Nearly 50% of consumers report turning to Google when they are on the hunt for a particular service. If your business’s online presence is lacking, you could be missing half of your target audience.

Luckily, a solid organic marketing strategy can help solve that problem. Organic marketing utilizes high-quality content (e.g., blog articles) that features search engine optimization (SEO) to increase a website’s Google ranking.

But how exactly do you create this high-quality SEO content? In 2023, it is critical to use Google’s E-A-T guidelines to produce content search engines will love and reward with a higher ranking. Here’s why.

What Are Google’s E-A-T Guidelines?

E-A-T is an acronym for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It is an update to Google’s search engine ranking algorithm that came out in 2014. Though E-A-T alone will not determine your Google ranking, it does affect it.

Expertise

Expertise is defined as expert knowledge or skills. People typically have expertise in a particular field (e.g., technology). However, generalists can have expertise in many different fields.

Why is expertise important to Google? People with expertise in particular subjects can think deeply and intelligently about problems in their field.

Authoritativeness

Being authoritative means someone or something has authority over a particular skill or field. In other words, an authoritative website can be trusted to give out correct advice or information.

Authoritative content inspires, motivates, and influences people. Readers know that the author of the article is providing valuable and reliable information.

Trustworthiness

In the age of clickbait and fake news, trust is increasingly difficult to foster online. That makes honest and reliable content, content creators, and content publishers more valuable than ever before.

And building trust with your audience will not just improve your search rankings. Readers will begin to think of you as a safe source of information and services.

E-A-T and Your Digital Marketing Goals

Now that you understand the basics of E-A-T, you may be wondering: why is E-A-T so important? Here are three ways Google E-A-T digital marketing trends can impact your business marketing goals.

E-A-T Determines High-Quality Content

The number one reason Google implemented E-A-T was to weed out low-quality content. More specifically, Google wanted to address high-ranking websites that provided irrelevant or incorrect information to readers.

E-A-T intends to do the reverse: reward websites that consistently turn out correct and relevant content.

As long as a piece of content abides by the E-A-T guidelines, the Google ranking algorithm will consider it high-quality. And as we will discuss next, publishing high-quality articles on your site can improve your Google ranking.

E-A-T Impacts Your Organic Search Ranking

Search engine marketing (SEM) heavily relies on organic search. Organic searches occur when a customer types a query into the Google search box. Then, they click on one of the pages that come up under their search.

The majority of Google searchers only look at the first three results. So, how does your site get ranked in the top three results for a search query? You have to improve search engine optimization (SEO).

Publishing high-quality content that adheres to E-A-T guidelines can help you do just that.

E-A-T Can Reduce Bounce Rate

Another benefit of E-A-T that has less to do with Google and more to do with your prospective clients is bounce rate. Bounce rate refers to the percentage of people who visit your website and leave after viewing only one page.

A poor bounce rate is usually a sign of a low-quality website. As such, Google may consider bounce rate when ranking your website. But this is not the only reason bounce rate is important.

A high bounce rate means something about your website is turning away prospective customers.

Tips for Improving E-A-T on Your Site

The number one thing to do to improve your site’s E-A-T is to update your content. Focus on providing trustworthy and easily verifiable information to your readers.

It is also a good idea to update content regularly as new information comes out. Keeping up with changing trends will impress not only Google but also your prospective clients.

Yet, updating the quality of your content is only the beginning. You should also consider doing the following to improve your site’s E-A-T.

Publish Contact and About Pages

Blog articles are not the only kind of content to consider when updating your website for E-A-T. Google will also take into account the other pages on your site, including your contact and about pages.

Your contact page should provide trustworthy contact info. That includes but is not limited to your company’s email address, phone number, and physical address. Include as many customer support points of contact as possible.

Your business’ about page should speak to your authoritativeness. Include any credentials or relevant degrees members of your staff hold. You can also talk about prior speaking engagements that speak to your firm’s expertise.

Check Your Facts and Cite Them

An authoritative and expert business website should have factually accurate content. If you do not have the expertise to create this type of content, it is important to hire a content creator who does.

Another way to build authority for your online business presence is to link to other high-quality sites. Always search for high-ranking, authoritative, and trustworthy sources when creating citations to achieve this goal.

Work With a Digital Marketing Firm

Google’s E-A-T guidelines can be tricky to understand. And even if you do get the basics down, you still might not outrank your competitors. That is where a professional digital marketing service can come in.

Digital marketing firms are experts in Google’s algorithm and SEO. They can help improve your rankings, even if your own efforts have not achieved the results you want to see.

At Optic Marketing Group, we specialize in digital marketing strategies for home services businesses like yours. We can help you design a new website from scratch or update your old one to adhere to E-A-T standards.

Optic Marketing Group Is the Partner You Need

Google’s E-A-T guidelines help distinguish high-quality content from low-quality clickbait. In 2023, it is critical to creating an expert, authoritative, and trustworthy website. If you don’t, your Google ranking could suffer.

Do you need help updating your business website according to SEO best practices? Optic Marketing Group is the partner you need to get it done right the first time. Contact us today to learn how we can help you E-A-T.