What Is Google E-A-T and Why You Should Create Great Content

This term is mostly used when talking about SEO and the quality of a website’s content.

E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. It was first used by Google as a set of standards for webmasters to understand how the search engine’s search results are produced. Google uses E-A-T to formulate its algorithms, thereby upholding a consistently high standard of results.

Today, businesses are constantly looking for ways to increase their chances of ranking higher. By implementing SEO correctly and creating content in line with E-A-T, they can achieve better outcomes. Before looking at how this is done, let’s explore how content influences your ranking.

How content affects your website’s ranking

In the early 2000s, Google realized that users wanted to find the most valuable content available in the shortest time. This started the process of implementing the guidelines of SEO as we know it today. Which, in turn, has driven a major focus on quality content.

With around 400 million active websites on the internet today, creating relevant, high-quality content is more important than ever. Quality content is measured by a few aspects:

1. It should bring value to your audience

People should only land on your page if you offer a solution to their needs through your content. This means that your content should be tailored with relevant information that answers questions and offers value.

2. It should incorporate the best keywords most efficiently

Gone are the days of keyword stuffing. It is now all about doing proper research on which keywords are relevant to your content and audience, and using it effectively. There are many highly accurate keyword research platforms, including Google’s own keyword tool and Neil Patal’s UberSuggest.

3. It should be in line with E-A-T

Google won’t penalize new sites for not immediately complying with E-A-T. Rather, it anticipates it to happen organically as sites grow. However, there are certain things you can do to speed up the process and increase your chances of ranking higher faster.

Expertise

This aspect refers to what level the content creator is an expert on the topic or field. This gives search engines a form of reassurance that the content is of high quality, as it was written by an expert. Google mentions that having a relevant educational background or working experience in a specific field can increase the level of expertise of a website.

Authoritativeness

Authority in the online world means that your website is recognized and you are seen as an expert in your field. So, which factors can increase authority? Typically, you can improve your website’s authority by optimizing on-page content, improving link structures and making sure that your website is responsive. According to Ahrefs, the age of your website can also better your chances of having more authority.

Trustworthiness

Trust is measured by a website’s validation information. This can include a comprehensive About Us page, customer reviews, badges and logos of partners for transactional websites and having a secure connection over HTTPS.

4. It should be responsive and have fast loading speeds

Most search engines will penalize a website if it is not mobile-friendly or if it takes long to load. While compressing media and minifying resources can help with this, hiring web developers to assist with building a fully responsive, optimized website is advisable.

Effective tools and metrics to measure content success

It is one thing to work on improving content, but if you have no way to measure its success, you may never reach your ranking goals. So, what should you look for when evaluating your content?

1. The types of web traffic you are getting. It is useful to look at your traffic’s demographics to see if it is in line with your target market.

2. The quality of your leads. Leads which never convert into sales can be a sign of poor content.

3. The number of sales. If you’re not making any sales, your content may not be very convincing.

4. SEO Success. SEO efforts can be measured if you see a spike in website traffic after certain changes to your content.

5. Authority. There are several tools which you can use to measure your website and domain’s authority. This way, you can track if you are making progress with E-A-T.

Luckily, there are many tools available for content creators and website owners that can assist with the measurement of the above factors. Let’s take a closer look at three of the top tools:

• Google Analytics

According to BuildWith, a total of 29,134,826 websites use Google Analytics and it is probably the most popular tool for tracking website data. It is mostly used to track and report on website traffic, but also offer valuable insights around leads, sales and audience demographics that can be used to improve website development. 

• SEMRush

SEMRush is a tool used by millions of content creators and SEO specialists around the world. SEMRush not only tracks and audits your own content quality and SEO, but it also allows you to get data on your competitors and monitor the backlinks and keywords they use.

• Hotjar 

Hotjar is an effective behavior analytics platform that analyses website users’ habits. It offers feedback in the form of highly accurate session recordings and heatmaps.

The more data you can gather from your website, the better you can measure your website’s content. Therefore, it is important to find effective ways to gather data and make conclusions.

How machine learning can enhance data gathering and analysis

Today, new and interesting ways are found to gather the most detailed and accurate data from websites. One of these methods is by implementing machine learning. Machine learning is a form of artificial intelligence that allows systems the ability to automatically learn human-like tasks without specifically being programmed for it.

Machine Learning can be used to extract data from websites. And because it is still such a new technology it offers plenty of potential for businesses to be innovative in their content creation efforts. According to IDG Connect, only about 23% of businesses use it. Machine learning programs or apps can be built that uses clever algorithms that automate the process of extracting and processing datasets for predictive analytics. This is useful as websites’ datasets can grow increasingly large. Since it is such a new technology, it is advisable to hire a machine learning consultant for machine learning implementation.

Use modern methods to create better content

The internet hosts millions of websites. To stand out, you have to ensure your content consistently upholds a high standard. This involves implementing relevant strategies, including Google’s E-A-T and SEO, as well as finding the right tools to measure your success. With machine learning, you can quickly gain ground in the modern world by extracting highly accurate data and valuable analysis. This will ensure your business comes across as experienced, highly authoritative and trustworthy online.

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**About the Author: Anastasia Stefanuk is a passionate writer and Information Technology enthusiast. She works as a Content Manager at Mobilunity, a provider of dedicated development teams around the globe. She is fond of keeping abreast of the latest news in all areas of technology, Agile project management, and software product growth hacking, at the same time sharing her experience online to help tech startups and companies be up-to-date.

*Photo by William Iven on Unsplash