What is Google EAT?

Don’t worry, you’ve not misread the title of the blog, Google hasn’t launched a rival to Just Eat and called it Google EAT.

EAT actually stands for Expertise, Authority and Trust. EAT is a set of guidelines that Google uses to “train” its search algorithm. With deep machine learning, Google is continuously able to keep one step ahead of keeping good quality content where it should be, at the top.

Years and years have passed since people would throw up any old content, splattered with a host of keywords in a hope to climb the rankings, get more visibility and in turn get more clicks. Times have changed. They have changed for the better. With EAT, Google can actually rank your content based upon its merits, not how many keywords you’ve thrown into it.

As mentioned, Google’s EAT stands for: 

• Expertise
• Authority
• Trust

Let’s quickly break each element down.

Expertise

This is where you need to show your chops in your industry. Google loves content that is coming from reputable publishers, so if you have multiple awards in your sector, Google will see you as an expert in your field. Not only does your business need to show off its credentials, but does your content author have any awards, qualifications or recognised experience in the sector? It all helps!

Authority

How well is your business reviewed? How well does your business rate on external sources? Does your content have a high share rate from other sources? Does your content get quoted and sourced elsewhere? These all help build up your authority and credibility as a publisher.

Trust

Think about dropping onto a website without an About Us page or a Customer Service section. Would you trust the site, especially if you are buying a product from them? Probably not, and it also means that Google won’t rank you very well with regards to your overall trust score. Does your site have https? If not, be prepared to lose out on a little bit of trust!

You might have read the above and think to yourself that you tick a lot of those boxes already and have nothing to worry about. But, if you are seeing a drop in your rankings and organic traffic, it might be worth sitting down with the guys at Hush to discuss your digital output and SEO.