What is EAT and why is it important for SEO?

In order for a brand to rank high on Google , it must meet certain technical and content presentation guidelines. However, for some topics, the ranking criteria will be stricter than others. Let's take a closer look at this.

What is EAT?

EAT stands for:

E = Expertise.

A = Authoritativeness.

T = Trustworthiness.

So, we are referring to the aspects that some sites must specifically meet: Expertise, Authority and Trust . Let's expand on each aspect a little more.

Experience : Google says that articles must be written by people who really have knowledge of what they are talking about. With the necessary studies and certifications. Online reputation gains strength.

Authority : The reputation of the site where the article is posted must also be taken into account: years on the internet, quantity and quality of incoming links, mentions in newspapers or specialized magazines, opinions of its readers, etc.

Trust : The website must comply with security protocols in order to be able to leave your data, as well as have truthful, quality and updated content.

What is EAT used for?

Let's imagine that you go to Google and search for how to make a shelf for your kitchen. The results will be many and among them you will find pages that don't even know what they are talking about. That doesn't affect you much, because at the end of the day, you can ask a friend or buy a ready-made one. There are no victims.

However, let's imagine that you start to get a headache and you go to Google to look for a possible solution. If there are pages ranked where the editors are of dubious reputation and sites with the same condition, it is likely that they will recommend some medication that will not help you and, worse, that will make you feel worse.

Or maybe you want to invest your savings and are looking for the best option to do so. Here comes the same situation where only the pages with the best reputation and the best content can be in the best positions and thus truly help the user.

EAT creates a safe environment where information on health, money, legal, security, shopping and news topics is as accurate as possible.

Google calls this YMYL or Your Money or Your Life, since these topics directly impact the well-being and quality of life of users.

Factors for evaluating EAT

Now that we have explained the acronyms for EAT: expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, let's see what elements or factors we can add to each of them so that Google considers that we meet this criterion.

Experience

Here, Google is looking for content made by experts on the topic being addressed. To do this, we must include the following:

• Certifications.
• A profile that tells of your years of experience and the topics in which you specialize.
• Online reputation. Links to professional social networks such as LinkedIn that support the information displayed on the website.

Authority

Authority is nothing other than the online reputation of the website. To achieve this, you must have:

• Positive reviews about the site.
• Expert recommendations.
• Links from other similar and quality sites.
• Articles and news that talk about the good work of the site.

Trust

Trust within YMYL refers to the legitimacy of a website. For this, we can count on:

• Contact information.
• True and up-to-date content.
• Citation of sources.
• Comply with security protocols such as HTTPS.

Conclusions

The EAT corresponds to the criteria imposed by Google and which gained greater relevance in 2018 with one of its updates.

The aim of the EAT is to ensure that websites with sensitive topics that directly affect people's health and finances are strictly evaluated in order to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information possible.

EAT is an SEO positioning factor and if a brand does not work on these guidelines, it is unlikely to appear at the top of the search engine.

If you want to start working on this aspect, you can take into account the following actions:

• Update your content when necessary.
• Place citations from reliable sources.
• Display the writers' information, making sure they are qualified to write about the topics your website covers.
• Please provide your contact details.
• Get positive reviews from other sites and articles on news sites.
• Get quality backlinks on related topics.

If you want to know more about this topic or require advice, you will find the solution at MHA , because our commitment is to guide you in the best way possible in this highly competitive digital era.