Expertise. Authoritativeness. Trustworthiness.
It’s not the credo for a very exclusive academy.
Those are some of the major guidelines Google uses in their search quality evaluations.
Google wants the best, highest quality content to rise to the top of their rankings.
So, they look for articles that have those three qualities.
Google looks at “EAT” but there is no set “EAT” number. It’s not like your business is going to get an “EAT” rating of “99” or something.
But, there are many benefits to putting that into your company’s content, regardless of what Google says.
“Your Money or Your Life”
In Google’s actual “Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines,” they say that “some types of pages could potentially impact the future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of users. (Google refers to) such pages (as) “Your Money or Your Life” pages, or YMYL. (They include) medical information pages: web pages that provide advice or information about health, drugs, specific diseases or conditions, mental health, nutrition, etc.”
Google goes on to say:
“High E-A-T medical advice should be written or produced by people or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation.”
So, to read between the lines here a bit, Google says that “EAT” is important.
But, for some topics, it’s going to be more important than others.
Nutrition? Yes.
Mental health? You bet.
Rehab facilities? Sure.
Pencil sharpeners? Maybe not so much.
So, if you’re fretting about “how can I show expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness for my online clothes store,” you’re probably OK.
You don’t have to cite scholarly papers when discussing what makes a hoodie a good purchase.
That’s not to demean or otherwise look down on retail stores or anything like that. They’re highly important, crucial businesses.
But, you don’t have to worry about “EAT” so much as you do want to be concerned with “making good content.”
Good Content is Good Policy
That said, you don’t want to just dismiss “EAT” entirely out of hand.
No matter what your business is or what industry you’re in, you want to offer good, high-quality content.
Perhaps Google won’t weigh it so heavily when they’re putting together their rankings.
But, your customers (and potential customers) are.
They’ll see what you post.
There’s really no upside to doing a bad job or even a mediocre one.
Danny has helped so many companies just like yours to have the kind of digital marketing they’ll be proud of, that helps them reach more people. To schedule a remote marketing consulting session with him (at reduced COVID-19 pricing) you can reach him at (213) 457-3250.
