We all have to EAT in 2021

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: SEO and showing up on Google are key to your digital marketing success in 2021. To that end, we have another idea to introduce you to — EAT.

EAT, or the EAT principle, stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (or Page Quality). EAT is one of the factors that Google uses in determining your page ranking and how high your website places in their search results.

Our friends at SEMRush have noted that following the EAT principle will be even more critical to showing up on Google in 2021:

Google has reiterated that content quality is critical for ranking success. But just what does “quality” mean to Google? Refer to the EAT principle: expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. These factors help determine if a webpage has useful quality content. This principle is especially relevant in business niches that fall under the “your money, your life” (YMYL) label, such as health care and finance.

How do you follow EAT to improve your Google ranking? SEMRush has some good advice.

Create personas

The use of personas is something we’ve talked about on numerous occasions. As SEMRush notes, personas help you get inside your audience’s head to make sure you’re creating content that they want to see and consume.

The more audience-centric your content is, the more useful your audience will find that content. And as a result, the better your EAT and Google ranking will become.

Research search intent

Understanding the intent behind the search terms a user enters into Google (I.e., what are they actually trying to find) is key to content creation. The more your content matches your target viewers’ search intent, the better your EAT and Google ranking will be.

We put together a short video explaining Search Intent Optimization if you’d like more of an explanation.

Create audience-appropriate content

When you’ve built personas to define your target audience and have a sense for their search intent, SEMRush advises developing content in appealing formats. This should be part of what you discover when building audience personas.

Where your audience spends their time will also help tell you what formats to use. If your audience is mostly on Instagram, you’ll want to lean toward images and videos for content. If your audience is on LinkedIn, maybe infographics are the way to get their attention. And the more you can back your content up with data and analysis, the better your EAT and Google ranking.

If you’d like to dive even further into a definition of EAT, SEMRush has a more in-depth article looking at this important factor. And if you could use some help upping your EAT and getting the Google ranking you need in 2021, drop us a line.

We’re here to help!