Google search has evolved far beyond keyword matching. Is your content strategy behind?
When Google started, its only task was to match a search query to keywords within a web document and return the list of all matches to a user.
This is when a method of “keyword research and optimization” was born.
Surprisingly, that method is still the primary method publishers use in hopes of ranking on Google.
Well, the truth is, Google has moved far beyond that concept.
It no longer simply matches search queries to keywords.
It understands search intent and context, and it understands the concept of “content quality” much better now.
It has been a long path. Teaching a machine to surface “high-quality” content is not easy.
After all, that concept is hardly definable because “quality” varies based on the searcher’s needs.
This is why E-E-A-T was born: Humans manually rated auto-generated search results, teaching the algorithm what “quality” results looked like each time.
What does E-E-A-T mean according to Google?
E-E-A-T stands for “Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness” of a website and content creator (yes, both. This is important to note).
The E-E-A-T concept is discussed in Google’s “Quality Raters’ Guidelines”, an extensive document detailing how human raters should be assessing pages they find through Google search.
- Experience involves first-hand “life” experience related to the topic of the page.
- Expertise component assesses skills and knowledge for the topic
- Authoritativeness refers to whether the site is considered a “go-to” source on the topic.
- Trustworthiness involves accuracy, truthfulness, and lack of bias.
The concept has been around for many years. I first covered it eight years ago. The second “E” for “Experience” was added to the guidelines later on.
How quality raters assess E-E-A-T
- They research the reputation of the website/creator through independent sources like articles, reviews, recommendations from experts, awards, etc.
- They look for first-hand accounts and indicators of expertise.
- They consider whether the page comes from an expert source users can trust for that specific topic.
A website may have high E-E-A-T for one topic but not another.
Here are the key points about E-E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) from the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines document…
E-E-A-T signals are not the same for everyone
High E-E-A-T is important for topics where inaccurate or misleading information could potentially cause harm (Your-Money-Your-Life or “YMYL” topics).
This includes medical, financial, or safety information.
Here are some examples of site topics that should have higher E-E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness):
