Google's E-E-A-T: Why Experience Matters for SEO and AI Content

What is the new E in Google's EEAT?​

Google updated its Quality Rater Guidelines in December 2022, changing its well-known content quality acronym from E-A-T to E-E-A-T meaning Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.

Before Google added the new "E," which stands for experience, E-A-T stood for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

What does this mean for my website?​

Google is grappling with the rise of AI content: AI content is not necessarily good or bad, but Google wants searchers to trust their Google results! These changes add to the layers of value, trust and authority a good SEO team will layer into your website.

As one might anticipate, the focus of Google is on the value of the content. Recently, Google has seemed particularly concerned with content quality, which is perhaps not surprising given the recent worries about the potential for a web-wide deluge of low-quality, AI-generated content in the wake of the release of tools like ChatGPT.  

Thus, Google updated the following elements for assisting Google's search quality raters to determine the calibre of the website content, according to the updated guidelines:

1. The web page should serve a useful purpose for the users
2. Content should demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust (E-E-A-T)

It is important to note that search rankings are not directly affected by the guidelines intended for Google's human reviewers rather than bots. However, they give you a better idea of what Google prioritises when it comes to evaluating quality website content.

How to meet E-E-A-T requirements when working through an SEO strategy?

Google has been focussed on updating core algorithm updates in recent years, encouraging websites to constantly improve the user experience.

Content written by authors with practical experience in a particular field is typically better able to convey expertise. Using pictures and videos to demonstrate first-hand experience may also be beneficial.

Use real-life experience in the content

If you're doing a restaurant review, make sure you have photos of your meal! Manufacturers and brands should invest in professional, original photos and videos - not just the product shot, but the product in use.

Importance of Trustworthy content while creating content

According to Google's updated guidelines, trust is critical to a successful SEO strategy. Experience, expertise and authority can be demonstrated in a search result. But if it is not trusted, the content is considered not valuable.

Trust: An indicator of how reliable the content is for the users. Image is taken from searchenginejournal.com

Google's third-party Search Quality Raters (SQRs) use Google's search rater guidelines. Rather than influencing ranking by virtue of being built into algorithmic rules, these guidelines help real human reviewers evaluate websites for their quality and relevance to users' searches and report that information back to Google, which then uses this feedback to improve their search systems. 

Adhering to E-E-A-T best practices helps content creators and website managers keep up with Google's high standards and ensure their content will be poised to withstand all the monthly algorithm changes rolled out by the search engine. This approach, in turn, helps Google ensure the results returned to their users in search are as accurate and reliable as possible.

Why is it important to demonstrate experience in SEO content?

Enriching content with first-hand experience adds another layer of quality to Google's search results. Google scores experience based on the content authors' first-hand or life experience for the topic. For example, if you are a proven user of a product or have qualifications and/or awards that show you have experience speaking on a topic.Some of the best ways to show expertise on your website are:

1.  Use a qualified content team: Write content on your website with the help of subject matter experts (SMEs) and make sure it is reviewed by qualified professionals and editors. For example, a website about fitness would benefit by having content written by (or, at a minimum, reviewed by) an expert personal trainer
2. Write for humans, not bots: Make sure your content is primarily helpful and valuable to your readers and not created just for the purpose of ranking in the SERPs for a specific keyword
3. Demonstrate your team's experience: Articles should contain a full author's bio. Details about each author's experience, qualifications, professional affiliations, and awards should be provided on SEO-friendly author profiles and about pages
4. Schema can be used: As well as author info, if you have legal or expert review teams, ensure they are credited in the schema.

Using the E-E-A-T guidelines for your content can help Google recognise your website as a trustworthy, authoritative source for content related to your core topics. But beyond that, your website will also appear as a more reliable, respected source to users.

E-E-A-T and Auto-generated AI content

Google's content guidelines can still be followed if you're using AI tools, as long as a human edits it, checks its accuracy to ensure the content is accurate and helpful, and, ideally, adds their own spin to it. 

Editing auto-generated content in the same way you would with a writer who is not a subject matter expert — by fact-checking and adding your own personal experience and use cases, as well as personality and anecdotes — can help ensure the content is helpful for human readers. 

AI content generation tools could be used successfully as part of a content creator's stack, alongside tools for checking spelling, punctuation, grammar, plagiarism and readability. These tools can help save time with initial research and creating a skeleton base for the content. 

This could be useful for new businesses who do not have the budget for a full content team but have the experience and qualifications to edit the auto-generated content to ensure it meets E-E-A-T guidelines. 

How does Google's latest update affect website traffic?

E-E-A-T should be considered when writing new content or updating existing content on your website. Google evaluates relevance at the level of the individual document, i.e., each piece of content in relation to the search query and the searcher's intent. 

It is important that your site's users trust the expertise of the writers and that the content is original, quality-driven, and backed up by first-hand experience. 

As SEOs, we are responsible for creating helpful and authentic content. It is crucial to the success of our content that we consult with our clients and SMEs about the topics we are writing about. No doubt, having suggestions or comments from experts with first-hand experience will help us provide customers with the best possible experience, which will, in turn, empower the sites we work on to rank better, help future-proof our sites' search visibility, and establish a reputation for credible, high-quality content in the view of readers and search engines alike.

Main goals of the latest Google's update are:

• Ensure website has high quality content 
• Include information / consult with qualified experts to answer your topics

If you want your website to rank high in the search engine results pages (and be viewed by users as trustworthy and credible), it's worth paying attention to Google's E-E-A-T guidelines. Your chances of success on the SERPs will increase if you create high-quality content and To stay ahead of the competition, stay on top of the latest changes and updates to E-E-A-T guidelines. 

If you have more questions about the update or need help ranking higher on search engine results pages, our team at Authentic Digital would be happy to assist you!

Check out our Professional Google SEO Services NZ page here for more information.