We all expect a little bit of trust in the places that we choose to do business with. After all, trust is the foundation for authentic and positive relationship building. And the same holds true when people search for information.
Basically, in the same way that you’d likely be disappointed if you went to a hot dog stand only to find out that they only had chicken sandwiches, people are also getting frustrated when they search for specific terms and can’t find the answers they’re looking for. This is where Google E-A-T comes in. Because in the digital era, people want to know real facts and be confident that the content they read is trustworthy.
Without trust, it’s nearly impossible to grow your client base or your business. And as the world’s most prominent search engine with more than 8.5 billion searches per day, Google understands that users expect reliability when they use their service. So, if you’re serious about growing your business in 2023, understanding Google E-A-T is a great place to start.
Could your SEO strategy be better for navigating Google updates? Reach out to Beacon Media + Marketing today and schedule a free consultation.
What Is Google E-A-T?
The days of keyword stuffing have been over for a while. Even though some businesses still employ these shady practices, Google continues to penalize them in many ways. But today, especially with the proliferation of misinformation, the need for a greater level of authenticity and trustworthiness is more important than ever.
E-A-T, stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. First mentioned in 2014, E-A-T is part of a relatively recent update to Google’s algorithm that has become an integral part of Google’s search quality evaluator guidelines. At its most basic level, E-A-T gives Google a clearer picture in determining whether a specific piece of content is valuable to readers.
In the evaluation of search quality, E-A-T prompts quality evaluators to determine:
- A content creator’s specific expertise
- The overall authoritativeness of the content creator, the content, and the website where the content lives
- The overall trustworthiness of the creator, the content, and the website where the content lives
By determining these three factors of E-A-T, they will help to indicate if a piece of content is high-quality, valuable, and helpful for users and readers.
How Can Google E-A-T Impact the Ranking of Content?
If you think about it, would you rather get your information for marketing trends in 2023 from a site with authority such as Forbes, or from a private blog belonging to an unnamed person with no listed credentials? Basically, if you don’t even know who wrote the article, the value is going to be pretty low. And as a business that produces content, this makes it critical for you to have a healthy element of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness that both Google and your readers can place their confidence in.
Google understands that people want their service to be reliable. Otherwise, users will likely begin using another search engine. And obviously, this is the last thing that Google wants to happen. As such, without strong, authoritative content, the possibility of having your content ranked lower – or not even ranking at all – becomes much higher.
How Can You Improve Your E-A-T?
As mentioned, Google – and readers – want to know that what they’re reading comes from a reliable and trustworthy source. And this is where the power of creativity can be leveraged to improve your overall E-A-T.
Additionally, people love to see both a face and a name when they’re looking for answers. Instead of writing dry content without mentioning the author at all, implementing new practices that can highlight your E-A-T should be prioritized. And here are a few ways to do so:
- Interview real company experts and list their credentials within the content
- Offer content written, or ghost-written, by the CEO, CMO, or a director of operations
- Link out to the content creator’s LinkedIn profile
- Link to a bio of the content creator, or display an image of the creator along with his or her credentials at the bottom of the piece
Essentially, when creating content for your specific audience and looking to improve your E-A-T, you really need to begin with the foundational elements of marketing and ask a few simple questions:
- What do your clients care about?
- What questions are they asking?
- What information do your target clients want from you – before they reach out?
Your authority comes from understanding the answers to these questions, and your transparency – from actually showcasing and proving what you do. And this is done by giving examples in your content of how your company operates, identifying your process, showing how you get results for your clients, and highlighting specific case studies. Basically, don’t tell your audience what you can do, show them – and be able to back it up with proof.
In addition, your reputation and connections also play a major role. As such, other companies you’re aligning with and your community connections are also equally important to showcase. And this goes back to the basic principle of it being far more effective to have other people talking about you versus you talking about yourself.
How Can a Marketing Company Help to Elevate your E-A-T
A well-planned marketing strategy should play a key role when attempting to improve or enhance your overall expertise. But when attempting to increase your expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, you really need to dig in and understand a marketing company’s process before you decide to work with them.
Here are a few key questions to consider before working with a marketing company:
- Are they deeply researching the content that will be placed on your site?
- Are they interviewing the founders of the company and asking relevant questions?
- Are they outsourcing their content to AI?
- Are they outsourcing content production to experts in a specific field, or are they relying on content mills?
In considering these questions, you want to be sure that your voice is being highlighted, and that you’re not just producing content for content’s sake.
In addition, you also want to be fully aware of the process a marketing company employs when they develop content for you and ensure that they’re not taking industry shortcuts. And this is because Google will eventually penalize you for engaging in shady content practices, and your trustworthiness will correspondingly diminish as a result.
A marketing company can also enhance your brand awareness through the best utilization of imagery and web design. And at the end of the day, UX is a visual expression of a company on a website. For example, as over 80 percent of communication is non-verbal, the same holds true online. Essentially, it’s not all about the written words within the content, it’s how you present those words that make the greatest impact.
Work With the Content Marketing Experts at Beacon Media + Marketing
At Beacon Media + Marketing, we’ve placed ourselves beyond the conventional practices and paths that often lead to industry shortcuts. And with our talented team of creative professionals, we can enhance your E-A-T and showcase the expertise and authority that your clients are looking for.
Are you ready to grow, thrive, get ranked higher, and show the world your expertise in 2023? Reach out to Beacon Media + Marketing and talk with an expert today.
