Search engines are becoming better than ever at telling the difference between content that sounds credible and content that actually is. Google’s quality rater guidelines are built around a framework called EEAT: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust. Google and other search engines look for EEAT signals to determine if a webpage is trustworthy and worth showing to searchers.
As a digital marketing agency specializing in small business growth, we work closely with businesses to help them establish their online authority as experts in their industry. We lean on EEAT as one of the key criteria for what a competitive page looks like.
Here’s what you need to know about EEAT for your small business, along with a simple checklist to weigh your own content against.
What Does EEAT Mean?
Google uses the EEAT framework to describe what a truly helpful and trustworthy webpage looks like:
- Experience: Whether the person creating the content has actually done the thing they are writing about. A review written by someone who really used the product they are reviewing, for example, carries much more weight than a summary built from other reviews. First-hand detail is hard to fake, and readers recognize it right away.
- Expertise: Whether the person creating the content has extensive knowledge of their subject. For example, for a plumbing company, this would mean content written or reviewed by someone who works on plumbing systems every day. Google is looking for in-depth and accurate content that points to real-world expertise.
- Authoritativeness: How the wider internet treats your business as a source. Authority is measured based on your citations, reviews, and links from respected sites related to your business.
- Trust: Google has stated that trust is the most important member of the group. It’s a combination of accurate information, transparent details about your business, and site security.
Why Does EEAT Matter So Much?
Generative AI has made publishing high volumes of content fast and nearly effortless. Search results are quickly filling up with pages that read smoothly but offer very little in terms of unique and helpful information. For your small business, EEAT is the most reliable way to set yourself apart from an ocean of AI-generated content.
Building the elements of EEAT into your content also incentivizes Google and other search engines to rank your pages. The complex algorithms that drive search engines prioritize the most helpful answers to the questions people are asking online, and if you provide those answers, you’re likely to get far more visitors to your pages.
Quick and Simple EEAT SEO Checklist
These are a few easy ways to add more signals of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust to your site.
Include Your Team on the Site
Google, and potential customers, want to see that your business is operated by real people. Your site should prominently feature information about your team, and where possible, real team members should be listed as authors or reviewers of your content.
Readers and search engines both want to know who’s behind the advice and information that you offer across your site. If your site includes informational blogs, authorship is especially important. Even if a contracted copywriter is creating your content, having the content reviewed by a member of your team gives you the opportunity to confirm that the information is backed by expertise.
Be Detailed and Specific
Generic info is easy to come by, and your site is more likely to stand out if you specify and specialize. Including photos of your work, clear pricing information, and a complete outline of every service you offer gives Google and visitors more to set you apart when comparing with competitors.
Earn Mentions From Respectable Sources
Authority grows when credible sites link back to your work. Local news coverage, industry associations and memberships, and sponsorships can all help here. Our guide to why backlinks are important covers all of this in detail.
Double-Check for Accuracy and Keep Content Current
If your content becomes outdated or inaccurate, remove or update it. Some of the most common offenders here are old statistics, pricing information, and broken links to pages that no longer exist.
You can use an SEO tool like SEMRush to crawl for broken links, but you may need a more in-depth auditing system in place to keep your information up to date. This is one key area where partnering with an SEO agency may help the most.
Display Reviews and Credentials, But Always Be Honest
Show your certifications, licenses, rewards, and Google reviews prominently on your site, but present them as they are. Never inflate your review numbers or make claims about your expertise that aren’t true. For example, even if you’ve only been in business since 2018, make that clear to your customers instead of vaguely stating that you have “years of experience.”
Keep Your Site Secure
An SSL certificate, clear privacy and terms pages, a functional contact form, and even the load speed of your pages will help you build trust with Google and your site users. None of these will make your pages outrank others’ on their own, but skipping them can definitely hold a solid page back.
Where To Go Next With EEAT
Many businesses have more credibility than their websites communicate. We’ve experienced this with many of our most successful marketing clients. The expertise, experience, authority, and trust are all there in their business, but they need to be broadcasted.
This is where partnering with an SEO agency that specializes in helping small businesses grow may be the right next step. Our SEO services lay a firm foundation for EEAT, and we work closely with our clients to build sites that are full of accurate, helpful info that will drive leads up.
If you want a second set of eyes on how your site measures up, get in touch with our team and we’ll gladly walk through it with you.