
Google recently announced an update to its search engine quality guidelines. These guidelines aren’t hard and fast rules about how to create your website and other online content to win Google’s heart. Instead, it’s more of a general guideline reflecting what Google’s search engine looks for in order to rank a site well.
The search engine giant uses the acronym E-E-A-T to sum up this approach. E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. While it is not considered a ranking factor, improving your website’s E-E-A-T can help it gain in search rank over time and this is even more important in today’s AI search world.
Here’s what that looks like for a website, and how you can approach E-E-A-T holistically to win Google’s heart—and a better search engine results position.
Experience, Newly Added to the Formula
Google recently added experience to the formula. It means firsthand involvement in the topic. Real experiences in the age of AI now carry more weight with the search engines. These demonstrate actual firsthand knowledge and insight that visitors won’t get from generic search engine results or AI-created responses. The more you can demonstrate your experience on your website through case studies, firsthand stories, and similar content, the better.
Expertise Means Deep Knowledge
Another important factor in the quality score is expertise, which means deep knowledge and skill in a particular subject. Again, the purpose here is to distinguish between general content and expert content, with emphasis given to experts who consistently demonstrate that they have deep subject matter expertise in a topic. Signs of deep expertise can be found in biographies and bylines—a veterinarian writing about dog and cat health, for example, will probably be scored higher than someone without veterinary credentials writing about the same topic. Demonstrate your expertise by adding credentials to your bio and an author box whenever you publish content.
Authoritativeness or Credibility
The “A” in the formula stands for authoritativeness, otherwise known as credibility. How widely respected is your company or the author of the piece published on your website? Establishing credibility and authoritativeness takes time and effort, and often requires publishing on reputable websites outside of one’s own company, developing a strong backlink profile, and generally demonstrating a high degree of involvement in an industry, trade, or skill related to the website.
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness means just what you think it means: you are transparent, accurate, and credible. You cite good sources if you link to external content, such as published research reports, university studies, and similar reputable third-party sites. Include “trust indicators” on your website, such as badges from professional affiliations, customer logos, and awards won by your company. Your website includes disclaimers, privacy policies, and terms and conditions. Although Google does not state that it considers its reviews online and other review sites (such as the Better Business Bureau, TrustPilot, and other third-party review websites), published customer reviews add to the overall trustworthiness of your company.
The Bottom Line: Establish Your Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Credentials Through a Sound Website Strategy
The bottom line is that shifting Google’s perception of your company to gain a favorable E-E-A-T score is not something you can do overnight. It takes time to develop all aspects of the formula. However, it is time well spent.
Over the years, Google has adjusted its criteria, but it has never deviated from the basics of this formula. If you focus on honest, transparent dealings, gaining a good reputation in your industry, and sharing signals on your website to both customers and search engines that you are a great company to do business with, you are positioning yourself for success. Combine good technical SEO, an appealing customer-focused website, great content, and social media, and you’ve got the makings of a site that can rank well in search engine results.