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This post has been stimulated by an exchange with Keven Carney, a well known Link Building Expert, about how the latest E in EEAT could be dealt with.
But first, let’s set the scene. The ‘war’ between Google and SEO (this is because SEO can be seen to be a way of manipulating ranks) has been going on for decades now.
It has resulted in a whole host of ‘animals’ being launched, Penguin to tackle spammy links, Panda to remove thin and duplicate content to name but two.
In the last decade, Google has become better and better at sifting out sites that have been ranking where they should not, the most powerful of all being the range of updates regarding the content on sites.
Expertise – Authority – Trust
This was the first step, Google requiring website owners to convince it that their content was written by an Expert, this by showing that the author had the right academic or life experience ‘credentials’.
Authority here refers to the number of backlinks pointing to a domain (and the page in question). This ‘signal’ is being downgraded in 2024, but is still important.
Trustworthiness, the last of the trio is also vital, and the way you can prove that to Google is by linking out to other sources that support your point of view, just as you do when writing an essay for University.
But there is a new kid on the block, one that is perhaps a direct result of ChatGPT being launched? It is to do with Experience, something that an AI will (at least at the moment) be unable to demonstrate.
Of course, it could be a mere coincidence, but whatever, it is important and one that, along with the EAT trio, deserves some consideration in 2024.
So what should you do?
Well, if you can afford it, having a well known expert or influencer writing your post would be ideal. They are bound to be able to fulfil the Experience, Expertise and Trust angles (leaving the website owner to deal with the Authority at least until the page earned its own links).
However, the trouble is that such people are expensive and not all businesses can afford to pay for this service.
So then, what could you do?
This Kevin and I believe could be the answer:
- Create a team page on your site that contains detailed biographies of all of the staff who could be authors
- Use a shortened version of these Bios on the blogs, answers to question pages, etc on your site, making sure that there is a link to the appropriate Bio on the team page and vice versa.
- Build links to the Team Page. This together with the links to the pages, should provide the required Trust Factor that Google require
This will be a lot less expensive and is perhaps the best bet for many.
For more information on Not everyone can afford to EEAT at Five Star Restaurants talk to Serendipity Online Marketing Ltd