E-A-T is an acronym for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It is a system Google uses to measure the quality of your web page and content.

Google’s algorithm for ranking sites is made up of over 200 factors, and the content on your website is a major part of this. E-A-T is used to guage the quality of content and allocate the amount of trust the search engine gives to a website. Google only wants to display trustworthy and relevant information to its users, so fulfilling E-A-T criteria is an incredibly important exercise in order to rank well.

How can I meet E-A-T criteria?

Expertise

Your website needs to display expert knowledge on the treatments you provide. As an expert in your field, your website should reflect this. If the site shows generic, incorrect or very basic knowledge, you are likely to receive a low score for this factor of E-A-T. Take a look at your competitor’s pages and try and make sure your content shows off your in-depth knowledge on the subject better than theirs. Treat your website like a showcase of your knowledge and expertise in dentistry.

Authoritativeness

This aspect measures how trustworthy and reliable your site is as a source of knowledge. Potential patients want to know that you are the best option for them, and your website content needs to show this. Google looks at the content on the site to see if your site is a leading source for this kind of information, so again, look at your competitors and make sure your content stands out from the crowd.

Trustworthiness

Google, and potential patients, need to trust that your website is safe and that the information is correct and helpful to them. Think about website security and writing content that is genuinely useful to users. To do this, follow these tips:

• Ensure your site has a valid SSL certificate
• Clearly display contact information
• Include certificates and link to governing bodies
• Link to active social media accounts
• Write content that potential patients want to know and need to understand about their treatment. A good way to do this is include FAQ’s or think about the questions your patients ask you in a consultation, and answer them in your page content.

Why is E-A-T important for SEO?

After Google’s algorithm update in August 2018, it appears they placing more focus on E-A-T. While Google were very vauge about what this update changed, they did say that the key to ranking well is to read thier raters guidelines and to make website content better and more relevant. In short, it is now more important than ever to create high quality content that meets E-A-T criteria and really focusses on the user. Improving low quality and poor content on your site is no longer something to put off for another day!