What Is E-A-T
E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. In three simple words, EAT factors are a list of so-called recommendations established by Google in 2013, taken into account by the assessors and search engine algorithms during the evaluation of a site or its specific page.
Moreover, Google algorithm update (Medic Update ) in August 2018 that mostly affected sites in the field of medicine, health, fitness, and wellness, made a big help during pandemic 2020 helped to avoid the dissemination of pseudoscientific articles about COVID-19. Still, in the latest revision of the October 14, 2020 guidelines, there is no mention of coronavirus or any related recommendations for web admins.
The document was probably prepared before the pandemic, so Google didn’t have time to consider the situation and work out the instructions. We wonder how COVID-19 will affect Google’s stance on site requirements)
However, there are factors whose importance extends beyond the pages of your resource, such as confirming the expertise of the author of an article or a person (organization) that sells certain products, say, pharmaceuticals. In other words, Google’s job is to find out who the author of the material located on the site’s pages is and whether the information written by this person can be trusted.
Expertise
This factor confirms that the author has a high level of competence in a particular industry. The level of expertise is evaluated about the material located on the pages of the site.
For some themes, the author can have so-called “everyday expertise” – essentially, personal experience, not even professional. In such a case, a sufficient level of life experience on the content will be evaluated.
As examples of topics where legal expertise is not required, Google cites websites with food or restaurant reviews, thematic forums, and blogs.
Credibility
Google refers to the author’s reputation – the creator of the main content, the authority of the content itself, and the domain as a whole. The author’s reputation must be confirmed by other experts, industry publications, and opinion leaders.
Such an assessment of reputation is usually based on external signals – links, mentions, accounts on the pages of professional communities, and, of course, reviews.
In other words, to determine whether a site, page, content, or author is reputable, assessors search for information about their reputation on trusted sources.
Trustworthiness
A factor is responsible for the honesty, safety, authenticity, and reliability of the material on the site. To assess trustworthiness, assessors look at several things, including who is responsible for the content published on the site.
How to Make EAT Work for You
Unfortunately, there is no exact information on whether this E-A-T-factor applies to rank resources in other search engines. However, based on the top ten search engine sites, we can conclude that these few factors are taken into account, and we are here to help you to figure out how to do website optimization for the best results.
- The site should have articles detailing the topic with which it is associated, high-frequency, and the most narrowly focused
- It should not promote the resource with questionable content or misinformation, misleading the user to the page’s content and encouraging him to go to the site or make a conversion after the transition. So, take great attention to content validity
- Provide your site with external links from other authoritative resources related to the subject matter
- Make sure that pages of your site comply with core web vitals
- Link your site in various media and news feeds of favorite information blogs or social networks
- Be sure to include contact information on the site where your company representative can be contacted (especially if you are selling goods)
- Have an address for your company, even if you conduct all of your activities on the Internet on a company’s blog
- If you provide any services or sell merchandise, you should include your user agreement and privacy policy. You can put them on the footer page or display them just before making a purchase
- HTTPS protocol is not an option
- Include a refund policy for purchases or transfers if your site sells goods or services
- The more detailed and detailed description of your product or service, including all the features and purposes, the better it will be for passing the examiners
- Add videos to your article or goods descriptions. First of all, the video makes a better perception of the information you provide and boosts EAT ranking. Also, be sure to put essential information in your video and keep it well optimized for the web using video editing software(you can use top video cutters for pc to make sure it’s good to go)
- If you have an informational site, try placing information about the authors, confirming their qualifications in your field. For commercial sites, such a factor is the information that clarifies that they have a full right to engage in activities—for example, licenses or certificates
- Work hard on SEO and content marketing. Poor SEO could ruin your search engine rating
What to Expect From EAT
Judging by all the trends, search engines are working harder and harder to improve the quality of the results every year. With each new algorithm and assessor instructions update, that becomes more evident. Furthermore, other companies are working in a similar direction (quality and reliability of information).
In addition, a direct or indirect analog of the EAT can be found in varying degrees of maturity on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These giants implement fact-checking, try to stop the spread of fake news, train algorithms to recognize false information, use independent assessment of the authenticity of facts, and conduct assessor tests.
The purpose of that is the same – not to mislead users, to stop abuses and outright fraud. You’ve probably seen the news about Facebook fact-checking politicians’ speeches and Instagram recognizing images and their descriptions for consistency. EAT is a new reality, and we have to live with it.