What is E-A-T content? It’s certainly not content that you physically eat. And it also isn’t one of those long and drawn-out recipe blogs where it takes 1000 words before you get to the actual recipe. E-A-T is actually an acronym for “Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness”, and it is a major factor in Google rankings.
What is E-A-T
More specifically, E-A-T is one of the many guidelines Google uses to determine whether the content provided is valuable to readers and whether it should rank well. Google is getting smarter every day, and just because you include a target keyword 50 times, doesn’t mean you’re going to rank for it. The opposite is actually true.
We know what it stands for, but what do the terms refer to? When it comes to Expertise, that is specifically referring to the expertise of the creator of the content. Authoritativeness refers to the creator of the content, the content itself, and the website. And Trustworthiness also refers to the creator of the content, the content itself, and the website.
Here’s an example from Google that highlights what they mean by E-A-T:
“High E-A-T news articles should be produced with journalistic professionalism – they should contain factually accurate content presented in a way that helps users achieve a better understanding of events. High E-A-T news sources typically have published established editorial policies and robust review processes.”
Is E-A-T Used for Ranking?
Technically, E-A-T is not a ranking factor for your pages. But it can impact your content’s rank. But wait, isn’t that the same thing? It definitely seems like it, but not quite. According to Google, E-A-T is a guideline Google uses to determine high-quality from low-quality content. Content that is deemed high-quality should be ranked higher. So while it’s not a direct ranking factor, it has an impact on your overall search rankings indirectly.
What Makes E-A-T Important?
If this doesn’t directly tie into higher-ranking content, why should we care about it? There’s already so much that SEO professionals have to worry about, so why add this to the mix? Because Content is King.
That phrase has been used to death, but there’s never been any context behind it. Do I just make content as often as I can? What should it be about? What makes content high-quality?
E-A-T is one of the first bits of insight they have given us into what they consider high-quality content, and that can have enormous implications for content marketing and SEO pros.
We have two pieces of good news when it comes to E-A-T. The first thing is that E-A-T is nothing new, so don’t expect your rankings to change because of some new addition to their ranking factor. The first introduction of E-A-T was all the way back in 2014. The second piece of good news is that not following E-A-T guidelines will not tank your website. Since it only indirectly affects your ranking, you won’t be hurt by not following.
That being said, while you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain. If you’re looking for help with your SEO and content strategies, don’t hesitate to reach out to us or give us a call at 305-455-0720.