Google is the most popular search engine in the world, and it reserves the highest rankings in the search results for sites that appear the most reputable. A great way to boost your site’s spot in the search results is to regularly post high-quality content that appeals to Google’s standards.
You can host content on your own site (from an authoritative article to a valuable infographic) and encourage other sites to link to it. You can also offer the content to other reputable sites to host and include a link back to your site.
No matter what approach you use, you’ll want to emphasize Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness—meaning you’ll need to learn how to create E-A-T content for Google. Google does not claim E-A-T as a ranking factor, but it is mentioned in their Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
Address E-A-T At Both the Page and Domain Levels
Both the perceived reputability of your website overall and the quality of individual pages are significant factors in Google’s analysis. This means the largest websites in operation will not necessarily dominate all results pages.
A small publisher with a single viral post can still gain visibility in search results because of the perceived value of the single page that hosts its popular content. However, this success will only have lasting benefits if the site gains Google’s trust overall.
It is possible to game the algorithm for a short time and trick Google into thinking your website is reputable, but user interaction with your site will reveal the truth. High bounce rates are an easy indicator to Google that a site is not what it presents itself to be.
Domain-Level E-A-T: Your Overall Site
To meet E-A-T criteria, your company will need to make its legitimacy as clear as possible. There can be no chance of mistaking your business for a scam site trafficked by bots. To appear more authentic, include an “About Us” page and a “Meet Our Team” section.
The more detailed you make these, the better—plus, they give your talented staff a chance to shine. Feature photos, names, and personalized info to emphasize your company’s validity. This will also help build customer trust.
Using a template to build your site is fine, but make sure the text is customized in every respect. A common and easily corrected mistake is leaving in the “lorem ipsum” placeholders that many template-builders use to demonstrate text formatting. Either fill in each default page with original information or remove the page entirely.
Page-Level E-A-T: The Content On Your Site
Page-level E-A-T pertains to the creation of content on individual pages. When you’re creating this content, you should keep a few things in mind:
Keep It Compelling
Content needs to be fresh and interesting if you want it to impact your traffic and ranking. More sites will want to link to a unique perspective, original data, or content they can’t get anywhere else.
Flashy videos and infographics get lots of attention, and people are likely to embed them in their content since you’ve already done the heavy lifting of creation.
Not everyone can afford to hire an expert to take the helm of their content, but you can maintain an acceptable level of professionalism. Keeping your formatting clean and eliminating errors will build trust with your readers and keep them coming back to you.
Address a Need
The goal of your content should be to answer a specific question that your target user base is likely to ask. Answering redundant questions relating to common knowledge will not garner as much attention as addressing a niche topic with answers that have actionable value.
You’ll want to base your content around a searchable keyword or anchor phrase that doesn’t see a lot of competition. You can type your keyword directly into the search bar to gauge results or use a keyword planner.
Once you find a popularly searched keyword that turns up few results or only yields outdated information, you can create content to meet the existing need.
Keep YMYL Guidelines In Mind
Your Money, Your Life (often abbreviated to YMYL) refers to the content that Google feels can influence people’s decisions in critical areas. This content is held to an exceptionally high quality standard because it can affect a person’s money, life, health, or wellbeing.
You may think these standards don’t apply to you, but more sites fall under this umbrella than you’d think. If your site has an interface through which people can purchase anything at all, it will be held to YMYL criteria.
If you approach these more high-stakes topics in a way that Google registers as spam, even if your intentions are harmless, you will be penalized.
Playing By Their Rules
If you want to benefit from Google’s services, then you have to play by their rules. They may seem strict and hard to satisfy, but remember that the real aim is to sift out the low-effort scammers who offer nothing of value and help searchers find the best possible results for their queries. By making the extra effort to operate within Google’s boundaries, you can make this system work in your favor.
