What Is E-A-T? Applying To Building Sustainable Content Marketing
Since Google’s algorithm update in August 2018, the term E-A-T has gained more attention (especially SEOers). Because E-A-T focuses on evaluating the quality of content on the website, affecting keyword rankings on search rankings. So what is E-A-T and how we can apply it to Content Marketing to create content that brings sustainable value?
What Is E-A-T? Elements In E-A-T
EAT is an abbreviation of three words: Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness, representing nurturing our website to become a brand that provides in-depth, accurate information. accurate and reliable for customers.
Expertise
Expertise is the level of knowledge and expertise in a particular field. That means in your field you have to build an image of an expert.
On the website, this is shown through the construction of Content Marketing. Content that is considered highly specialized often provides deep and broad knowledge on that topic. Or when compared to other competitors, your content brings a lot of value to customers.
For example: On a website about health, when writing about a topic related to the cure of spondylolisthesis, you need to make sure the information in the article is professional and extremely accurate.
It doesn’t only reflect professionalism in the level of knowledge but is also based on personal experience.
Example: When asked about the symptoms of stomach pain, it is possible that a person who has been a patient with this disease will give more accurate expressions than a doctor.
Authority
The authority factor is used to verify the accuracy of the content. Usually, authority is verified based on influential individuals/organizations who are experts, or companies and websites with a high reputation in a certain field.
For example: With the same content on the above topic but written by a specialist doctor and a journalist, the authority factor in the doctor’s article will be higher.
The authority of content can be assessed through backlinks, mentions, shares, and good reviews from experts.
Trustworthiness
The level of trust is used to verify that the content, information on your website, and brand are trustworthy and satisfied with customers. Creating high credibility on the website depends on many factors, but providing true and accurate information plays the most important role.
High reliability not only helps you create good trust with users but also improves your position on search rankings. Because all of Google’s efforts on search rankings are directed toward the ultimate goal of improving the customer experience on this engine.
In addition, improving the customer experience on the website or the entire buying process is also an effective way to build trust for customers.
In short, E-A-T includes factors that help your website and brand increase quality score with Google. At the same time, for users, the brand becomes more trustworthy, bringing in a sustainable customer base.
Impact Of E-A-T On SEO
Google offers three elements in E-A-T for the purpose of improving the quality of content on the website. Because low-quality content, without expertise, is not authenticated and verified, it is difficult to retain visitors. At this time, they will immediately go to find another website with better content to satisfy their information search needs. And once customers leave your website right after visiting, it will cause Google to underestimate your content.
As Google has announced, content is one of the three main factors for this tool to evaluate search results ranking. So if you invest in building quality content marketing for your website, ensuring that according to the elements in the EAT, that content will bring sustainable traffic to the website (because it has high expertise, is highly accredited. and determined to have good quality and create a reputation for customers). At the same time, the ranking position of the website is also improved on the search results.
In general, E-A-T has a strong impact on the rankings of all websites when doing SEO, especially sites of this type of Google: Your Money or Your Life (YMYL).
What Is The YMYL Website?
YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) websites are websites that have the potential to affect your health, happiness, finances, safety, or life.
Examples of YMYL pages such as financial consulting websites, hospital websites, legal service companies’ websites, etc.
Why Is E-A-T Focused On YMYL Pages?
Content on YMYL sites often directly affects the health, life, and money of users. Therefore, these pages not only require appropriate and helpful content for users but also need to ensure the accuracy of the information given, without hurting the recipients of the information. Such as:
If you’re just looking for the usual information like the most beautiful flowers, E-A-T shouldn’t affect the search results much. Because depending on the feelings of each person will evaluate the flowers that Google offers may be beautiful or not. These search results have almost no impact on your interests or health.
However, if you are looking to use Paracetamol, then E-A-T plays an extremely important role. If Google gives inaccurate results, written by copywriters or writers but not verified and authentic. This information is very easy to influence the reader. Because this content is not professional and is not verified, when applied, it will threaten human health and life.
Therefore, if your website belongs to YMYL, it is even more important for Google to build Content Marketing that meets E-A-T standards. Below, I will show you how to apply E-A-T to build sustainable Content Marketing.
How To Build Sustainable Content Marketing According To E-A-T Standards
In order for the content on the website to be used in a long-term and sustainable way, it must first ensure quality and bring value to readers. And according to the Search Quality Rating Guidelines, E-A-T is one of the essential criteria for assessing the quality of a website. So how to build sustainable Content Marketing, meeting the 3 criteria of E-A-T?
Expertise
According to the original definition, expertise is the in-depth knowledge of a particular field. However, professional knowledge is not enough to help your website get sustainable traffic. Besides, you need to demonstrate this knowledge in a way that is attractive to users and professionals as an expert:
Keyword research to know what your customers are searching for and understand the user intent behind each of those terms.
Then use your insights to answer their questions and strive to deliver information that exceeds your customers’ expectations.
In addition, behind each search term, there will be many types of perceptions about different information and products (unknown, learned, experienced…). The task of an expert is to convey information (through content marketing) to users in the most understandable way (without using too many specialized or figurative terms). So that even those who do not know anything still understand and grasp your content.
Depending on the type of website, the appropriate expertise will be applied:
With YMYL pages, we must specialize content, 100% accurate: legal, health, medical, financial…
For example: With the keyword how much is the fine for running a red light. The content needs to ensure accurate information by following the issued laws and decrees.
For non-YMYL sites that need more daily professional knowledge or personal experience: experience sharing website, the website is a forum…
Example: With the keyword sunscreen review. Content is not required to show exactly what is inside. But you definitely have to give your personal feelings after using it.
Finally, you should not hesitate to internally link articles on the same topic together to make it easier for users to access. This is also a way to help your website become a complete, accurate, and highly specialized source of information with much in-depth analytical content on the same topic.
Authority
The first element of authority for content on your website is that you have to prove an expert on your own content. To do this, you must first show your customers who owns this content, and what level of expertise the author has… by:
Create transparency and clarity for the author part
Each article should clearly state the author’s full name, not a generic name like Admin.
Add an introduction about the author: if the author of the article is an expert in their field, you need to show it to your customers and Google through referrals.
In addition, in order for Google and users to verify the information in the introduction and the qualification and authority of the author, you should put links or contact information such as: email, social network links… Authors.
After ensuring clarity for content owners, you can apply the following additional ways to improve the Authority factor for posts:
Cite Reputable Sources For The Article
Leading information and data from reputable websites is one way to improve the Authority factor of content. So when building Content Marketing, you need to look for reviews, references, recommendations from experts, articles, and reliable information on reputable websites to lead to the article.
Because when a user reads content with clear and transparent evidence. They will easily verify the origin of the information, helping to increase trust in that content and the brand.
Building Links From Competent Individuals And Organizations
Not to mention E-A-T, when a website receives backlinks from reputable websites is already a big plus to improve its ranking position on Google. Meanwhile, to evaluate the Authority factor in EAT, Google mainly relies on links coming from high authority sites such as: government sites, and reputable organizations (hospitals, large clinics). , research institutes…).
In addition, getting backlinks from influential individuals in a field is also a way to increase the authority of your content.
Mentioned On Sites Like Wikipedia
In addition to the backlink factor, being mentioned on sites like Wikipedia will help your business become more reputable and trustworthy. However, to appear on these sites, your content must be qualified and you must have a voice in your industry.
Trustworthiness
Trust in content is often demonstrated through customer experience with the content itself. Include UX/UI and quality elements within the content. Therefore, reliable content on the website should first ensure accuracy. Then combine it with other ways to increase the credibility of the website.
Regular Content Updates
We need to update the content regularly on the website. Because over time, your content will gradually become outdated, no longer relevant to the present. So when customers access it, it will be difficult to put their trust in the information that is no longer accurate. Besides, Google always wants to bring users the newest and quality information. Old content can hardly stand on the search results rankings, being replaced by better content.
Some ways to update content to improve the E-A-T of articles include:
- Updated by someone with more expertise and authority.
- Add citations, data from experts, and reputable websites.
- Correct errors in grammar, spelling, and article structure.
- Add new information to make the content more insightful and unique.
- Add more attractive images and charts, and optimize according to SEO standards.
If your website rankings are falling, try applying the content optimization methods that I introduce above to improve.
Increase Positive Business Reviews
Having too much negative feedback on your website or business-related media is a signal that your business, brand, and website quality is poor.
Therefore, you should enhance the good reviews for the business on the content of articles, social networks, Google My Business, and trusted websites in the industry.
Full Display Of Business Information
Websites that do not provide customers with contact information are considered unreliable sites. Especially for YMYL pages, contact information is essential and important.
So to increase customer trust in your website, you need to add at least some basic contact information such as contact address, phone number, email, etc.
In addition, you can apply the following ways to increase customer trust:
Use an HTTPS address to increase site security.
Provide customers with a commitment to their information security when accessing the website.
If it is a product description, you should provide complete and accurate information about the product to the customer.
If it is knowledge-sharing content, you need to be transparent and clear about who the author is, and where you can take the citation information from…
Google does not want its customers to read false, discredited information, especially affecting the health, finances, and happiness of users. Therefore, building Content Marketing according to E-A-T standards helps you exploit your articles in a sustainable and long-term way.
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