What Is EAT? 7 Ways to Improve E-A-T and Boost Website SEO

The concept of EAT has existed since 2014, but it has become more popular in recent years and is gradually becoming one of the most important SEO factors. It is even a basis on which Google judges the quality of a website or a business. So what is What is EAT? And how do you improve EAT? Read on as Mona Media read this article to find out more.

What is EAT?

EAT is short for three words: Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. EAT is seen as a factor Google uses to judge the overall quality of a website. As you know, to raise your website's ranking in organic search its quality needs to be as high as possible. Google has stated that the key factors used to determine a website's overall quality are:

• The purpose of the page (is the purpose beneficial?)
• Trustworthiness, reputation and expertise
• The amount and quality of the main content
• Information about the website or the creator of the main content
• The reputation of the author and the website

So the more a page shows its trustworthiness and expertise, the higher it will rank.

What is YMYL?

YMYL is short for "Your Money or Your Life". Google uses this phrase as a guideline to classify websites that affect your health, finances, happiness or safety. YMYL websites are held to the highest EAT standards, because their topics can directly affect users if they are misrepresented.

Types of YMYL websites

• News and current events: Topics include international events, politics, technology, science and business. This does not mean all news is YMYL; sports and entertainment, for example, are not, although you should still aim for high EAT and better content regardless.
• Law, civics and government: Information about voting, government agencies, social services, legal advice and public organizations.
• Finance: All financial advice and information about taxes, investing, retirement planning, loans, insurance or banking.
• Shopping: E-commerce content, including research on products, goods and services related to shopping.
• Safety and health: Advice, descriptions and information about health and medical issues, including medicines, pharmacies and hospitals (for emergencies, and content that agrees to or defines dangerous activities).
• Groups of people: Content that makes claims about, or gives information on, people based on nationality, religion, ethnicity, race, age, gender or disability (gender identity), veteran status or sexual orientation.

Why E-A-T matters for your SEO strategy

If you have followed Google's recent core search algorithm updates, you will notice a topic that keeps coming up: improve the user experience.

Google has penalized keyword stuffing because it disrupts the reading experience. As most users began to search on mobile devices, responsiveness on those devices became a ranking factor. Google prioritizes HTTPS instead of HTTP because it wants to strengthen security for searchers.

Google wants to serve the most valuable pages for a specific search query, because that is how it keeps readers coming back. So besides search engine optimization, EAT SEO should also be a top priority when you want to grow SEO services to get your website to the top.

Does your website have an EAT score?

The answer is NO. Google has no scoring scale for calculating a website's EAT. This probably won't surprise you once you understand how Google evaluates EAT improvements and what the Quality Raters do. And because there is no fixed measure, you have more freedom to build your website's expertise, trustworthiness and authority in the eyes of the Quality Raters.

 → Take a look at our: A guide to SEO that gets your website to the top of Google effective way

How to improve EAT in SEO

1. Build relevant backlinks

One of the most effective ways to show that your organization is trustworthy in its field is to earn backlinks from relevant, highly authoritative domains. This is considered the backbone of an effective off-page SEO strategy.

Say you work in IT consulting, but you accept a backlink from a teen fashion website. Not only does this do nothing for you, it can also get you a manual action penalty if you overuse this tactic.

Invest the time and resources to prove you are an authority (on any topic). Then build relationships with relevant publishers and influencers. High-value backlinks will follow.

2. Get more mentions from trusted sources

Besides backlinks, being mentioned on highly trusted sources can strengthen your EAT signals. The more often your name or brand appears on authoritative sources online, the more Google will see you as an authoritative, trustworthy entity.

So how do you earn more mentions? There are many ways, listed below:

• Guest posts on authoritative websites
• Interviews
• Podcast appearances
• Partnering with influencers
• Speaking at events
• Sponsoring events
• Creating high-value resources

3. Get more reviews (and respond to them)

This is an effective strategy for earning and promoting online reviews of your services or products. Reviews like these help build your website's EAT with Google. A large number of positive reviews across many review sites (Facebook, Yelp, Google, Trustpilot, etc.) shows that your company is trusted by consumers.

As soon as a review comes in, take the time to reply, even if it is negative. In fact, replying to feedback builds your credibility as a reputable brand committed to keeping customers satisfied.

4. Use or hire experts

Google likes content from experts. It appears Google especially rewards content created by someone with the degrees or certifications to produce it. Expert-sourced material matters a great deal if your website falls under YMYL. That is why many leading health information websites are written by medical professionals.

5. Verify the information

If you want to improve your website's EAT SEO, don't assume that calling an author an expert is enough. You have to prove their qualifications.

Verify their information and publish it on your website alongside the content they produce. You can also link to the author's own websites and social media profiles to help Google understand the entities behind the content. If the writer holds certifications, certificates or degrees, or has put in enough time to be recognized as an authority in a specific field, your brand has every right to let Google and everyone else know.

6. Improve time on site

The more time readers spend on your website, the more it shows that your content and website quality are engaging and useful. It is an important signal when you meet or solve readers' needs and give them value. However, what counts as a good time on site differs by type of article, page and article length.

7. Add clear contact information

This is part of the Trust element of EAT. In its quality rater guidelines, Google mentions that users should be able to contact the business that owns a website easily. To Google, if users cannot reach your business, you may be hiding something. Put simply, it is about transparency.

Put a phone number in the header or footer. Set up a live chat box so customers can chat with you directly. Even if your website is just a blog, you should still give readers an email address so they can reach you when they need to. Better still, have a dedicated "Contact information" section.

A basic contact section should include:

• Phone number.
• Email.
• Contact address (this can be a list of all your branches).
• Your social media pages.

EAT is a factor Google takes extremely seriously and applies strictly. With this article, MONA hopes you now have a clearer understanding of what EAT is and why it deserves more attention when you carry out an SEO campaign. It is fair to say EAT is one of the leading factors that decide your website's ranking in organic search. If you want to improve your website's overall SEO, don't hesitate to contact MONA for advice and SEO services quote detailed plan.