions as that’s an easy way to lose an audience. Create titles that both encourage people to click through to your article and give your audience a good idea of what the piece of content is about – don’t be misleading in your title! Or content for that matter. Quality content really is becoming the key to a successful content strategy more and more.
3. Make your content readable
We really are losing more of our attention span as a species. But here’s a secret, people still read and absorb content on the internet at an alarming rate. Don’t be boring, be engaging. Use headings to break up your article and segment information accordingly. Use lists and numbers. If your article is long, create an index at the beginning of your article with anchors, so that users can jump to the relevant section they are interested in. Make it really easy for users to read your article.
4. References
Don’t be afraid to link out to external content wherever this external resource can back up something you are saying. Show that your content is backed up by scientific consensus, and include links to any credible scientific papers or other credible authors in the field that back up any claims you are making. Make sure the sources you are linking to show evidence of authority in the topic and the writers are published experts. The use of footnotes can be a neat and tidy way to do this too.
5. Show you are qualified to write about the topic, or get someone who is to check your content
Or as a bonus, do both!
Author profiles are a great way to share with your audience who you are and why they can consider your view and advice. If your topic is on anything YMYL related, getting someone who is qualified through tertiary education and/or experience to either write, co-author or review the content really goes a long way in suggesting the content of your article can be trusted. These profiles should be backed up by other professional online resources such as:
- LinkedIn profile
- University profile
- Writing profiles on other authoritative websites in their niche where they contribute additional content
- Twitter accounts (where the tweets are largely related to the niche)
- Their own professional website
- Any online source that can assist in proving the author or reviewer’s credibility on the topic
Creating content that your audience will love and gain insight from, and qualifying your advice is a really great way to grow your EAT signals as a website and brand, and trust with your audience. If you’re looking for additional ways to make sure you are covering Google’s EAT guidelines, Nichola Stott, Erudite’s founder, shares a comprehensive list of how to level up your credibility, and we’d love to chat to you more about how we can assist you with making your content and website more SEO EAT-friendly.
