What is E.E.A.T in SEO?

Ranking for keywords on Google requires a website to produce content that answers user's search queries, a website that meets technical compliance, and an authority/building authority within its niche.

But how do organizations keep their keywords ranking high on Google search? That is where E.E.A.T signals come into play. What is E.E.A.T in SEO? This article defines what E.E.A.T is, the impact of generating E.E.A.T signals, and how missing E.E.A.T signals can lead to a decline in organic traffic & conversions.

Key Takeaways About E.E.A.T in SEO

• E.E.A.T stands for: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust.
• Websites missing E.E.A.T signals are vulnerable to penalties from Google algorithm updates that can lower keyword rankings which can lead to a decline in traffic and leads.
• Generating E.E.A.T signals can maintain keyword rankings and stimulate longer site sessions & influence more users to convert as a sale or lead.

What Does E.E.A.T Mean?

E.E.A.T stands for experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Each element of E.E.A.T helps provide a comfortable and transparent UX for users on Google search.

Fundamentally, Google created this signal to push websites to be accountable for the quality of their products and/or services. As well as encouraging websites to provide more information about their specialties, and experience within their industry.

Below we break down each element of E.E.A.T and how a website can effectively generate each element:

Experience

The experience element of E.E.A.T oversees how long a business, organization, or individual has operated within an industry or industry niche. This element is crucial for users who are in the process of comparing brands/competitors for their purchasing decisions.

Providing information about how many years an entity has been operating in an industry or specialty on a website's homepage or about us page helps to generate the experience element. Seologist also recommends adding an external link to a 3rd party website that verifies data about an entity's experience (a LinkedIn profile will suffice).

Lastly, adding awards that an entity won/earned on a website helps to further stimulate this element of the E.E.A.T signal.

Expertise

The expertise element of E.E.A.T overviews what specialties a business, organization, or individual has within an industry. Sharing details of an entity's expertise is crucial for users who are making a purchasing decision for a product or service.

This can also help a website increase its qualified leads as users who are looking for a niche expert will be more satisfied vs partnering with a generalist.

Adding information about what areas of an industry your team is an expert in on the homepage of a website helps generate the expertise element of the E.E.A.T signal. This should further be expanded on service or product pages that are topical to your expertise.

Authority

The authority element of E.E.A.T explores how a business, organization, or individual reputation is perceived in comparison to competitors. Generating the authority element of the E.E.A.T signal requires a website to build backlinks from authoritative websites (Especially education sites, reputable news sites, and big-name brands).

Furthermore, building backlinks from websites that competitors have within their backlink portfolio helps to stimulate the authority element within the E.E.A.T signal.

Trust

The trust element of the E.E.A.T signal primarily focuses on user testimonials, and providing a business, organization, and/or an individual's credentials.

Adding examples of real customer testimonials to a website's homepage, or testimonials page helps to create a trust signal. However, adding an external link to the source of the testimonial (GBP, Yelp, Clutch, etc.) cements the trust signal generated on a website.

Adding credentials such as licenses and certificates while following up these credentials with an external link to a website or 3rd party that verifies credentials leveraged on a website further improves trust signal generation.

E.E.A.T Examples

Experience Example

Fulfilling the experience component of E.E.A.T is as simple as mentioning how long your business has been providing products or services. For instance, Legal Action provides the length of time their brand has provided legal series for directly on their homepage:

Expertise Example

Creating author pages that mention a brand or individual specialties with a link to the author's LinkedIn that further explores their credentials is the easiest way to comply with the expertise component of E.E.A.T

Adding expertise information helps users in their buyer's journey for those looking for someone with a specialty in a niche.

Authority Example

Building backlinks toward a website from other sites that have a high link equity/domain rating is the primary way to optimize for the authority component of E.E.A.T. Furthermore, publishing awards/accolades that a brand has won on their homepage is another way to reinforce the authority signal on Google search.

Trust Example

Mentioning user reviews/testimonials on a website is the fastest way to generate trust signals on a website. To make things easier for Google to crawl and verify the authenticity of the reviews leveraged on a site. Provide an external link to the source of where the review was aggregated from:

Why Businesses Must Generate E.E.A.T Signals

E.E.A.T Can Influence Position Rankings to Increase

Although a strong content structure and strategy are the primary catalysts for achieving 1st-page rankings on Google.

Missing E.E.A.T Signals Can Damage Revenue

Google has tweaked its algorithm to make E.E.A.T signals critically important for any business owner looking to acquire online sales & leads.

If a website is missing E.E.A.T signals from their site. There is a strong likelihood that an algorithm update that focuses on trust signal generation will penalize your website. An algorithm penalty can cause major position rankings to decrease.

This can cause a serious decline in organic traffic, sales, and qualified leads.

Missing E.E.A.T Signals Can Damage Brand Awareness

E.E.A.T signals are designed to add transparency to a website regarding a business, organization, or individual's ability to provide a quality product or service. Failing to provide users with information about your experience & expertise in a business vertical or industry.

Missing E.E.A.T Signals Can Lower Brand Reputation

Competition for keyword market share across nearly every business vertical and industry is overflowing with different brands, freelancers, etc. Generating E.E.A.T signals brings a natural polish to a website's actionable information that users look at when determining their purchasing decisions.

Missing E.E.A.T signals will lower your brand reputation and harm the chances of a brand being considered for a purchasing decision if competitors mention their experience, expertise, and reveal their accolades, credentials, and licenses. It effectively puts competitors on a pedestal for success because competition will be more transparent about themselves & their abilities to produce a high-quality product or service vs a website that is missing E.E.A.T signals.