What Google’s Standards Mean For Your Website Content

What is E.A.T and Why Should It Be on Your Plate?

Would you like to learn how to play the guitar? I give lessons, and they’re a good deal at $10 a session.

While that sounds like a great opportunity, before you sign up for it, there are probably a few things you want to know about me first:

Do I know how to read music?

Do I have any teaching experience?

Most importantly, do I even know how to play the guitar? (Spoiler alert: I don’t.)

Therefore, I’m not the most qualified candidate to give information on how to play the guitar. In fact, I don’t have any qualifications or reliability at all. You would never give your time, money and investments to someone who doesn’t have the expertise to help you.

That’s what Google thinks, too.

Content creation goes a long way toward determining your site’s reliability and therefore, its Google ranking.  It’s important to consider that when searching for a writer for website content who understands the subtleties involved.

Google determines your reliability based upon two principles illustrated by the acronyms E.A.T. and Y.M.Y.L.

E.A.T: Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness

In the guitar lesson scenario, I have no expertise or authority, so anything I say would be seriously suspect because I am not a reliable source.

Google evaluates websites in a similar way. In order to qualify as an authoritative, trustworthy expert, a web page must follow a specific set of guidelines, including:

• The site must present a topic that the author or site is an authority to discuss. For example, a dentist would be a logical expert to discuss root canals.
• The site must have complementary information in the form of “About Us” or contact information.
• The site information should be reviewed and edited regularly.
• The page should be functional—meaning users can easily access information they need and that this information satisfies the user’s needs. If the user is searching for an article on a root canal and the site is difficult to navigate and only contains an advertisement, then it is not functional.
• Any supplementary content – photos, illustrations, and infographics—should enhance the readers’ experience.
• Articles should be written in accordance with high journalistic standards and follow a standard format. This also means using certain stylebooks (such as the Associated Press, MLA or the Chicago Manual of Style) as appropriate for consistency.

However, there are certain topics that Google deems important enough to be written by someone with very extensive experience and not someone who is an “everyday expert.” Google groups these topics into something called Y.M.Y.L – your money or your life.

Y.M.Y.L: The highest standard for web page content

In addition to the requirements laid out by the E.A.T, this principle outlines an even more stringent qualification. Any information that can affect the health or wealth of an individual has to be reviewed or written by an expert accredited in that field.  These areas include:

• Medical or dental advice or information
• Advice related to investments
• Tax information
• Legal advice
• Any information that can cause damage or injury if incorrect (for example, topics on how to fumigate your home or install a new car engine)

The bottom line? The quality of your content writing can affect your search engine rankings.

If you are a physician and don’t have time to consistently write two to three blogs a month, you still have options. You can easily provide information and your expertise to a professional writer, supplying them with quotes and pointing them to the most relevant resources

Proclaim has “the write stuff”

We have won several gold and silver awards for our medical and industrial blog writing, and we bring all the qualities Google desires to the table. By working closely with reliable sources and the expertise of the physicians we work with, we’re able to craft creative articles that more than meet Google’s stringent standards.

Contact us to learn more about how we can help you with E.A.T and Y.M.Y.L.

Since its inception in 2000, Proclaim Interactive has combined excellence in design and think-out-of- the-box digital marketing to become one of the most award-winning firms in the region .Proclaim Interactive provides website design, social media management, SEO and general marketing services designed to amplify clients’ messages. For more information call 910.795.4143.