Back in 2015, Google shared an important guide called the ‘Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines,’ or SQEG for short.
This guide was made to assist Google’s human page checkers in judging the quality of web pages. But it’s not just for Google; it’s beneficial for brands like yours too.
It tells us what to focus on to enhance our page quality and boost our website’s performance.
In this article, we’ll explore Content E-A-T and YMYL: Navigating Google’s Quality Guidelines for SEO” and clarify how you can use it to enhance your site’s SEO using two key ideas Content E-A-T and YMYL.
What is E-A-T?
A-T means expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google looks at these things to decide if a web page is good or not.
Google likes to put the websites it trusts and that have really good content at the top of the search results. Now, let’s dive into what each of these letters means.
Expertise
Expertise” checks if the person who made the page knows a lot about the topic. Google wants to see if they have the right skills or experience to talk about it.
Google also likes to see if they have official proof like certificates or qualifications to show they really know their stuff.
Authoritativeness
Google says that how important a page is depends on three things: who made the stuff on the page, what’s written on the page, and the website itself.
Like, they check how much people trust the website and the person who made the stuff.
For instance, they look at how well-known your website is and what people think about the person who created the stuff.
Trustworthiness
Google thinks a page is trustworthy if it gives people the right info from good sources or is made by someone who knows a lot.
When checking trustworthiness, Google looks at the person who made the stuff, the page, and the website too.
Does E-A-T Directly Impact Rankings?
There’s been quite a bit of discussion lately about whether E-A-T has a direct impact on how Google ranks websites.
To put it simply, the answer is no. Google doesn’t utilize an internal system called “E-A-T” to determine page rankings, nor is it a specific part of their ranking algorithm.
But don’t let that discourage you! E-A-T still holds significant importance in the success of your website. Here’s what Google has to say about it:
E-A-T, or Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, greatly influences how well your website performs. Pages that genuinely assist users and gain Google’s trust are more likely to outperform competitors in search results.
This translates to more traffic to your site, potentially resulting in greater online success for your business.
Another crucial factor is domain authority, which refers to how relevant and trustworthy your website is within a particular industry.
It directly impacts your site’s visibility in search results. In highly competitive sectors, a site with low domain authority is less likely to rank favorably.
Domain authority relies heavily on the expertise of those creating the site and the quality of its content. This underscores the significance of E-A-T in enhancing your site’s ranking.
What is YMYL?
The Search Quality Guidelines also talk about YMYL, which stands for ‘Your Money or Your Life.’ It means any content that can affect how happy, healthy, safe, or financially secure someone is.
Google takes YMYL seriously because if you give wrong or misleading info, it could really hurt someone.
Now, YMYL is a big category that covers lots of different sites like pet care, law firms, car insurance, and most online stores.
You might not have thought about it, but since almost every website has YMYL stuff, it’s smart to make them better with E-A-T.
This way, you can give more helpful info and have a better chance of showing up at the top of search results and getting featured snippets.
How can you use E-A-T to improve your YMYL pages?
Show Your Knowledge
You need to prove to Google that you really know what you’re talking about when you share info with your readers.
For most things, you don’t need a fancy degree, but you should do research and use other good sources to back up what you’re saying.
For serious topics that affect people’s lives, like medical stuff, the person creating the content should be a real expert, like a doctor or a nurse. But the kind of expert depends on what the page is about.
Like, if you’re writing a blog about your favorite eco-friendly recipes, it’s more about sharing what you like, so you don’t need special expertise. But if you’re writing about something like global warming facts, you should have an expert because it’s about real stuff, not opinions.
We suggest making special pages for your regular writers on your website.
These pages should show their school and work background, awards, social links, and contact info.
This way, your blogs have a face, and you can show off your writers’ good skills and experience to both Google and your readers.
For guest writers, just like your regulars, you should link to their LinkedIn profiles or other proof to show they’re trustworthy.
Brand Reputation
Besides showing that your writers know their stuff, it’s also really important that your website is seen as a reliable source on the topic.
It’s a good idea to put up a list of awards and important partnerships you’ve earned on your site.
Make sure that your contact details and the ‘About Us’ page are easy to find on your website’s menu.
This way, both people and search engines can quickly see who you are and what you’re all about.
Another thing that helps is putting customer reviews on your site. This makes Google and your visitors trust your site more.
Internal and External Linking
You can make some changes to your web pages to make Google trust them more and improve your site’s expertise.
First, make sure you have lots of links within your site pointing to important YMYL pages.
This helps Google find them easily. One good trick is to create a main page (called a “pillar page“) where most of your traffic goes.
Then, make smaller pages (cluster pages) with related info and link them to the main page. This shows Google that you know a lot about this topic.
Also, write helpful content that’s related to your main topic and make sure your links make sense.
When Google sees all of this, it will think your pages are really important and show them higher up in search results. That way, more people can find your website online.
Using Backlinks to Boost Your Website’s Credibility
A backlink plan can help your website become more trustworthy and important on the internet.
One good way to do this is through digital PR campaigns. If you make a special plan for digital PR, you can get important websites to link back to your important pages.
This is like them saying, “We trust this page.” Google really likes it when trusted websites say that about yours.
Pages with lots of these “votes of confidence” from good sources are seen as really valuable and are more likely to show up higher in search results.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Google’s main goal is to make sure you discover trustworthy and important information when you look for something online.
They do this by checking web pages that follow E-A-T and YMYL principles.
Our professional advice can guide you in improving your pages this way. Imagine the Content E-A-T and YMYL: Navigating Google’s Quality Guidelines for SEO as your helpful companions to boost your important pages, especially the ones that affect your life or money.
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