What is EAT when it comes to SEO and why is it so important?
EAT stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. These factors impact Google’s ranking of sites on their search engine, which is why it is so important for website creators to implement them. Google stated that using EAT is a characteristic of a “high-quality page” which will greatly help with SEO (search engine optimization).
Here are some ways to improve your EAT:
- In order for audiences to know you have expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, they need to know who you are. Having an “About Us” and a way to contact you on your site make audiences feel more comfortable with who you are, making your content more trustworthy.
- Make your content accessible. Check out our blog post about the importance of accessibility online. Having a website everyone can access also makes you more trustworthy and professional.
- Make content that is clear, unambiguous, and updated regularly. Having outdated or unclear content lowers the trustworthiness of your whole site. Make sure you have correct spelling and grammar and that your writing is insightful but easy to understand.
- Portray a wide array of perspectives in order to appeal to all consumers. For example, if you have a post on your site about the best restaurants in town, include restaurants for every type of eater depending on their different needs.
- Include reviews on your site and make sure any interactions online with customers are positive. Having a positive reputation will improve your trustworthiness.
- Include content from experts. Whether it’s advice from people on your own team or interviews with experts, having this expertise will make your content stronger. Experts don’t always have to be highly professional people, depending on the topic. Local people with knowledge because of hobbies are also important and can increase the approachability of your content. Include links to reputable sources that will help back up your facts, like this:
You can find out more specific details about Google’s algorithm and how EAT affects it here.
Your page doesn’t need to have the exact same level of professionalism as others as long as it meets the EAT expectations of your target audience. For example, the EAT of a university website will be different than that of a humour magazine. As long as you meet these criteria in a reasonable way depending on your brand, your audience (and Google) will appreciate it. Implementing these factors into your content will not only make your page more “high quality” according to Google, but it will also make your content more appealing to your consumers.
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