We talk a lot about regular, unique, and useful content here at AuDSEO, but there are excellent reasons for doing so, and E-A-T is the latest one.
To evaluate the quality of their search engine, Google has people manually reviewing different websites in its index for E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust.
Google lists these three factors on their website as a method for improving your content’s quality. E-A-T is part of Google’s ongoing efforts to stop people from gaming their algorithm by encouraging them to create regular, unique, and useful content.
E-A-T is not a ranking factor for Google, but is used to determine the quality of its search engine results. If you practice good E-A-T, it will naturally lead to higher rankings in Google search results.
The aim is to improve web content for human users. Let’s look at each of these criteria in more detail, and see how you can improve E-A-T in your hearing practice website.
1. Expertise
For those producing content on subjects such as medical, financial, or legal advice, expertise is paramount. Google ranks these kinds of sites as ‘Your Money or Your Life’ (YMYL). These are categories in which the money or health of a person will be affected if they followed incorrect advice. For example, only those with medical expertise should be producing content in the health sphere, and that includes hearing experts such as yourself!
If a website contains content written by someone with little knowledge of the topic on this subject, published on an untrustworthy website that lacks authority, then the possibility that content is inaccurate or misleading is strong. This can potentially lead to people acting on incorrect information and endangering their finances or health.
As the hearing health profession falls within the medical category, it is particularly prone to scrutiny when it comes to displaying expertise. Here’s how you can show your expertise when it comes to your hearing content:
- Determine what your audience is looking for and craft your site’s pages to deliver that information effectively.
- Think about what follow-up questions they may have about your content and preemptively answer those questions within the content itself.
- Display evidence of your formal expertise, qualifications, and education in your content. Perhaps you’ve had 20 years experience in fitting hearing aids, or you’ve recently become a doctor of audiology.
2. Authority
Authority is about credibility, particularly amongst other industry experts and influencers. You know you have authority when others see you as the go-to source of information about a particular subject.
You may increase your authority by:
- Having reputable websites link back to yours as a resource. This is called a backlink, and it is one of the most effective ways to get a good rank.
- Getting your content widely shared on social media. This expands your reach and increases the chances of your work being shared by others.
- Display credentials, bio, and relevant associations. In their guidelines, Google mentions that Understanding who is responsible for a website is a critical part of evaluating E-A-T, and advises their raters to assess this based on the type of website. Displaying your bio and other information shows everyone that you are an expert in hearing health.
3. Trustworthiness
Trust is about whether your hearing practice website is legitimate, transparent, and safe to access.
Google has a variety of indicators of trustworthiness. Here is how you increase your reliability in the eyes of other searchers:
- Display your contact information. If a hearing website only has an email address and physical address, it may be challenging to get help if there are questions or issues about a product.
- Secure your website with an SSL certificate. At least 70 percent of the search engine results on the first page of Google uses SSL, which is a confirmed ranking signal. Google Chrome also labels all HTTP pages as “Not Safe,” Which means that any site without an SSL certificate is on thin ice when it comes to the future of its E-A-T score.
- Have a Privacy Policy / Terms and Conditions page. It is essential to have a terms and conditions page accessible to help a customer resolve problems. As you are selling hearing products and services, make sure your refund policies are well defined and customer-centric.