Everyone wants to rank high in Google searches, but how do you do it? Many things go into ranking high in the SERPs. Google uses a ” PageRank ” system to index pages so that the most relevant information is at the top and not buried on page 10 of search results. One factor is called ‘E-A-T,’ which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Understanding this concept will help you better comprehend SEO and hopefully allow you to rank higher in SERPS while improving your website’s conversion rates by providing visitors with what they need when they need it most.
What is E-A-T?
E-A-T is a measure of how skilled you are at your craft and how trustworthy and knowledgeable you are. You can think of “E-” for expertise and “A-” for authority. These two elements work together to create a metric that reflects the trustworthiness, familiarity, and quality of the information in the content on the website. This metric is also referred to as “Authoritative Metrics” in some circles. A simple analogy to help explain E-A-T would be a teacher from your local high school that is notable for their background and knowledge on certain subjects (expertise) as well as their standing in the community (authority).
Can you measure E-A-T?
You can measure E-A-T using metrics such as the trust flow or credibility component from backlinks, the Do follow index, and social media. When combined with other factors within a page’s ranking algorithm, people can use these metrics to measure E-A-T. In addition, you can hire the best SEO companies to get quality service. However, some argue that it is not possible to measure E-A-T accurately on a page by itself. In contrast, others state they are more accurate than Google’s PageRank algorithm when measuring a website’s expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
Google’s expertise patents:
Recently, Google has patented assessing expertise via trust flow and authority metrics. They have also patented ranking a website based on its trustworthiness or authority.
Google’s patent documents:
Expertise can be challenging to measure, yet it dramatically affects your ability to rank in Google and convert visitors into customers. Measuring E-A-T is problematic because it takes many elements, such as social media shares, backlinks from reputable domains, and mentions from industry leaders with large followings. The best way to measure this metric is by using multiple metrics over time to determine if there are changes.
Incorporate experts:
One way to improve E-A-T is to include experts in your content plan. Experts can help lend credibility to your brand and can help raise your E-A-T scores when contained in your content. One way to find experts would be to check your connections on Social Media, or you can use paid tools to help find experts willing to write specific content on your website for a future article.
Google and the entities:
In 2011 Google patented the process of giving different levels of importance to descriptive words and phrases that appear in a web page’s content. It can also lead to E-A-T metrics for the website hosting the content if you have the frequency of name brands, organizations, and people who use your website space more frequently.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a way to contribute authenticity to your website and increase your E-A-T score, consider including some veteran experts on your website. Once these experts contribute their unique knowledge and expertise, you will see surprising results in your overall E-A-T score.