E-A-T SEO stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness Search Engine Optimization. E-A-T in SEO is another factor responsible for your website’s Google ranking. Google added E-A-T as a factor in its search algorithm in 2014 and in “Search Quality Guidelines” in the year 2018. When executed accordingly within the guidelines it can help in improving your website’s ranking.

Concept Of E-A-T

E-A-T denotes Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness”

» Expertise: in Search Quality Guidelines from Google instructs us to ensure that the professional knowledge and experience of the content creator must reflect on our website. Also, up to an extent, a website should cover the content topic of their area of expertise for Google to trust their knowledge and experience to show the information to a user in search results.

For example: If a professional nutritionist with a decent bio writes a dietary blog rather than a rookie, Google will trust it the most.

» Authoritativeness: again denotes the verifiable quality and knowledge of the creator, the content and the website itself. It’s a very simple logic of Google, the more you are knowledgeable in any type of content the more you will have authority over others. So it can be stated as the practice of demonstrating the expertise of the content creator and the website.

For example, A website displaying an author’s specifications including their relevant experience, job title, and bio.

» Trustworthiness: also includes the content creator, the content itself and the website. It clearly shows the trust Google and its users can show towards your site to rely on any type of information that you provide.

For example, A website showing technical and trusting signs like SSL, HTTPS, professional information and output, and easy-to-find contact details.

Then E-A-T In SEO Is A Google Ranking Factor?

E-A-T is not a direct Google ranking factor, it may help in improving your website’s content ranking so that Google can favour it in the search results. This is a little bit confusing, if it is not a ranking factor then how it will benefit your site. Well, Google uses E-A-T as per its guidelines to determine the quality of your content. This way it assesses which content to rank and show higher. So there are more chances with a good E-A-T practice that your search ranking can improve indirectly.

So, Why Is E-A-T Important In SEO?

‘Content is King’, this phrase is now known to all. See, there are multiple factors for Google to rank content in a high-quality category including, images, refined and long-formed content, Alt tags, meaningful Meta, etc. E-A-T guides us towards the factors according to which Google considers content as high quality.

As per the guidelines the high-quality content should:

• Help, assist or enlighten the reader or user.
• Be created by an expert having a professional knowledge.
• Be created for an authoritative website.
• Have verifiable trustworthiness
• Be modified or updated regularly.

Lastly, the content creator should be an everyday expert and have a real-life experience with respect to the topic for which the content is being created.