Ever wondered how Google always seems to give the right answer?

Anyone can publish content online so how does Google know which source to trust? 

Google is a master at protecting searchers from low-quality content and has provided us with two concepts on what’s expected from helpful and relevant content. 

The two concepts are:

• E-E-A-T – Experience, Expertise, Authority & Trust
• YMYL – Your Money or Your Life

There’s never been a more important time to focus on your website’s content as Google has completed the rollout of the ‘helpful content’ and ‘link spam update’ as of January 12th 2023. These ranking updates weed out ‘unhelpful content’ such as content that has been keyword stuffed, content with zero expertise or content that is intentionally long-form with no real benefit to the user. 

So, what exactly is E-E-A-T and how can you use it to create human-first content?

Experience, Expertise, Authority & Trust

E-E-A-T is an acronym for experience, expertise, authority and trust. I will go into these in further detail and explain exactly what they look like in action.

Experience

Experience is the latest addition to Google’s search quality raters guidelines. 

Experience adds a deeper level to the original E-A-T dimensions used to asses content quality.

So what experience is google actually looking for?

The answer is a first-hand lived experience of the topic you’re writing about. If you have no real-world experience with the topic you’re writing about, it’s definitely worth teaming up with someone who has to ensure you’re giving your readers real value.

Expertise 

Say a solicitor is creating content to help potential clients. They will need to make sure their content is relevant to their area of expertise.

For example, a solicitor might write about newly enacted legislation and how that may impact future legal proceedings. Keyword research tools can figure out the questions your audience wants to know along with whether their search intent is informational, commercial, navigational or transactional.

If you want to write content on a matter without being an expert this can be done through collaboration with trusted experts and through referencing your highly credible sources.

The goal is to become a source of information your audience can rely on for up-to-date and accurate content.

Authoritativeness 

If your content delivers on its promises you’re more likely to receive other people linking to you as a trusted source. 

Whenever you receive mentions and backlinks from other industry experts or high-domain authority sources, this increases your domain authority. 

Trustworthiness 

Trustworthiness can be influenced by many different factors from the overall look of your site to your brand reputation.

Trustworthy sites often have relevant contact information, cite their sources or state their locations.

Creating a trustworthy site will keep users engaged for longer and will increase your user’s confidence in you.

E-E-A-T combined with SEO will ensure that your content stands the test of time against any existing or future Google algorithm updates. 

E-E-A-T is important because it holds you accountable for the content you produce along with advantages such as:

• Higher rankings
• Increased mentions and shares
• More featured snippets 
• Increased click-through rates
• Increased time spent on pages

Your Money or Your Life

Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content is any high-risk topic that can significantly harm the health, financial stability, safety or welfare of people or society if the information provided is inaccurate or untrustworthy. 

YMYL topics are held to extremely high standards so high-stakes topics have to be rich in expertise, authority and trustworthiness. 

YMYL websites include WebMD, Amazon and Verywell family.

How to Build Human-First Content?

Google will continue to boost E-E-A-T content and sites that are written for humans and not just for SEO purposes. The helpful content update is a global update so if you notice any big ranking or visibility changes you’ll benefit from a content audit. 

The questions Google has provided around building human-first content are: 

• Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you? 
• Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge?
• Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
• After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
• Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
• Are you keeping in mind our guidance for core updates and for product reviews?

If you’ve noticed any huge changes to your site’s performance since the updates, we would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.