In SEO, E.A.T. isn’t about food. It’s Google’s guidelines for quality content and website ranking factors. However, Google recently updated its guidelines and the name so now its “E.E.A.T.”. Besides making the term more distinctive, it’s also adding additional considerations and nuance to how Google rates websites.
Previously, when describing traits Google valued it referenced “Authority” (the A) and “Trustworthiness” (the T) … but the “E” was sometimes described as “Expertise” and other times as “Experience.” Now, with the double “E” Google is citing both traits and adding more information – nine additional pages – to the Quality Rater Guidelines on the distinction between the two similar terms and why they matter.
What Does EEAT Stand For?
In SEO, E.E.A.T. stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It’s a set of defining factors that Google uses when evaluating a website and its content to determine its usefulness and quality.
Is EEAT Important?
If you want your website to rank well in organic search, yes… E.E.A.T. is important. And, while E.E.A.T. was created by Google for its algorithm, the page quality concepts are solid enough that it will also help a website do better in organic rankings for other search engines – like Bing or DuckDuckGo, even though they have algorithmic differences for ranking factors and values.
Does EEAT Matter For SEO?
E.E.A.T. is an acronym for items that help determine page quality. Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness may all sound similar, but Google makes important distinctions between them… and authoritativeness will depend upon your niche. For example, a car blogger could have a good authority ranking for auto industry news but little to no authority for information on how to repair a car (or vice versa) depending upon their niche.
While you want your website to rank as well as possible for all five traits, Google has indicated that trustworthiness is the most important. No one wants to patronize a business that is unreliable or untrustworthy, regardless of its industry. This is especially important for websites and businesses in the YMYL category.
“YMYL” refers to “your money or your life,” or rather, services that affect your health, security, and finances. The standards for YMYL also apply to news websites, government and law websites, and online shopping websites because they must be secure and reliable.
What Are Google’s EEAT Guidelines?
Google Content Guidelines are geared toward “creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.” E.E.A.T. (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) is a key aspect of how that happens.
Experience is about whether the business or content creator has genuine, first-hand experience with the subject. If it’s a health/medicine website, are they a doctor or medical provider? Or are they a survivor of a disease writing about their personal experience? If it’s a recipe website, are the people behind it chefs, cookbook authors, etc.?
Expertise is a higher bar than experience. While the person who wrote about kidney transplants has experience with that medical condition, a nephrologist would be the expert in kidney disease – not the patient.
An expert could be self-trained if they have enough real-world experience. For example, someone who has worked for years as a professional writer and has written two books would be an expert even if they don’t have a degree in writing. And, of course, an expert would also be a practicing attorney or a licensed doctor writing about their field.
Authority is a higher bar than Expertise or Experience. It means that not only are you an expert in your field but other people – especially your peers – view you as an authority on the topic. You’re a leader in your field.
Trust is the hardest threshold to achieve. If your website has already established your experience, expertise, and authority then that helps to convey trust.
If your website involves e-commerce, and it has recognized security for online transactions, that will also help. If other websites link to your website because of your good reputation and expert content, that will also help to establish trust.
Is EEAT A Ranking Factor?
While E.E.A.T. itself isn’t one of Google’s direct ranking factors, Google does use other signals to weigh the experience, expertise, authority, and trust of a website – and those signals are ranking factors. In fact, Google mentions E.E.A.T. 137 times in its current Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
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