What Factors Does Google Consider for Evaluating Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust (EAT)?

Google has been tight-lipped about the specific ranking factors that it considers when evaluating a website for its EAT metric. However, through extensive research and testing, we have been able to identify several key factors that seem to play a role in Google's evaluation. Google wants to reward quality content with better rankings, so there are some things you can do to improve your EAT with Google. Here are some of these factors and how you can improve your website's Google ranking factors.

Overall Content and Website Quality Google wants to see websites with high-quality, well-written content. They will look at things like the overall page layout, grammar, and spelling. Google also looks at the overall design of your website. If you have a poorly designed website, it will hurt your EAT score. Google will retrieve information through text analysis, and machine learning to evaluate the overall content quality.

PageRank and References to the Author/Publisher Google looks at how popular and authoritative the author and publisher are. This is where having a Google+ account, and other social media accounts can come in handy. Google will also look at things like whether or not the author has been published in any reputable publications with high EAT. It's also important to make sure there is a real organization associated with the site to boost credibility.

Distance to Trust Seed Sites in the Link Graph This ranking factor is a bit more technical, but basically, Google looks at how close your website is to other trusted websites in the link graph. If you have links from high-quality websites just a short jump from the original source, it will improve your EAT score.

Anchor Text of Backlinks Google also looks at the anchor text of backlinks pointing to your website. If you have a lot of backlinks with anchor text that includes keywords that are highly relevant to the content and anchor link, this will contribute to a higher ranking.

Sentiment Around Mentions or Ratings and Click-Through Rate Google looks at the sentiment around mentions of your website, as well as ratings and reviews. If people are talking about your website in a positive way and clicking through to your website, this will improve your EAT score. Google will find this information through Google Alerts and Google Search Console.

Links to Your Own High-Quality References If you have links from your own website to other pages on your website, Google will take this into account when evaluating your EAT score. Google wants to see that you are linking to other quality content on your own website.

Use of SSL/HTTPS on the Domain Google prefers websites that use SSL/HTTPS. This is a security protocol that encrypts data between your website and the user's browser. Google sees this as a sign of a trustworthy website.

Knowledge-Based Trust (Agreement with Common Opinion and Facts) This is a bit of a catch-all category, but Google wants to see that your website agrees with common opinions and facts. This includes things like the date of publication, author name, etc. If you want to improve your EAT score with Google, these are some of the factors that you should focus on. Creating high-quality content, getting links from reputable websites, and using SSL/HTTPS are all great ways to improve your website's EAT score. Google is constantly changing its algorithm, so it's important to stay up-to-date on the latest ranking factors. A good search engine optimization marketing company will be able to help you with this.

Begin Improving Google Ranking Factors With WSI The most effective way to improve your Google ranking factors is by working with a search engine optimization marketing company. At WSI, we have experience optimizing websites and content for all of the factors we mentioned, and more. We can help you create a comprehensive SEO strategy. Book a consultation with Heidi Schwende and find out more about your site's SEO from a leading digital marketing agency.