Why Google wants you to E-A-T in 2020…

Google wants you to E-A-T in 2020… 

You must be thinking I would eat but I am not hungry… me too.

E-A-T actually has nothing to do with food. E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

Google has been moving away from a heavy focus on the Domain Authority to an overall, focus on these three E-A-T factors. This isn’t a new introduction to the Google search engine optimization algorithm, but it is something they are weighing more and more on the overall search rankings as of the Google Update in August of 2018. 

So you need to build your brand’s expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. But how?

Good question. We’ll unpack this a little bit. 

So from what our Orange County seo agency has heard, the word on the seo street is that this Google update was first noticed by sites in the Medical niche, and was then dubbed the “medic update.” 

It became evident, both through Google’s own disclosure on the update and the results sites noticed that Google was interested in showing the most relevant content, something that has been established long ago, but now they also want to make sure they are showing the right content, especially in areas where it counts. Medicine would be one of these such areas. 

This is where YMYL comes into play. This is what Google says are “Your Money Your Life” sites, or sites that have a real impact on viewers. If these YMYL sites are not the most relevant, and accurate, then there could be a big problem. 

Think about it. Your using the search query for “best migraine remedies” and you come up on a site that either has the wrong content by accident, or it is just fraudulent content like a product making a claim that cannot be substantiated, in Google’s eyes it would be responsible for any bad outcomes. 

Now this isn’t a view shared by Google, this is my personal viewpoint, because if Google doesn’t make sure these YMYL sites are from the most trusted authority sites, they will eventually run into legal issues. It would just be a matter of time, and Google and its employees are much smarter than me, so they definitely see it. 

Other than legal issues, they will lose their own trust factor if the wrong sites are able to slip through their uncrackable search algorithm. 

So as a brand what you want to do is you want to take time to make sure your site has the most accurate information and your not making any claims that cannot be substantiated. For example, if you are selling CBD products, you don’t want to say that CBD will cure your migraine. We do CBD marketing, and I can tell you that Google will not like but, but more importantly, you will be opening yourself up to scrutiny by the FTC and or FDA, as they are actively regulating these blatant compliance issues. 

If you are the one who is in charge of the content your brand puts out, make sure you build your own authority up as well. If you are writing blogs on how to do 3d printing, then your authority also needs to be established. 

Things like your LinkedIn profile and any social media channels, need to establish that you are a 3d printing figure. Not just a fake. This should get you started. 

Whatever you do as a Orange County brand or SMB, make sure you think about E-A-T because Google is! 

About the Author

Ali Razavi is a SEO Expert and Digital Marketing enthusiast, who has been involved in online marketing and web development since he was 15 years old. That is back when George W. Bush was the 43rd President of the United States of America. Currently, being the Managing Director of razwerks (https://razwerks.com) located in Laguna Beach, CA. In his capacity as Managing Director he is responsible for the growth one of Orange County’s fastest growing SEO Agencies and Internet Marketing Firms!