In today’s content marketing, you hear plenty about the importance of establishing your perceived industry authority to prove your expertise and trustworthiness. It is a crucial aspect of online success – after all, no one will be interested in what you have to say unless they think you know what you’re saying.
Google is always coming up with new ways to measure this, and the latest changes to their algorithm improve their ability to do so. It also means marketers have to step up their reputation management and search engine marketing game. There are a few things you can do to improve your expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-A-T) with Google:
- Improve Site Security
If your website isn’t secure with HTTPS, it’s time to change that, as Google has started marking websites without SSL certificates as Not Secure. That’s especially true for e-commerce websites that have to provide security for their users to be perceived as trustworthy by Google’s new algorithm guidelines. Make sure your site is correct, and it will go a long way in improving your E-A-T score.
- Build a Positive Personal Brand
Personal branding and industry authority do go hand in hand, but with Google’s emphasis on E-A-T scores, personal branding becomes vital. Well-known content creators that produce an immense amount of value on their websites have an excellent online reputation that will be rewarded by top rank. However, with some reputation management and building of your industry authority by being relevant and providing valuable and valid content, the quality score of your website will increase.
- Give Credit Where Credit Is Due
The days where you could publish an editorial piece with little to no information about who wrote it are long gone. For the raters to assess a website’s E-A-T score, not only content will be evaluated, but also its author. In practice, this means you should provide information about the author, how you can contact them, and what are their verifiable expertise.
- Get Rid of Unsuitable Content
For successful content marketing, having suitable content on your website is essential to success. Seen through the lens of E-A-T, that means that low-quality pages that offer no expertise on the topic of the content will view as unsuitable. Don’t keep pages like these on your website – either rework the material by bringing in an expert on the topic or provide information that is highly authoritative for the page.
- Monitor and Moderate User-Generated Content
When it comes to trustworthiness and authoritativeness, few things can undermine it as much as anonymous user-generated content can. Especially in the cases where this content offers medical or life-changing advice, you’ll need to be careful to avoid receiving a low-quality E-A-T rating. Ensure that such pages have links to verified sources. Add all the necessary warnings, that people who are certified experts don’t usually write user-generated content.
The benefits of content marketing and search engine marketing are still numerous, but content creators will have to jump through more hoops to build their trustworthiness. It can take months, which delays the results you’re going to get, even with stellar reputation management.
Don’t hesitate to contact me if you wish to see your efforts come to fruition more quickly. I’ll be happy to discuss your marketing strategy with you and help in any way I can.
Rob Dunford is a Marketing Consultant in the Greater Toronto Area with over 20 years of experience in implementing marketing plans for small businesses.