Boost Your Brand's Authority and Trustworthiness on Search Engines

Unless you are familiar with search engine optimization, you might not realize that the content you put on your page has a huge impact on where it appears on search engine rankings. This is why strictly AI-generated content doesn't always work. AI-generated content doesn't always have the elements that Google and other search engines are looking for - specifically E-E-A-T.

Let's rewind a bit. For a page to appear in a certain place on Google search rankings, it must meet Google's quality rater guidelines. One of the main ways that Google determines if content should be ranked highly is if it meets the following factors:

Does it show Experience?
Does it show Expertise?
Does it show Authority?
Does it show Trustworthiness?

Do you see it? Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness --- E-E-A-T.

Here, I'm going to explain the following:

What E-E-A-T is
How it relates to search engine results pages
How Sapphire SEO Solutions' writing team creates quality content for our clients to show E-E-A-T

Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness - Why it Matters

E-E-A-T hasn't always been around. In fact, it's a fairly recent concept in search engine optimization. Before we had E-E-A-T, we had E-A-T.

Google started using E-A-T, which, at the time, was Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, to decide if the content on a website is helpful content for those who are searching for something. Basically, the content would be examined, and then evaluated to see if it was credible and trustworthy content. E-A-T became a very important part of Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines, and ultimately, how well written content performs.

Recently, Google has also added that second "E," "Experience."

Users expect to read content that they can trust, and that comes from experience. This is especially true for topics that fall into "YMYL" content, or "Your Money or Your Life." This is content that can impact a person's health, financial stability, safety, or well-being.

By expanding the E-A-T concept to E-E-A-T, Google has signaled to those of us in the search engine optimization industry that it very much values the credentials, reputation, and experience of the content creator with the topic.

E-E-A-T is not a specific ranking factor, but it serves as a guideline for human quality raters to determine if search results are high quality. In turn, Google uses this data to change its algorithms. So, even though E-E-A-T doesn't directly affect ranking, the overall quality of the content will absolutely improve the performance of your site on search results over time.

Why E-E-A-T Is Important for Content Quality

Image of a doctor with a thumbs up on a computer screen and an AI robot with a computer showing a thumbs down. The content says "Content created with E-E-A-T" by the thumbs up, and "Content Created without E-E-A-T" next to the AI robot

By putting such a focus on E-E-A-T, Google wants to put the most reliable, valuable, and trustworthy content at the top of search engine results. This is why site owners must ensure there is valuable content on their websites. Yes, this is an investment, as you can't simply plug in a prompt into ChatGPT, but it is an investment that will bring great benefits including ranking higher than other sites in your industry and the ability to attract high quality backlinks.

E-E-A-T is especially important for sites that are focused on YMYL content. These topics are more sensitive, and thus, a user searching for this content must be able to trust it. Web content that is created by those with experience are often seen as more reliable.

That being said, E-E-A-T is important for every site and every piece of content. It doesn't matter if a person is looking for reliable information about beagle behavior or if they need a lawyer due to a legal issue. When you apply E-E-A-T to your content, you provide users exactly what they want, and pages rank higher over time. From product reviews and travel guides to construction company content and those seeking a dentist - if you don't have E-E-A-T, you don't have traffic.

What Does Google Have to Say About E-E-A-T Signals?

In the latest version of Google's Quality Rater Guidelines, it explains the following:

"Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust (E-E-A-T) are all important considerations in PQ rating. The most important member at the center of the E-E-A-T family is Trust.

Trust: Consider the extent to which the page is accurate, honest, safe, and reliable. The type and amount of Trust needed depends on the page, for example:

Online stores need secure online payment systems and reliable customer service.
Product reviews should be honest and written to help others make informed purchasing decisions (rather than solely to sell the product).
Informational pages on clear YMYL topics must be accurate to prevent harm to people and society.
Social media posts on non-YMYL topics may not need a high level of Trust, such as when the purpose of the post is to entertain its audience and the content of the post does not risk causing harm.

Experience, Expertise and Authoritativeness are important concepts that can support your assessment of Trust."

How Sapphire SEO Solutions Can Demonstrate E-E-A-T For Your Brand

One thing that Sapphire SEO Solutions does to stand out from other SEO agencies is use the skills and expertise of our SEO-certified in-house writing team. In fact, many other SEO agencies and digital marketing experts come to Sapphire SEO Solutions for content, even though they do the rest of the SEO themselves for their clients.

How to we boost your brand online with content? We use E-E-A-T, of course, and even through we are writing the content, it reflects your life experience, your practical knowledge, and we make sure that your site is as reputable as possible. By posting such content, your site will soon join those other authoritative sites, and over time, your brand reputation will improve, you will earn quality backlinks, and you will have total SEO success.

Here at Sapphire SEO Solutions, our content writing team does the following for every piece of online content we create, from product descriptions and blog posts to website content and articles:

Experience

Our writers produce content that shows your direct, firsthand experience with the topic. We might do this with author credentials, "behind the scenes" content, or referencing your personal experience or involvement within the content.

Expertise

We also need to show that you are an expert to your target audience. To do this, we will add internal links to other pages on your site, we will cite studies and other reputable sources to support written claims, and position your site as an expert in the topic at hand.

Authoritativeness

Our writers also help your site build authority by creating a content marketing plan that will include publishing and sharing high-quality content on other reputable sites. This helps to grow your reputation within your industry.

Trustworthiness

Finally, we will create the content in a way to show you and your business can be trusted. We will publish content that will maintain your reputation and of course, we always follow ethical practices when creating content.

E-E-A-T And AI Generated Content - Is Content Created by AI Accepted by Google's Quality Raters?

Image of a woman thinking about something with a question mark over her head

In the past few years, AI content has taken the content creation and SEO world by storm. People are using ChatGPT more than ever, and many business owners are using AI-generated content on their websites.

Yes, it's free, but there is an issue -- since one of the "E"s in E-E-A-T stands for "experience," how can content created by AI rank? Well, it can't. However, there is a caveat.

Google has repeatedly stated that posting raw, AI-generated content without any type of human editing isn't advised. It has stated that using AI isn't technically against guidelines, but the content created by AI won't be as accurate, useful, or compliant as human-created or human-edited content that follows quality guidelines.

You might be wondering how true this is. After all, we write content, and we want business from you, right? Why wouldn't we say AI-generated content isn't good? I get it. Let's look at some other sources:

This comes directly from Google -

Is AI content against Google Search's guidelines?

Appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines. This means that it is not used to generate content primarily to manipulate search rankings, which is against our spam policies.

Should I use AI to generate content?

If you see AI as an essential way to help you produce content that is helpful and original, it might be useful to consider. If you see AI as an inexpensive, easy way to game search engine rankings, then no.

The takeaway? Yes, you can use AI generated content, but again, it has to demonstrate E-E-A-T. AI content naturally doesn't do this, so you still need to have a human go over your content to show that it offers adequate expertise and experience, plus, it must be seen as an authoritative or trustworthy source. There is also the fact that AI content is often inaccurate, low-quality content. You will never be the go to source in your industry with a positive reputation if your site is filled with AI-generated content that doesn't have E-E-A-T.

Don't risk having low-quality pages - instead, work with a team who knows how to add substantial value to your website content. Work with Sapphire SEO Solutions.

Use E-E-A-T to Create a Long-Term and Sustainable Method to Improve SEO

Google's use of E-E-A-T shows a definite focus on high quality content that is created by a person with in depth knowledge, subject matter expertise, and relevant qualifications. For website owners who want to rank higher, you must post content that shows experience, expertise, authority, and trust.

Remember -- E-E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor, but it will definitely help to boost search performance over time. This is especially important for YMYL topics, but it should be used in all types of content.

As SEO professionals and writers, we will add E-E-A-T to your content and ensure that your own content and content strategy will have higher search visibility over time. Even if you ask us to use AI tools, we will certainly add a human touch and do our best to improve your organic traffic with E-E-A-T.

Contact us today to learn more about our SEO and content writing services, or order content, now.

What is E-E-A-T?