What is EAT?

In short: EAT stands for Expertise, Authority and Trustworthy and is seen by many as the foundation for SEO.

Don't know what SEO is yet? Read first: What is SEO?

What is EAT?

If you have a website, you naturally want it to attract as many visitors as possible. To give this goal a higher chance of success, it is useful to be at the top of Google.

Search engines want their search results to match the wishes of their users as closely as possible. It is therefore important that your website also connects to this.

That's where the EAT principle includes. Google states that this is the foundation that determines the value of a website.

“Note (March 2020): Since we originally wrote this post, we have been occasionally asked if E-A-T is a ranking factor. Our automated systems use a mix of many different signals to rank great content. We've tried to make this mix align what human beings would agree is great content as they would assess it according to E-A-T criteria. Given this, assessing your own content in terms of E-A-T criteria may help align it conceptually with the different signals that our automated systems use to rank content.”

Source: Blog Core Updates

If you want your website to rank well, then you cannot avoid responding to this and meeting these requirements. But first, an in-depth look at what EAT is.

Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness

The letters “EAT” stand for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Or translates into Dutch: Expertise, Authority and Reliability. Google wants to see these three elements in every website and even though nobody knows exactly how Google's algorithm works, we know what it focuses on.

Expertise

You want the content on the website to be of the best possible quality. Preferably better than anyone else. That is why it is important to share knowledge of your field. Show that you have the right expertise and that you know what you are talking about. This way you show that you are the one who can best help Google users.

Sharing knowledge about your field shows potential customers that you know what you're talking about. You can do this by posting reliable and informative content. This can be through blogs, white papers, videos or any other way that works for your target audience. A legal consultancy can provide information about how lawsuits work, a gadget store can tell you about the latest gadgets and a furniture store can, for example, tell you about what wood is used and what makes it special.

When creating relevant content, you naturally take potential visitors into account. What are they looking for? How do they search for this? How can you best answer their questions and meet their needs?

Tips

Tips

#1 When creating the content, make sure you know who your target audience is. People who search for certain words do not search for nothing. So don't use too many technical terms or explain these terms first.
#2 Ask around you which words people use when they are looking for what you offer. By asking, you can better put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and use the right keywords.
#3 Always show who wrote the content.

Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness

The letters “EAT” stand for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Or translates into Dutch: Expertise, Authority and Reliability. Google wants to see these three elements in every website and even though nobody knows exactly how Google's algorithm works, we know what it focuses on.

Expertise

You want the content on the website to be of the best possible quality. Preferably better than anyone else. That is why it is important to share knowledge of your field. Show that you have the right expertise and that you know what you are talking about. This way you show that you are the one who can best help Google users.

Sharing knowledge about your field shows potential customers that you know what you're talking about. You can do this by posting reliable and informative content. This can be through blogs, white papers, videos or any other way that works for your target audience. A legal consultancy can provide information about how lawsuits work, a gadget store can tell you about the latest gadgets and a furniture store can, for example, tell you about what wood is used and what makes it special.

When creating relevant content, you naturally take potential visitors into account. What are they looking for? How do they search for this? How can you best answer their questions and meet their needs?

Tips

#1 When creating the content, make sure you know who your target audience is. People who search for certain words do not search for nothing. So don't use too many technical terms or explain these terms first.
#2 Ask around you which words people use when they are looking for what you offer. By asking, you can better put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and use the right keywords.
#3 Always show who wrote the content.

Authority

A website builds a reputation, good or bad, over time. The moment people use your website, and therefore your knowledge, the website can be considered an authority in your specific industry.

You can build a good reputation by continuously optimizing the website. Building a reputation doesn't happen overnight, but it's worth it.

If other websites write about your website or link to your website (backlinks), your reputation grows. Google sees it as a positive signal if people write and link about you. You seem to be a reliable source. And that is rewarded.

Tips

#1 Provide informative, reliable content. In an ideal world, other websites will point to your content, which in turn can generate valuable backlinks.
#2 As mentioned before, the search engine wants to be as relevant as possible for its users . So write for the user of Google, not for Google.
#3 Write content about the keywords that your target audience is Googling. Think about how they search for something. For example, are they looking for 'shoes' or 'buy white sneakers'?

Reliability

The last element of the EAT principle is reliability. The safety of your website visitors is of paramount importance to Google. If your website is not secure, Google will not rank your website highly.

Safety and reliability are also important for your visitors. Nobody wants to contract a virus or risk that payment details are no longer private. By being transparent you create an (instinctively) safe environment for visitors.

In addition, it is important that visitors know who owns the website. An 'about us' page is therefore very sensible. Because it is possible to see who is behind the website, you ensure personality. This ultimately leads to reliability.

Tips

#1 Create an 'about us' page with photos. This makes it more personal and gives a more reliable feeling.
#2 Make sure your website is secure. (SSL Certificate)
#3 Be as transparent as possible, this creates trust.

Conclusion

Google is very secretive about the algorithm they use, but EAT is a term they use very often. For us this is a sign to optimize our website for this. If you want to rank higher in Google, it is wise to listen to them 😉