If you’re a website owner battling it out for a high SERP ranking, then Google’s E-A-T concept is something you’re familiar with. Expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness are essential ranking factors for most Google search queries.
So what does the Google E-A-T update mean for content creation?
Well, when it comes to creating high-quality content, it helps to know how its authority is rated. These aspects play a significant part in your SEO strategy.
Join us in a deep dive into what Google E-E-A-T is and how the search quality rater guidelines affect your site ranking.
Let’s get going!
Key Takeaways
- Experience, expertise, authority, and trust are the E-A-T criteria used by Google to identify authoritative sites.
- The Search Quality Rater Guidelines provide specific instructions on how to assess page quality on a website to improve Google’s search algorithm and offer the audience a better overall user experience.
- There are two categories that quality raters assess: page quality (PQ) and website reputation (WR).
- Website owners can improve their site’s ranking and ensure that the quality raters won’t find inconsistencies on their site by adhering to the E-A-T criteria and the Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
What is the Google E-A-T update and why is it important?
In short, it refers to an aspect used by Google to determine if you have high quality pages. E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google added personal experience to the mix with its most recent update.
So, how does Google identify high authority websites? Let’s break down the E-E-A-T criteria:
Experience
When you create a blog post, it should be clear to the reader that you have a certain level of experience on the topic. For example, when sharing advice about starting a content writing career, are you speaking from life experience? If not, would your advice add any value to your audience?
Experience alone, however, doesn’t make you an expert content creator.
Expertise
If you’re claiming to be an expert in your niche, do you have extensive first-hand experience? Whether you have formal training or are self-taught, it’s the years of experience and accomplishments that make you an expert.
It’s important to note, though, that adequate expertise doesn’t make you an authoritative voice on the topic.
Authority
When you have authority in a niche, you not only have years of practical experience but also some level of training. Others see you as a point of reference when they need help on the specific topic.
To be considered among the authoritative sites, you need a reputation for delivering the highest content quality. Do you use your knowledge to train others? Do other experts turn to you for help?
Trust
Being a trustworthy source in your niche is a crucial direct ranking factor. Yes, content quality adds value to the user experience on your site, which is great. Online stores with reliable payment methods and excellent service, for example, add to the trust that customers have in your business.
This keeps them coming back. Remember that user generated content in the form of positive reviews from happy customers also go a long way to establishing trust.
What are the Search Quality Rater Guidelines?
The Search Quality Rater Guidelines refer to specific instructions on how to assess page quality on a website. The aim is to improve Google’s search algorithm, offering the audience a better overall user experience.
Quality raters refer to third-party contractors who help Google assess the websites that appear in search engine results. Their job is to check that the web pages in search engines apply to the relevant query.
By considering these guidelines when planning your SEO content strategy, you’ll ensure that the quality raters won’t find inconsistencies on your site during these checks.
So how do these human quality raters assess each page? They use a grading scale provided by Google to evaluate the following two categories:
1. Page quality (PQ)
The quality of a web page is assessed by looking at the URL and determining if the blog post is relevant. To complete this assessment, quality raters would answer the following questions:
What is the purpose of the page?
Every web page has a purpose, whether it be to educate, sell, or voice an opinion. Where does the page fit in your content journey map? Is the created content relevant to the page purpose?
YMYL Websites
YMYL sites (Your Money Your Life) could either significantly impact the readers or cause harm. These websites cover intricate topics like health, safety, financial stability, or well being. The risk with YMYL topics is that, if not factually accurate content, could cause the reader to make harmful decisions.
When assessing pages with YMYL topics, Google quality raters need to determine if the page content is helpful and is unlikely to impact harmful decisions.
If the raters identify the content as part of the YMYL category, then it’s essential to ensure that you show E-E-A-T. These quality standards are superior as inaccurate content could result in harmful outcomes.
Understanding page content
Part of determining the page relevance is to categorize the type of content. These categories are:
- Main content (MC): Does the content directly help the website achieve its purpose? The content created could be anything from images and YouTube videos to informative SEO articles reflecting your everyday expertise.
To help readers make an informed decision about which pages to visit, the MC should have a descriptive title. This prevents the site visitor from leaving the web page too early as it’s not what they’re looking for.
- Supplementary content (SC): Does the content impact the user experience? SC plays a significant part in the user experience. Navigation links to individual pages across the website is a common example of supplementary content.
- Advertisements/monetizations (Ads): When done well, Ads could contribute to an enjoyable user experience. It refers to content created or links placed with the purpose of making money from the site.
Many website owners incorporate Ads to assist with the cost required to maintain a site and create content.
Navigating the website
One could view individual pages as pieces of the entire website puzzle. How does each page fit into the bigger picture of the website?
Search quality raters also look at who is responsible for the website and all content. This information counts toward your site’s online reputation.
To asses the navigation of the website, the raters look at:
- The homepage: As the first point of reference, the homepage should include all vital information about the site (or link to the relevant pages).
- Responsible parties: Finding who’s responsible for the website and each page’s content. A clear view of who has created the content on various pages also helps to leverage author expertise.
- About us, contact us, customer service details: Sites with minimal customer service information often lose credibility here.
Communicating with potential and existing customers is vital for any website. Users have various reasons for reaching out to your site (complaints, reviews, advice, etc.) so this information should be easy to find. Aim to have a glowing presence on review sites.
Whether it be an email or physical address, contact number or web-based form, easy communication is crucial for the website user experience.
The overall PQ rating would be at its lowest for potentially harmful, unclear, or untrustworthy pages. When planning your SEO strategy, keep Google’s quality rater guidelines in mind for improved scores.
2. Needs met (NM)
Users generally flock to Google’s search results looking for an authoritative site with expertise and trustworthy content. As a result, Google strives to ensure that only the most relevant, useful, and accurate information is presented in search engines.
Search quality raters must help Google determine if the page in question meets the user’s needs according to their queries. Since relevance is a critical ranking factor, passing this evaluation is vital.
The ranking factors considered for the NM assessment are:
Understanding the query
When planning your content, it’s essential to understand what the potential searcher would query to see your page in the SERPs. You should match their search intent and answer their question accordingly.
User location
Consider the audience locale and use the correct terminology within your content. Certain words, like football for example, have different meanings according to the audience location. If used incorrectly, quality raters will give your page a lower grade.
Result blocks
The term “result blocks” refers to the Google search results for each page displayed. Essentially, it provides a preview of the page to the reader of what they’ll find.
SEO professionals refer to this information as “meta titles and descriptions”. You should structure this data carefully to help the audience determine if the page has the information they need.
This is part of the assessment for search quality raters when determining if the page applies to the search. Put careful thought into this information and ensure that it reflects the page content accurately.
While search quality raters face many queries to assess, the grades all come down to one thing: Does the page answer the user query and meet their needs?
Creating high-quality content all comes down to careful planning. Identify what the reader’s potential challenges or queries might be and ensure that your content meets their requirements.
Adjust your SEO Strategy to Improve E-E-A-T
Thanks to the Search Quality Guidelines, you can identify each ranking factor in your content. It allows you to adjust your SEO strategy for better search engine results and a greater impact on readers.
What are some areas to focus on for improved website performance? Here are the three most important ones.
1. Creating Quality Content
Many SEO professionals swear by the benefits of a content calendar and planning the publishing dates carefully. Two significant benefits to this strategy are:
- Targeting keywords that your audience is likely to search for in their online queries. Place these keywords strategically throughout your content for best results. Ensure that it isn’t stuffed and applies to the content.
- Relevant articles for specific events coming up. This sounds obscure, but it’s a fantastic and effective strategy.
Take Father’s Day as an example. On the days leading up to it, many moms, teachers, and kids are looking for creative ideas to do something special. Why not jump on the bandwagon with some relevant content?
2. Establishing Authority & Trust
Your website should be seen as one with experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness in your niche. That’s why you’re going through all this effort—to boost organic traffic. Some ways to do that are:
- Including backlinks to high authority sites and gaining high-quality backlinks from reputable sites help build authority and trust in your brand.
When creating a link building strategy, consider doing things like guest posting, and providing testimonials for your service providers. Shareable or user generated content like infographics, videos, and social media posts is also a fantastic approach.
Each shared social media post adds authority to your brand. Social media platforms are a valuable resource in online marketing.
- Target your audience. After all, your content is going to convince them to buy your products or book your services. Yes, you should consider Google’s algorithms as that’s how you’ll rank better in the SERPs. But a happy, returning audience establishes your brand reputation and authority.
Encourage clients to leave a product review as it’ll entice others to purchase as well.
3. Optimizing for User Experience
The user experience on your site determines if your audience keeps coming back. Your site audience is unlikely to return if performance is low or content is outdated. Search engine optimization helps establish your site as the go to source of information in your niche.Here are some search engine optimization tips that can improve the user experience:
- Metadata (descriptions and titles as mentioned earlier) provides a clear view of what the reader can expect on your page. Ensure that you include keywords and that it matches the page’s content to be seen as relevant.
Site audits provide valuable analytics like SEO metrics and technical SEO data. The former tells you which areas of your SEO strategy need improvement.
When building a backlinking strategy, consider doing things like guest posting, and providing testimonials for your service providers. Creating shareable content like infographics, videos, and social media posts is also a fantastic approach.
- Target your audience. After all, your content is going to convince them to buy your products or book your services. Yes, you should consider Google’s algorithms as that’s how you’ll rank better in the SERPs. But a happy, returning audience establishes your brand reputation and authority.
3. Optimizing for User Experience
The user experience on your site determines if your audience keeps coming back. If the site is slow or the information is outdated, they’re likely to go to your competitors instead, ultimately negatively impacting performance. Here’s how you can improve the user experience:
- Metadata (descriptions and titles as mentioned earlier) provides a clear view of what the reader can expect on your page. Ensure that you include keywords and that it matches the page’s content to be seen as relevant.
- Site audits provide valuable analytics like SEO metrics and technical SEO data. The former tells you which areas of your SEO strategy need improvement.
The latter reveals potential problems on your website that may negatively impact visibility for Google and other search engines. Are there any broken links? Do the pages scale well for mobile devices? These are all vital details revealed in site audits.
- Updating or refreshing content is vital as it may lose relevance over time. SEO practices change regularly and your competitors are always looking at ways to improve their sites. You need to do the same. Ensure that the existing content on your site is up to date with relevant information.
Use the Google E-A-T update to your advantage
Google’s algorithms update regularly, so it’s vital to keep a close eye on each new release to see how it impacts your site. After all, the intention of these updates is to help you improve your site’s performance and to ensure fair SERP ranking.
Ensuring that your website is in line with the Google updates doesn’t have to be a daunting task. But if you think you might need some help, why not contact us for assistance? Our team of SEO professionals are ready to help you identify areas of your site that can be improved. Our aim is to get your site ranking on the first search engine results page.
Do you need content to help boost your E-E-A-T position? We have you covered there too! Our team comprises experts in various industries. We’re ready to establish your brand as an authoritative or trustworthy source. Why not let us tend to your content needs?
Renicia Broodryk is a dynamic writer and editor hailing from South Africa and currently residing in the breathtaking landscapes of Namibia. She is a powerhouse when it comes to SEO-driven content writing and marketing strategy.
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