You’ve undoubtedly heard of E-A-T unless you’re freshly new to the search business. Even though the notion has been present since 2014, it has slowly evolved into one of the most crucial aspects of SEO.

Sadly, it is also one of the most perplexing – even among industry insiders.

What exactly is E-A-T SEO? Continue reading to learn more about it, including what it is, why it counts, and how it impacts your SEO efforts.

Definition of E-A-T

Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness are abbreviated as E-A-T. The idea stems from Google’s Search Quality Rater standards, and it gained popularity following the controversial Medic Update in August 2018. E-A-T is one of the factors that Google considers when determining the overall performance of a web page.

As you might expect, page quality has a substantial impact on where a page ranks in Google organic search results. As per Google’s standards, the most essential variables utilized to assess the overall grade of a web page are:

• The author of the Main Content or the website’s reputation
• Information about the website or the author of the main content
• The quality and volume of the main content
• Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness
• The Page’s Intent 

So, if all else is equal, the higher a page’s ranking should be, the more it exhibits knowledge, authority, and trustworthiness.

What factors does Google consider while determining E-A-T?

Let’s speak about how Google evaluates a page’s E-A-T now that we’ve addressed the question What is E-A-T? The Google search quality assessor guidelines describe three major components at a high level:

• The expertise of the Main Content author.
• The authority of the Main Content’s originator, the Primary Content itself, and the website.
• The trustworthiness of the Main Content’s originator, the Primary Content itself, and the website.

Assuring the accuracy, truthfulness, and utility of information

E-A-T is Google’s attempt to assure that it provides accurate, trustworthy, and valuable information to searchers. Anybody can make a website and post anything they want on it.

Of course, this is beneficial in certain ways. However, it also poses a challenge for Google. People make crucial judgments depending on what they discover from search results. As a result, Google seeks to guarantee that such judgments are built on the most reliable information available.

As a result, Google examines the individual developer of page content, the material itself, and the overall website’s competence, authority, and trustworthiness.

What exactly is expertise?

Google understands that depending on the sort of page, E-A-T will seem extremely different. Expertise on a gossip website is very different from expertise on a news website. They also recognize that even if a person hasn’t obtained official training in a field, they might have skill in it.

That said, there is one type of website E-A-T SEO that Google takes very seriously: Your Money or Your Life.

What exactly is YMYL?

“Your Money or Your Life” is the acronym for “Your Money or Your Life.” This abbreviation is used by Google to categorize pages that affect your money, health, safety, and/or happiness.

Because of the subject matter and the implications for a user, if that material is misrepresented, YMYL websites are held to the highest possible E-A-T standards.

Types of YMYL websites

The following pages are frequently referred to as YMYL:

Groups of people: Content about persons based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Health and safety: Content includes pharmacies, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals, as well as content that features or disseminates information or advice on health and medical concerns.

Shopping: Content is e-commerce content that includes product research or the research of products and services that will be purchased.

Finance: Financial advice or information on insurance, banking, loans, retirement planning, taxes, or investments.

Law, government, civics: Information on social services, public institutions, government agencies, voting, or legal assistance is disseminated through civics, government, and law.

News and current events: Technology, science, politics, business, and world events are among the topics covered.

Depending on the context or how the content is delivered, the list may potentially include more subjective issues and content. Parenting information, housing or remodeling information, studying schools or colleges, finding jobs, nutrition, fitness, or weight reduction information are examples of such products.

The significance of E-A-T SEO

Google knows that a person’s life may be changed by what they read online. As a result, a faulty information source in Google search results might have real-world ramifications.

If your content or web pages fall under any of these YMYL groups, you must proceed cautiously. Make it very evident that it was written by people in positions of authority.

The more E-A-T criteria you can follow and apply to your content, the better your chances of organic search engine exposure and ranking success.

The future of SEO and E-A-T

In the future, E-A-T will likely be used to identify speakers, writers, websites, and businesses in a broader, deeper, and more comprehensive way.

For example, Google was given a patent in 2020 called “Speaker Identification,” which uses voice recognition technology to assist identify unique speakers. This might be utilized in the future with media interviews, webinar recordings, and YouTube videos, for example. And this is most likely only the beginning.

Through major fundamental changes and micro-adjustments, the Search algorithm will continue to evolve. Google’s purpose, on the other hand, remains the same. To that goal, Google’s algorithm continues to improve at detecting precisely what users are looking for and delivering the most relevant results.

This objective is precisely matched with Google’s E-A-T.

Your SEO efforts will be more likely to work if you know what your audience wants and can give it to them in an informed, authoritative, and trustworthy manner.

You’ll always be in a strong position for success if E-A-T is one of the key pillars of your SEO strategy. Contact SEO expert for more help in SEO.