What Is E-A-T and Why Does It Matter for Your WordPress Website?

by Vipe Team in WordPress Marketing; Published on 13.10.2021

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Did someone say food? “E-A-T”? Um, yes, please, we would love something to eat because here, at our WordPress Agency for Development, we never say “No” to food. We’re just kidding, though. Today we’ll be talking about E-A-T, but it has nothing to do with the actual act of eating food.

Disappointed much? Please, don’t be. After all, we’re a company that specializes in WordPress website development, not a restaurant. This means that the E-A-T that we’ll be discussing in this article will have something to do with your WordPress website. And indeed it does. E-A-T is actually an important guideline that you should have in mind when crafting the marketing strategy for your site.

E-A-T is an acronym that stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Why is it important, though? Well, E-A-T is part of Google’s algorithm as well as Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. You know that Google is essential for your website’s success, right? And when this giant says that something is very important you listen and take notes because you want your site to rank high in search engines.

The SEO experts from our WordPress development agency have noticed that there’s been a lot of discussions surrounding E-A-T in the last couple of years. So the question is what exactly is E-A-T, and why does it matter for your WordPress website? We want to get to the bottom of the matter as we believe that E-A-T can help your site rank better. How? By feeding it E-A-T style content – yes, in the end, it’s all about content.

So make yourself comfortable, grab something to eat and let’s see what this E-A-T business is all about. We promise you, it’s totally worth checking out. In fact, it’s just as good as a freshly baked muffin or whatever it is you like to indulge in. Without further ado, let’s begin and find out everything about E-A-T and its relation to your WordPress website’s marketing strategy.

E-A-T Explained

Like our WordPress development company already told you, E-A-T is a guideline that Google uses to discover whether the content on your site is valuable to readers. This, in turn, has a direct connection with the ranking of your website. So yeah – it is indeed very important.

E-A-T isn’t a new concept at all. In fact, the term was first mentioned back in 2014 when Google added it to their Search Quality Guidelines. Those guidelines are something you should pay close attention to after you finish the process of WordPress website development because they can help your content rank higher in Google’s search results.

So Google has created its own search quality evaluators with the help of which they lookout for some very specific things, including:

Expertise: Does the creator of the content have expertise?
Authoritativeness: Can the creator of the content, the content itself, and the website be considered an authority?
Trustworthiness: Are the creator of the content, the content itself, and the website trustworthy?

Put simply, our WordPress Agency for Development wants you to think about E-A-T as a characteristic that indicates a page is high-quality. High-quality pages are helpful to users, and this is why Google places this kind of content at the top of their search results.

For example, Google says that news articles that have high E-A-T are pieces of content that are produced with journalistic professionalism. This means that they should contain factually accurate information presented in a way that aids users to attain a better understanding of events.

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For Google, high E-A-T news sources follow “established editorial policies and robust review processes”. Ok, but what does this have to do with your WordPress website development? What if your site isn’t focused on news articles?

Well, here’s the thing – it doesn’t matter if you have a news site or not, your content should ALWAYS be executed with journalistic professionalism. We’re not saying that it’s easy, but it’s something that all content creators should strive for if they want to be truly helpful to their audiences.

Can E-A-T Be Considered a Ranking Factor?

So now that you know exactly what E-A-T is, you’re probably wondering if it’s a proper ranking factor. Our WordPress development agency will give you a straightforward answer to this question – technically no, E-A-T is not a ranking factor.

However, this doesn’t mean that E-A-T cannot impact your content’s performance in search results. In fact, it can definitely make a huge difference in your content’s ranking. This might sound a bit confusing, but it actually makes sense when you think about it.

Like we already said, E-A-T is a guideline Google uses to determine what content is high-quality, and it ranks pages based on this. High-quality content, as you’ve probably heard a million times before, is a huge part of several different aspects of Google’s algorithm.

So while E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor, our WordPress development company believes it can have an indirect impact on your overall search rankings. It’s pretty clear at this point that E-A-T is not as important as some SEO professionals first thought it to be, but we really appreciate the concept behind it because it revolves around creating high-quality content, and that is something that we, at Vipe Studio, are strong advocates of.

E-A-T Is Important for SEO: Here’s Why

“Content is king” is a phrase that many content writers begin their articles with. It’s so widely used that people are getting pretty sick of hearing it all the time. We’re probably guilty of that too because not a day passes, here at Vipe Studio, without us reminding our readers of the importance of creating high-quality content after they have completed their WordPress website development.

The problem with phrases like “Content is king” is that content writers oftentimes forget to give adequate advice to their readers, regarding what exactly can turn their content into a “royalty”. This is why our WordPress Agency for Development always strives to provide its audience with the best tips and tricks that can help them create high-quality content for their websites.

For example, we’ve told you about many factors that can make your content high-quality, such as including better images in your posts, writing long-form content, optimizing your meta descriptions with keywords and so on.

However, we all have our eyes turned to Google when we want to find out how we can produce higher-quality content. After all, Google will be “the one” determining whether our posts deserve to be included in the top search results.

Thankfully, Google has provided its users with some insight into what they consider high-quality content. Our WordPress development agency considers this to be a very valuable piece of information that can have huge implications for content marketing and SEO professionals. Let’s see why.

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So did you know that there are real human reviewers who evaluate hundreds of websites every single day? This is indeed the case. And their evaluation tools? That’s right – Google’s E-A-T guidelines. Thanks to E-A-T, reviewers know exactly what type of content Google considers high-quality.

The good news is that now you too are going to know how to please Google with your own website because our WordPress development company will share with you what boxes your content should tick to be considered high-quality by Google. Take a look, excellent content should:

Be helpful to users;
Be written or created by a true expert in the field;
Be published on an authoritative site;
Be really trustworthy;
Be updated on a regular basis.

As you can see, all of these guidelines are amazing because they really make you think about how you can deliver the highest possible quality to your audience. And what a happy coincidence that the highest-quality content is also the one that sits proudly at the top search results on Google.

Another thing that our WordPress Agency for Development thinks it’s important to note is the fact that pages that spread hate, cause harm, misinform, or deceive users generally receive a lower E-A-T rating from search evaluators, so you should avoid low-quality content at all costs.

How to Improve Your WordPress Website’s E-A-T?

Since we came to the understanding that E-A-T can indeed have a positive influence on your SEO, it is time we present you with some simple, yet effective ways which can help you to improve your E-A-T once you’ve finished with your WordPress website development.

In a nutshell, Google’s algorithm works in a way that promotes high-quality content. What this means for you and your site is that you need to put your effort into creating valuable content that can really help your audience. But how do you do that?

Fear not, for our WordPress development agency comes to the rescue with some helpful tips that, if followed, will make your website a true E-A-T force to behold (this means that your site will be a lot more authoritative and trustworthy).

1. Tell the World Who You Are on Your WordPress Website

The three pillars of E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) all point to the fact that Google wants to know who you are. So don’t be shy and introduce yourself to Google – tell it who creates the content on your site and whether that person (or people) is an expert. This will position your website as an authoritative and trustworthy source of information that Google can safely recommend to people.

Our WordPress development company advises you to create an About Us page that highlights your team’s members and showcases their expertise. Also, don’t forget to include author boxes after each article you post – this will build authority and trustworthiness.

2. Work on Your WordPress Site’s Content With Experts

Like you already know, the first letter in E-A-T stands for ‘Expertise’. This means that Google wants to see content that isn’t just good, but one that is written by a real expert in the field.

So to create content that Google will trust, our WordPress Agency for Development suggests you work with experts. Hire someone who truly understands what they are talking about. By doing so, you will guarantee that your site’s visitors will have top-notch content to engage with.

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3. Update the Content on Your WordPress Website Regularly

Just as Google updates its algorithm on a regular basis, the content on your website deserves the same treatment. Why is this so important, you may ask? Well, with so much data being created every single day, content gets outdated pretty fast.

This is why our WordPress development agency advises you to update your content regularly, especially your most high-ranking content. Keep it up to date, and remember to include content updates in your SEO strategy.

4. Link to High-Quality Sources on Your WordPress Website

For your website to be considered trustworthy, you need to make sure that you link to high-quality sources and rely on real data. So, to prove that you do know what you are talking about in the content you put out on your site, our WordPress development company suggests you link to official sources, studies, and research papers.

This will help you to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Another tip we can give you is to link to tweets, papers, or reports done by industry professionals.

5. Consider Multiple Viewpoints on Your WordPress Website

Considering multiple viewpoints is one of the best professional journalistic practices that you can utilize after you’ve completed your WordPress website development. Content that looks at a problem from multiple different angles will help you to establish your site as a trustworthy one.

When creating content for your website, our WordPress Agency for Development advises you to examine what each angle of a given topic contributes to the overall conversation. The goal should be to explore different viewpoints, which will build trust with your audience. This tactic will also help you to position yourself as an expert in the industry you’re in.

Improve Your WordPress Website’s E-A-T Today!

So this was it for today’s article. Unfortunately, we didn’t eat anything tasty, but hey, we did another great thing – we learned everything about E-A-T and why it matters for your WordPress website.

To summarize things, E-A-T isn’t a major ranking factor, but this doesn’t mean it’s useless either. On the contrary, our WordPress development agency believes that SEO professionals can use the E-A-T guidelines to produce high-quality content that is more likely to rank well in Google’s search results.

We suggest you check out E-A-T as soon as you complete your WordPress website development. These internal guidelines that help Google determine whether a piece of content is high-quality or not, can benefit your site greatly as they will help you to create the best possible content for your audience.

And if you’re still nowhere near to finishing your site’s development, then don’t hesitate to contact our WordPress development company! The experts from Vipe Studio can build you a world-class website that can be the solid base of your online presence.

From there, the Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) of your site will be entirely up to you, but you can always count on our blog to keep you updated with all the best practices from the world of WordPress.