An average person doesn’t know what
goes on in the background when they enter a few words in the search bar and hit
Enter.
An SEO professional, on the other
hand, is different.
They have extensive knowledge of
the events that happen after the Enter key is pressed. That’s because they’re
SEO professionals, and that’s their job. You’re better off asking about SEO to
one of these guys than your accountant cousin.
The example above is E-E-A-T in a
nutshell. I’ll explain everything in detail below.
Before discussing the new E, let’s
see what E-A-T is about.
What is E-A-T?
E-A-T stands for,
E - Expertise
A – Authoritativeness
T - Trust
There is another abbreviation,
YMYL, that’s relevant to E-A-T. I’ll talk about that a bit later.
Google has a bunch of guidelines
called Search
Quality Evaluator Guidelines. Feel free to go through all 176 pages to learn
more about the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.
In short, the linked document talks
about guidelines that quality raters follow to evaluate search results. Raters
are actual humans who find out whether Google’s search results satisfy user
expectations.
E-A-T is a part of these
guidelines. They were added in 2014, and in 2019, Google started considering them
as an important factor in determining Page Quality.
E-A-T in detail.
Expertise
Pretty self-explanatory. You can’t
call yourself an expert in a particular field just because you saw a few YouTube
videos about it. You need to have formal training to be an expert in your
field.
Quality evaluators study the creators
of pages to decide whether they are experts on the topic.
There’s another category called
“Everyday Expertise.” Creators who fall under this category don’t have formal
training, but their expertise stems from using a product or other occurrences.
Authoritativeness
Authoritativeness = Reputation.
The more authoritative your website
is, the more trustworthy your content is. In other words, you’d be better off
trusting an article about joint
pain from WebMD rather than a random Facebook post. A person may have
real-world experience or expertise on a topic but may not have the authority to
teach others or experts in your industry.
Trust
This metric combines Expertise,
Authoritativeness, and the second E. Trust determines how reliable a web page
is. This metric varies based on the type of webpage. For example, online stores
require secure online payment systems to be called trustworthy. Pages that
display product reviews should give equal importance to the positive and negative
aspects rather than prioritizing just one.
The Second E
The second E in E-E-A-T stands for
Experience.
Experience popped up alongside
E-A-T in late 2022.
This inclusion aims to identify content
where the creator has/had some actual experience related to the topic they’re
discussing.
Let’s look at an example. Journalists
can create content on any topic you ask them to. They conduct research on
multiple sites, create content that is relevant to the task they’re assigned to
and call it a day. They don’t have any experience with the topic they write
about.
They may do a good job of converting
content from hard-to-understand technical jargon into simple everyday language.
But they aren’t experts in the topics they’re writing about, nor have they
experienced anything related to what they write.
Their knowledge is only limited to
the sites they visit. This means that they will simply omit the information
they cannot find.
The omitting part is not true for
experts or authoritative sources, or even people with day-to-day experience with
the topic. They know everything about the content they create and will take
special care not to miss important details.
The example above perfectly
describes what Google wants to avoid. A content creator needs to have
first-hand or life experience about the topic they’re about to discuss.
It’s about trusting a review from
someone who has actually used the product than someone who’s just spamming
overly positive or overly negative reviews on different websites.
Why is the new E important?
Because it changes how traditional content
has been working.
You cannot be called an expert or
authoritative figure if you research and create content related to insomnia.
You must either be a qualified medical practitioner or someone suffering from
insomnia.
In the case of the physician, their
content can be trusted due to their expertise and authority in their field.
As for the person suffering from
insomnia, their content can be trusted because of their experience dealing with
the condition.
This is basically what Search Quality
Raters look out for when ranking content.
The above statement rings
especially true when it comes to YMYL topics.
What’s YMYL
YMYL stands for Your Money or
Your Life.
The internet has tons of pages that
talk about various topics. Some topics are pretty harmless. A discussion about
a person’s favorite video game character, someone’s choice of clothes, or preferred
types of house plants, these discussions are perfectly safe to have.
On the other hand, some topics may
cause serious harm to one’s health, financial stability, other people, or
certain aspects of society. These topics come under the YMYL category.
A content creator who’s discussing
YMYL topics should practice caution, considering the effects their content may
have on individuals or society.
Google has issued guidelines to
determine what qualifies as a YMYL topic based on the harm it may cause.
YMYL Health & Safety
Topics that cause physical, mental,
and emotional disturbances. The topics that discuss safety, both physical and
online, fall under this category as well.
YMYL Financial Security
Topics that can lead to loss of
money, thereby directly contributing to the inability of a person to support
themselves or their family.
YMYL Society
Topics that could show a group of
people in a negative light. Topics that go against general public interest and
trust in public institutions fall under this category as well.
YMYL Other
Content from other topics that may
cause serious harm to financial or physical well-being.
Consider these conditions when you plan to create content, as your rankings may take a hit based on your expertise and authoritativeness in your industry.
E-E-A-T, YMYL Why should I
concern myself with these abbreviations?
Because Google says so.
And whether you like it or not, Google has a monopoly in the search engine market. It has been the most-used search engine since 2010. SINCE 2010. Let that sink in.
Since Google holds such a huge
market, it is only natural that it would want its users to have a safe and user-friendly
experience. (and hold the top spot for many more years)
Hence, the need for stringent guidelines.
Sure, E-E-A-T or YMYL may not
directly contribute to SEO,
but they are essential in creating accurate and informative content.
And the fact is, Google takes the
quality of content pretty seriously when ranking webpages.
This is especially true when writing
content that revolves around real-life experience or medical and financial advice.
Key Takeaways
·
Content creators must have first-hand or life
experience about the topic they’re discussing
·
Expertise in a topic also includes everyday
expertise in addition to formal qualifications and being in the same line of
work
·
Authoritativeness is determined by the content
creator’s reputation in their industry as a source for credible content
·
The requirements for trust change according to the
type of website/content
·
Google has exceptionally high Page Quality
rating standards if your content revolves around any of the core YMYL topics,
i.e., Medicine, safety, and money-related posts
Wrapping Things Up
Google has been regularly making
changes on how its search engine works. The addition of E to E-A-T is one such
change.
Good content isn’t just fun to consume;
it is informative, accurate, and produced by someone with a high level of trust
and authority in their domain.
Keeping the basics of E-E-A-T in mind when creating content not only helps your readers but is also beneficial in terms of SEO.