What You Need To Know About YMYL And EAT For SEO
Are you hungry? Because it’s time to learn about EAT for SEO.
Some experts contend that EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is the meat and potatoes of SEO. On the other hand, others push it aside like blanched vegetables.
So what’s the deal?
Does EAT for SEO really matter in the grand scheme of things? Or can you get by without giving it another thought?
Well, considering that Google recently included EAT for SEO in its latest Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines and mentioned it in a 2019 whitepaper, you probably should give it some credence.
Besides, it’s no secret that Google’s algorithm rewards websites with high expertise, authoritativeness, and trust. Which, in our humble opinion, makes EAT for SEO an essential part of a balanced breakfast digital marketing strategy.
What Is EAT For SEO?
Google continuously tweaks its algorithm to keep up with users’ ever-changing behaviors and to deliver better search results. This obviously can keep SEO specialists like us on our toes, but by following the principles of EAT for SEO, it’s less challenging than you’d think.
When it comes to EAT for SEO, Google’s AI isn’t the only judge determining a site’s expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Google works with hundreds of Search Quality Evaluators who comb the internet and assign ratings based on the platform’s extensive guidelines. These are real, actual people that Google hires to make sure its search function, well, functions.
But here’s the thing: EAT for SEO isn’t a ranking factor. At least, not in the same sense as mobile-friendliness, alt text, meta descriptions, and other SEO ranking factors are. According to Google, Search Quality Evaluator ratings don’t actually change your site’s rankings.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not necessary.
EAT lays the foundation for Google’s search quality evaluators to test websites and their content.
After all, Google’s business model is based on answering users’ queries. So to encourage people to create helpful content and websites, Google bestows higher rankings. To discourage people from creating garbage content and websites, Google penalizes.
Makes sense, right?
Let’s break it down.
Expertise
Is your site’s content created by an expert who knows the subject or industry like the back of their hand? Do they dive deep into the topic to adequately inform and help readers?
This doesn’t mean you or your copywriters need a doctorate to prove your expertise. According to the Quality Search Evaluator Guidelines mentioned earlier, Google accepts content from people with “everyday expertise,” meaning:
❝Some topics require less formal expertise. Many people write extremely detailed, helpful reviews of products or restaurants. Many people share tips and life experiences on forums, blogs, etc. These ordinary people may be considered experts in topics where they have life experience. If it seems as if the person creating the content has the type and amount of life experience to make him or her an ‘expert’ on the topic, we will value this ‘everyday expertise’ and not penalize the person/webpage/website for not having ‘formal’ education or training in the field.❞
In other words, Google just wants to lead users to beneficial, thorough, well-researched, accurate, and pertinent content.
For some sectors, like medicine, finance, and legal, expertise is particularly critical because people visit sites looking for answers to questions that can have life-changing consequences.
The last thing people need is out-of-date, useless, or straight up false information. Bad info might hurt EAT for SEO and your rankings, but it can devastate (if not ruin) someone else’s life.
It might be dramatic, but it shows that EAT for SEO is so important and has real-world consequences.
So if you operate within a certain niche, do your part. If you don’t have time for fact-checking and research, hire someone to do it for you (like us!)
Authoritativeness
Google PageRank is the backbone of the Google we know today. And it’s how the platform assesses authoritativeness.
Link quality is one of the most significant indicators of authoritativeness. Generally, high-authority websites have higher-quality links. And if a bunch of high-authority websites link to yours, they pass along some of that to you — something known as “link juice.”
Thirsty yet?
Links are also like a vote of confidence. When Google sees that others trust your site and its content, it’s more willing to give you higher rankings and more visibility.
You build authority by getting links. And you get links by demonstrating your expertise in the content you share. Make sense?
But links aren’t the only way to boost EAT for SEO. Likes, shares, testimonials, and other forms of social proof also count.
Sure, Google PageRank may be a popularity contest, but it’s one where you can succeed by focusing on value-packed content.
Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness may be one of the most challenging aspects of EAT for SEO, especially since there’s so much disinformation online.
It takes a lot of effort to build trust — not only with your audience but with Google and other search engines, too.
But trust is essential. After all, it’s how you convince people to make a purchase decision or recommend you to others.
So how do you improve trustworthiness?
Well, do you or your content creators have any credentials or qualifications worth noting? If so, emphasize those. And don’t be afraid to showcase your site’s authority, too.
Trust signals can range from customer reviews, client endorsements, or industry awards. When people see this, they’ll be more inclined to trust the content you present to them. And that will make Google trust you more.
It’s this point where we get into YMYL.
What Is YMYL?
Remember how we mentioned that some types of information could have real-life consequences? This is the intersection between YMYL and EAT for SEO.
YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life.” It’s an entire category Google uses for websites that advertise products, services, or information that can affect users’ happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.
But other sites fall under the category of YMYL, too. Here are the deets, straight from Google’s mouth:
❝✓ News and current events: news about important topics such as international events, business, politics, science, technology, etc. Keep in mind that not all news articles are necessarily considered YMYL (e.g., sports, entertainment, and everyday lifestyle topics are generally not YMYL). Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale.
✓ Civics, government, and law: information important to maintaining an informed citizenry, such as information about voting, government agencies, public institutions, social services, and legal issues (e.g., divorce, child custody, adoption, creating a will, etc.).
✓ Finance: financial advice or information regarding investments, taxes, retirement planning, loans, banking, or insurance, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases or transfer money online.
✓ Shopping: information about or services related to research or purchase of goods/services, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases online.
✓ Health and safety: advice or information about medical issues, drugs, hospitals, emergency preparedness, how dangerous an activity is, etc.
✓ Groups of people: information about or claims related to groups of people, including but not limited to those grouped on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.
✓ Other: there are many other topics related to big decisions or important aspects of people’s lives which thus may be considered YMYL, such as fitness and nutrition, housing information, choosing a college, finding a job, etc. Please use your judgment.❞
Because the stakes are so high with these types of sites, Google mandates some pretty lofty standards to keep users safe.
If you focus on EAT for SEO, you should have no problem meeting Google’s YMYL standards. But if you don’t, you’ll pay for it with pitiful visibility and a bad rap.
Why Is EAT For SEO Important?
In case it hasn’t been made clear yet, high-quality content is how you demonstrate EAT for SEO.
While some experts argue about the importance of EAT for SEO, no one can deny the connection between high-quality content and search engine results.
What Is High-Quality Content?
If you’ve ever wanted to make a difference in someone’s life, high-quality content is the way to do it.
It’s super-valuable content that makes your readers’ lives better. It could be a self-help guide, a step-by-step checklist, or a whitepaper. Whatever it is, it has to have a clear purpose to the people who read it.
That’s a pretty broad explanation. So, to be more specific based on Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, high-quality content has:
❝✓ High level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
✓ A satisfying amount of high quality main content, including a descriptive or helpful title.
Satisfying website information and/or information about who is responsible for the website. If the page is primarily for shopping or includes financial transactions, then it should have satisfying customer service information.
✓ Positive website reputation for a website that is responsible for the main content on the page. Positive reputation of the creator of the main content, if different from that of the website.❞
When you implement a content strategy, tailor your content to your target audience. Also, make sure it’s something that can actually benefit them by filling a need.
The better you follow Google’s guidelines and EAT for SEO, the better your site will rank. It’s not exactly easy, however. Like most things, EAT for SEO is a labour of love that can take months to pay off.
So now that you have a better idea of how Google classifies high-quality content, let’s take a look at how it defines low-quality content so you can avoid those mistakes.
What Is Low-Quality Content?
You’ve probably come across your fair share of low-quality content online. Sometimes you can smell the garbage a mile away. Other times, it’s not as easy to pick up.
Here’s how Google defines low-quality content:
❝Websites or pages without some sort of beneficial purpose, including pages that are created with no attempt to help users, or pages that potentially spread hate, cause harm, or misinform or deceive users, should receive the Lowest rating.❞
And here’s how Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines categorize it:
❝✓ An inadequate level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
✓ The quality of the main content (MC) is low.
✓ There is an unsatisfying amount of MC for the purpose of the page.
✓ The title of the MC is exaggerated or shocking.
✓ The Ads or SC distracts from the MC.
✓ There is an unsatisfying amount of website information or information about the creator of the MC for the purpose of the page (no good reason for anonymity).
✓ A mildly negative reputation for a website or creator of the MC, based on extensive reputation research.❞
If Google’s evaluators find one or more of these factors on a given page, they slap it with a “low” quality rating. And if it has more than that, they’ll give it an even lower score. Yikes!
In a nutshell, low-quality content is anything wrong, useless, or damaging to users. All of those things seem easy enough to avoid, but if you’re concerned, it never hurts to work with an expert on your content marketing strategy.
How To Improve EAT For SEO On Your Website
Now you know what EAT for SEO and YMYL are and how they play into SEO’s broader scope. It’s time to put what you’ve learned to use and improve your site’s existing and new content.
Include The Authors/Content Creators In Your Post
Pages that don’t list the author’s name are among our biggest pet peeves. It’s aggravating for citation purposes and makes the website appear less credible. Seeing “Admin,” some rando, or nothing at all makes it seem like:
The site administrator doesn’t know how to change their site’s theme to include the author, or
They don’t care enough to fix it in the first place
That’s because “journalistic professionalism” is a crucial Google guideline. So even if the author was an expert, not having their name on the post detracts from the page’s authority as a whole.
When you publish content on your site, make sure you include the author’s name and byline.
If possible, showcase the bio of every author who generates content for your site, whether they write white papers, blogs, or Q&As.
Doing so is an excellent opportunity to bolster your site’s expertise if you or your writers have mad street cred in your niche.
When you give your writers a bio, make sure it includes their:
✓ Picture
✓ Full name
✓ Company title
✓ Bio
✓ Contact details, such as their email or a link to their social media
It doesn’t matter if you give your writers their own feature page or include it at the bottom of every post. All that matters is that you include it somewhere on your site.
Make Your Contact Details Easily Accessible
EAT for SEO accounts for your entire website, not just the content. So user experience plays an important part. And that means making sure they can easily contact you about questions, comments or concerns.
This is as straightforward as putting your About Us and Contact Us pages in your navigation header.
Don’t have those? Then it would be best if you made them ASAP.
Delete Or Revamp Low-Quality Content
Because EAT for SEO has such a strong emphasis on high-quality content, it’s essential that you comb your site for low-quality, thin, outdated content.
After that, you have to decide whether to keep or delete it. And if you keep it, you’ll have to improve it.
Continuous optimization is a sustainable way to generate traffic. It’s better to improve rather than remove because Google also looks at a post’s age when assessing EAT for SEO.
But sometimes, there’s nothing you can do about content that’s so bad you can smell it on the last page of Google. When that happens, save yourself the time and effort and trash it.
Here are a few ways to boost EAT for existing content:
✓ Find someone with more authority and expertise to write it
✓ Include quotes from high-authority sources
✓ Check grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and overall readability
✓ Beef it up with more information
✓ Revise the title to encourage clicks
✓ Add images and videos throughout to drive engagement (but make sure to optimize them, too!)
✓ If you have video chops, turn the post into a video to appeal to other visitors
Additionally, if your website has YMYL content, you should make a plan to revise or update your content every six months to make sure it meets Google’s standards for EAT for SEO.
Pose Yourself As An Industry Thought Leader
Thought leadership, expertise — it’s the same thing. Say what you will about the phrase “thought leader,” it’s crucial to EAT for SEO because it drives your credibility and reputation among users and Google.
Routinely creating your own valuable content and sharing insights from other experts is a great way to develop your reputation as a source of information for your audience. As your audience comes to trust you, so will Google. And you’ll be rewarded with better rankings, more traffic, and better business. Not bad, eh?
Make Sure Your Site Is Secure
A secure site is a sure (and quick) way to improve your trustworthiness. It’s also a critical SEO ranking factor. So make sure your website is secured with an HTTPS certificate rather than HTTP. Don’t know what that means? Just contact your web dev to install one.
When you do, request that they run a security check to ensure your site complies with security processes. The last thing you want is hackers to steal you or your users’ information — that’s not the kind of attention you want.
While you’re at it, develop a Privacy Policy for your website and put it in an easily accessible area such as your footer.
Make Sure Your Site Runs Smoothly
A clean, well-designed site not only looks nice but it contributes to user experience. Don’t let annoying ads and popups overrun your site — they’ll chase users away and slow your site down substantially.
In the same vein, make sure all links (both internal and external) work and check for 404 errors or endless redirects. Also, your site should be optimized for mobile users, too.
Source Your Stuff
You might be an expert, but you still need to give others their due credit. Plus, it gives your readers a chance to check out who you’re referencing so they can see what other professionals have to share.
This also gives you an opportunity to link externally to high-authority pages, which also helps EAT for SEO.
Respond To Negative Reviews
They say there’s no such thing as bad press, but not when it comes to EAT for SEO. If you have disgruntled customers on Yelp, social media, or anywhere else, make a point to contact them where they left their review or comment to resolve the issue.
You may not be able to eliminate bad reviews, but when other people see how you interact with unsatisfied customers, it can help EAT for SEO and your online reputation.
Bottom Line
EAT for SEO may not be a definitive ranking factor, but it’s no less important for your website and its rankings. It provides a framework that helps you keep your target audience at the center of your marketing plan.
If you stick to Google’s guidelines, you should have no problems generating stellar, shareworthy content and maybe even a following. And that will pay off in the form of higher rankings and more sales.
Sources
- Canegallo, Kristie. “How Google Fights Disinformation.” The Keyword, 16 Feb. 2019, storage.googleapis.com/gweb-uniblog-publish-prod/documents/How_Google_Fights_Disinformation.pdf.
- “Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.” 14 Oct. 2020, static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en//searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf.
- Lincoln, John E. “What Are YMYL Pages? Google, YMYL, & E-A-T.” Ignite Visibility, 17 Apr. 2020, ignitevisibility.com/ymyl-pages-what-are-ymyl-google-seo-pages/.
- Valencia, Alex. “E-A-T & YMYL: How to Boost Your On-Page SEO.” Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Journal, 3 Jan. 2020, www.searchenginejournal.com/on-page-seo/eat-ymyl/.