This document discusses how to boost search engine ranking by establishing expertise, authority, and trust (E.A.T.) in website content. It recommends deciding on areas of expertise to focus content, developing high-quality, relevant material, and linking to other authoritative sources. Authority comes from external links and citations as well as a site's reputation. Trust is built through transparency, citations, credentials, and truthful information. Higher standards apply to content impacting users' well-being. Clean, organized content demonstrating verifiable expertise raises E.A.T.

1. Using Expertise, Authority and Trust
in Your Content to Boost Search
Ranking
Lisa Melegari
We Do Web Content, Inc.

2. Google’s Quality Rating Guide
• 160-page manual for Google’s human
website rating team.
• Details what a rater should look for in a
website in order to determine quality.
• Expertise + Authority + Trust = E.A.T.

3. Establishing Your Expertise
Decide which areas of expertise you want
to rank for.
• Lawyer = Personal Injury
• Doctor = Podiatry
• Food Blogger = Bacon Recipes

4. Establishing Your Expertise
Develop high-quality content devoted to
your area(s) of expertise.
Avoid too much content unrelated to your
chosen topic.
Too many topics makes your site’s purpose
unclear.

5. Why care about your authority?
Google says authority =
quality = higher page rank.

6. What is authority on the Internet?
• The number and quality of pages
linking/citing yours.
• The quality of pages you link out to.
• Site security.
• Trustworthiness.
• Quality.
• Verifiable facts and statistics.

7. What is authority on the Internet?
If your 10,000 Twitter followers consider
you the guru of figuring out “copycat
recipes” for popular restaurants, Google
will start to associate your site with that
keyword.
When you think about it, authority is all
about how others perceive your website.

8. Establishing Trust
How you establish trust on your website
depends on the type of site you run.
• Blog = Cited by other relevant blogs, esp.
big name websites.
• eCommerce = Transparency, encryption
• Reference = Citations in and out

9. Establishing Trust on a Blog
• Linking to other trusted blogs
(SearchEngineLand, Mashable,
TechCrunch, etc.)
• Linking to trusted resources (.edu and
.gov websites)
• Being referenced by any of those trusted
websites or websites of similar caliber.
• Writing truthful, accurate content that is
verifiable or a widely accepted
opinion/fact.

10. Establishing Trust for an eCommerce
Site
• SSL encryption.
• An “about us” page.
• Multiple contact options.
• Trusted payment methods.
• Clearly defined return policy.
• Clearly stated charges, final verification
before charge to customer.

11. Establishing Trust for a Reference Site
• Similar to blogs except you’ll want to
stick to .edu and .gov sites.
• Can also use high-quality sites and well
known authorities like Matt Cutts’ blog.
• Cites relevant statistics when applicable
and links to source reference.
• Showing your real-world credentials in
your topic area (degrees, certifications)

12. What is quality content?
• Clean (no grammar/spelling errors)
• Organized (appropriately-sized
paragraphs, uses sub-headers, bullet
lists)
• Relevant (statistics are up to date, topic is
related to your area of expertise)
• Authoritative (can be verified or is
considered a standard for the topic)

13. YMYL Sites
Your Money or Your Life
YMYL sites contain content that
deals with a person’s
happiness, health and wealth.

14. YMYL Sites Are Held to a
Higher Standard
Because the information on
these sites can have a direct
impact on a viewer’s
happiness, health or wealth
they are held to high E.A.T.
standards!

15. YMYL Sites
• Shopping or financial transaction pages: online stores and
online banking pages (ThinkGeek, Scottrade, Bank of America)
• Financial information pages: advice or information about
investments, taxes, retirement planning, home purchase, paying
for college, buying insurance, etc. (Forbes, IRS.gov, SBA.gov)
• Medical information pages: advice or information about health,
(WebMD, Mayo Clinic, Drugs.com)
• Legal information pages: legal advice or information on topics
such as divorce, child custody, creating a will, becoming a citizen,
etc. (AVVO, FindLaw, Nolo)
• Other: there are many other topics which you may consider
YMYL, such as child adoption, car safety information, etc.
(MiamiGov.com, FIU.edu, NHTSA.gov, FDA.gov)

16. Your Guide to E.A.T.ing Well
Site Design
Content Cleanup
Miscellaneous

17. Site Design
• Use sub-headers.
• Limit the use of ads on-page.
• Review the placement of ads.
• Remove inline advertising.

18. Content Cleanup
• Remove distracting content.
• Include About Us and Contact pages.
• Add supplementary content.
• eCommerce sites need to have return
policies and customer service pages.
• Make sure you E-A-T: expertise,
authoritativeness, and trustworthiness

19. Miscellaneous
• Keep your reputation clean.
• Make sure forums are active.
• Never leave a question without
an answer.

20. Questions?
Download the slides here:
http://goo.gl/oTW4cC
Download the PDF Checklist here:
http://goo.gl/jKjIvp
If you want to read all 160 pages of the
Google Quality Rating Guidelines –
google it!

21. Thank You!
Contact me at:
@lmelegari
lisa@wedowebcontent.com
www.wedowebcontent.com