EAT signals to Google, elements to add to site pages
They are only three letters, but hide a deep meaning that is linked to the goal of Google to provide quality answers to the questions of users of the search engine: is E-A-T, the paradigm with which the algorithms and Google quality raters assess competence, authoritativeness and reliability (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) that are behind the content published online. To strengthen the perception of EAT parameters we have some options available, and in particular there are (at least) 8 signals that we can add to the site.
The importance of E-A-T to Google
Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness are one of the new frontiers of Google’s algorithm, which uses various systems to determine whether a website is credible and whether the content it publishes is worthy of ranking high among SERPs or, as recently revealed, to appear in the Google Discover feed.
The weight of E-A-T is felt in particular for the quality evaluation of YMYL content (“Your Money Your Life”), for which several times Google and its public voices have stressed the need to rely on expert authors: for some types of research, In fact, there is an enormous opportunity to share information that can have a crucial impact (even in a negative sense) on the private aspects of people’s lives such as “happiness, health or wealth”.
In other words, Google is concerned that its Serps may show poor quality results, with incorrect information or potentially fraudulent or misleading advice and opinions, on topics such as finance and investment, health and medicine, legal information and so on, which can cause serious harm to users performing the research.
It is therefore to protect people (and the quality of its results) that Google has introduced the concept of E-A-T, well clarified also in the Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines to which you must adhere its quality raters in the evaluation of Serps, which therefore serves to increase the chances that the sites located offer a high level of expertise, authority and reliability, especially in sensitive areas such as medical, health and financial issues.
How to improve the E-A-T of our pages
While not technically a ranking factor, E-A-T is an important quality indicator for a site’s pages, and there are some strategies that can help improve Google’s perception of the level of expertise, authoritativeness and reliability of our content.
We should not, however, think of technical optimization interventions, because Google does not use specific metrics or scores to calculate these characteristics, but rather some systems and signals that can help search engine algorithms to understand (and evaluate well) our E-A-T.
Already some time ago we talked about how structured data can help to increase the perceived E-A-T, and today thanks to the contribution of Andrei Prakharevich we can find 8 more signals to add to the pages to improve the E-A-T for Google.
In order to strengthen the E-A-T we need a constant work
These simple interventions obviously serve only as support to improve the E-A-T of our pages and to try to convince Google of the level of competence, authority and reliability that we have achieved, but surely it is not enough just to create a few more pages or to insert additional information.
The starting point is always the creation of quality content, possibly created by real experts: the next step is to use these strategies to communicate to Google the value of these content and try to benefit (also) in terms of ranking.
- Adding (and editing) the author’s biography
One of the most common ways to empower our content is to have it written by an expert or, at least, by a person who may look like an expert. This is why it may be preferable to openly indicate the authors of the content rather than marking the text with the name of the brand or with the words staff/editorial staff.
At the moment, the best practices to make the author known are to indicate the name on the article page and then link that name to a biographical page, always published on the same website – and just recently, with the new update of the guidelines for quality raters, Google pointed out that biographical information of authors can be useful to determine the reputation of a site and content.
This profile page, which serves to give importance to the name, helps us to show various information and – following the latest trends in SEO – we can consider it almost like a microsite, adding a variety of media and links. In general, the author’s bio page includes the following data:
- Photo
- Name
- Work title
- Description
- Link