E-A-T Marketing: What It Is and How To Do It Well

One of the most important things to learn about in the world of online marketing is SEO. Standing for search engine optimization, SEO involves optimizing digital content for search engines. According to HubSpot's 2021 State of Marketing Report, 69% of marketers invest in SEO.

If you want lots of people to see your content, it's time to learn about a vital aspect of SEO, three other important letters: E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Here's a closer look at E-A-T marketing with tips to help your rankings skyrocket!

What Does Google's E-A-T Mean?

While you might think of Google as a search engine that helps you find websites, it's also a company. In Google's world, search engine users are their customers. And, since Google wants satisfied customers, it also has employees who work as search quality raters. A major part of Google's search quality rater guidelines looks for websites following the E-A-T principles.

Speaking of these three important guidelines, here's a closer look at what they mean.

Expertise

Expertise means that you know what you're talking about. If you gave me something to write about online marketing, I could create content to show off my expertise. If you asked me to write something about mechanical engineering? I'd have no clue what to write about!

Naturally, Google's algorithm wants to provide results from experts in their respective fields. If you choose a topic you know a lot about or feel eager to learn about, you should be fine in the expertise department.

Authority

Another direct ranking factor is authority. Think of this factor as Google's popularity contest. Even if you create amazing content, Google wants to provide information from authoritative sites. If this doesn't make sense, this example should help you out.

Let's say that you own a new health website. You have a ton of research and sources to use in your content, which is great! However, websites like WebMD, HealthLine, and Medical News Today have their own pages about the same topic. Because of their authority, these massive companies would outrank your new website.

Authority is a bummer for new website owners, but don’t fear! I have tips below to help you build expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.

Trustworthiness

What's better than creating high-quality content? Linking out to quality content in your writing! Having links and cited sources from trusted content helps to boost your page quality. When quality raters see links to authoritative content in your content, it's more likely to get a passing grade.

Quick Note: Linking to authoritative sources is great. Just make sure you're not linking out to a competitor targeting the same main keyword in your content!

Ready for one more example? Imagine that you wrote an article about your favorite subject. While writing this article, you don't include any sources or research to back up what you wrote. Even if your information is true, not having anything to back it up hurts you in the trustworthiness department.

How to Boost Your Website's E-A-T Score

So, what separates web pages with first-page rankings from those lurking on page three or four? You're about to find out. If you want to boost your page quality and ramp up your E-A-T score, try the following tips.

1. Clean Up Content You Already Have

Chances are, you have at least a few web pages worth of content. If not, that's perfectly fine. You can skip this step. Still here? Check out your content to make sure it follows the E-A-T guidelines. Here are a few quick tips to get you started:

• Insert relevant links from authoritative content.
• Add relevant life experiences to your posts.
• Make sure your content is accurate and factually correct.

2. Start Distributing Your Content

It takes time to create factually accurate and engaging content. So, get the most out of your work by sharing your content. Sometimes, low-quality content that is shareable can bring a company amazing results. I'm not saying create low-quality content. But, after building a following, sharing high-quality content can lead to amazing results for your business.

So, where should you distribute a blog post or web page you want the world to see? Here are a few great places:

• Facebook
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn (especially if you're in the B2B niche)
• Medium
• Scoop.it

Plus? These platforms are free to use. Share content containing your everyday expertise. It could lead to a lot of clicks and shares.

3. Reach Out to Experts in Your Niche

Writing what you know is great. But you can't know everything. So, what do you do? You reach out to an expert. It's understandable if doing this sounds intimidating. But, more often than not, experts love sharing their success stories. Consider throwing them a backlink and a social media shout-out for their troubles to sweeten the deal.

In this day and age, there's no need for an awkward phone call or Zoom interview. Instead, send your expert a few questions allowing them to share their expertise. Soon, you should get a response that you can throw in your new or existing content.

If you want to turn this amazing SEO strategy up a few notches, reach out to many experts and build a round-up page. Many smart companies use this strategy to build a lengthy read full of expert opinions. When you have many people sharing their expertise, they often like to share this achievement with their audiences. What they share is your website!

4. The Power of the Guest Post

The best article won't mean much if no one sees it. To get more eyes on your content, it's time to start getting guest posts. This marketing strategy involves one website posting content written by a guest author. A guest post allows someone to share content with another website's audience.

Considering the positive effect that one good link can provide in a search algorithm, not all guest posts will be free. It's not uncommon for some website owners to cost anywhere from $50-$250 (or more) for you to post on their websites.

E-A-T and YMYL

Before I wrap things up, I need to throw one more acronym at you. It's known as Your Money or Your Life (YMYL). While it might not seem so, YMYL is closely related to E-A-T. The term 'your money or your life' describes niches that involve health or money. A few examples of YMYL pages involve topics like:

News

If you're reporting anything news-related, having facts to present is a must. You can rely on your personal experience when reviewing something or giving lifestyle advice. However, legitimate news articles need sources to back them up. They also need to be published quickly because the news moves fast!

Legal

As you can imagine, many YMYL sites involve legal topics. Life events like suing someone or going through divorce aren't topics to be taken lightly. Considering that, it's good to follow Google's E-A-T method when creating content in this realm.

After writing hundreds of articles for law firms, I can tell you there are very specific guidelines for what you can and can't say in the legal world. If your business needs content about this subject, choosing a legal content writing service could be the best move.

Finance

Did you get in on the investing craze happening in the past few years? Maybe you've been investing for a long time and want to share your knowledge. If so, be very careful what you say and how you say it. Unless you're a registered financial advisor, it's illegal to suggest what people should invest in. Even then, there are still guidelines people in this profession must follow when giving investment advice.

Health

One of the most profitable and popular places to focus your SEO efforts is the health niche. That said, Google's quality raters spend a lot of time viewing health websites. Avoid low ratings with factual content that people can trust.

In conclusion, E-A-T is an acronym that describes some of Google's most important ranking factors. Provide expertise, authority, and trustworthiness to get your website showing up on the first page for all sorts of searches. Pulling off this strategy takes time, work, and maybe a little money. However, websites that know how to E-A-T can be very valuable to their owners.