There are 2 acronyms in SEO which are talked about a lot – YMYL & E-A-T. Both of them are metrics used by Google for judging the quality of the page. Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines gives special emphasis to these 2 terms – YMYL & E-A-T. But, what exactly is E-A-T in SEO?
Demystifying E-A-T in SEO
EAT is the acronym for “Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness”. It is part of the search quality evaluator guidelines of Google.
But, what are search quality evaluator guidelines? These are the guidelines for search quality evaluators. Basically, search quality evaluators are humans. They are the ones who rate the quality of a web page. And while evaluating the page quality of the website, the evaluators use E-A-T as one of the key metrics.
I have described YMYL in my article “What is YMYL and how is it important for SEO?“
YMYL is the acronym for “Your Money or Your Life”. Google gives special attention to the websites which can impact the user’s life or money in any means. YMYL websites must have authentic and relevant quality content. This is ensured by Google’s evaluators on the basis of the E-A-T metric. As per Google, every high-quality page needs a high level of E-A-T.
This was a brief about what is E-A-T in SEO. Now, let us understand the individual components of this metric and how they impact the SEO.
Expertise is the key to success
Does the content developer for your website have expertise in the domain? This is a critical question that must be answered.
YMYL sites are influencing the lives of the reader to a great extent. One has to be subject matter expert in order to score high expertise quotient.
Imagine a healthcare blog. The content for which is written by an Arts graduate whose English is amazing but has a very minimal level of understanding of the healthcare industry. Will the person be able to deliver quality content that is accurate and relevant? What if the content is misleading and causes some harm to the reader?
On the contrary, imagine a person who has studied the healthcare industry and has certain certifications too. The person is in the industry for several years and understands it in and out. This person will be having 360-degree knowledge and understanding of the healthcare industry.
It is but obvious that the second scenario is better as the person is having more in-depth knowledge and content created by him will be more accurate.
In order to have more E-A-T, ensure that the content for the website is developed by the person having expertise in the domain of the website.
Authoritativeness results in a better E-A-T
Taking the above example ahead, imagine there are 2 healthcare consultants. One consultant attends a lot of conferences, is a great public speaker, has a youtube channel, has received a lot of awards for his work in this field and is very active.
Other is also a great consultant but is not involved in any of such activities. He just works for the sake of doing his duty and relaxes in his free time.
Here, the 1st healthcare consultant will have more “authoritativeness” as he is an authoritative figure. His words will have more value than that of the 2nd consultant as he is having good authority.
Your website might have an excellent content developer with expertise in the niche but is he an authoritative figure in the industry?
Along with expertise, authority is another key metric that helps you make a better E-A-T.
Trustworthiness in order to improve E-A-T in SEO
If readers will not trust you, they will not visit you again and will not engage with you. Trust is a key factor for success in any form of relationship. When content is trustworthy, people will not only freely consume it but also share it and recommend others to read it.
With little or no trust, you cannot achieve good E-A-T. You might have an expert content developer with great authority in the industry. But, if there is a mistake in the information provided on your website or if the misformation is misleading, this will result in loss of trust factor.
Also, your website should be secured. Ensure this by adding an SSL certificate. When readers see HTTPS, they feel safe and also Google chromes do not prompt with the message that the website is unsecured.
In order to have a great E-A-T, the trustworthiness quotient should be more along with the expertise and authoritativeness.
Why should you emphasize on E-A-T metric?
- A key metric in Google’s quality rating guidelines.
- Enhances the page quality.
- Ensures good user experience by delivering them relevant and quality content.
- Good user experience leads to more conversions. It also improves SEO.
- If you are relevant to users, you are relevant to Google. And, if you are relevant to Google, your SEO is enhanced.
- E-A-T is one of the key digital marketing trends in 2020.
Conclusion
If you have not yet focussed on YMYL and E-A-T, do not delay it further. These two acronyms can help you achieve great SEO. SEO is a long term process and you need to work consistently to ensure that you gain positive long-lasting results. E-A-T in SEO cannot be measured immediately but if you are emphasizing on it, you will surely get good results.
I hope this article helped you. Thank you for reading. If you discover anything about E-A-T which I have not mentioned above, please feel to share it in the comments section. When you share, you grow.
Also, let me know some specific topics on which you want me to write an article.
Happy Reading!
Awesome post! Keep up the great work! 🙂