The concept of creating content with Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness, or EEAT for short, is something that Google has been trying to promote quite heavily. The recent changes that the search engine juggernaut made in terms of its algorithm supposedly prioritized content that was high in quality in order to reduce the amount of low effort sites that were essentially gaming the system.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, SEO experts have been told time and time again that EEAT is not a factor in search engine rankings on the SERP. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google’s search liaison Danny Sullivan recently confirmed that it doesn’t factor into any other factors as well.
This statement was made in response to a query about using expert authors for content. The person that asked this question tried to determine whether or not this would give them a better ranking than might have been the case otherwise. It turns out that hiring expert authors won’t automatically boost your rankings on the SERP.
Google is avoiding using EEAT as a ranking signal because anyone can essentially refer to themselves as some kind of an expert. Of course, using an EEAT framework in your content is still something that can be worth your while with all things having been considered and taken into account. It creates content that people would enjoy, and this would result in it naturally aligning with the signals that Google’s web crawlers are looking for.
In a nutshell, EEAT itself isn’t a factor in ranking. It doesn't affect any other factors either. However, what it can do is to create genuinely helpful content that users will want to interact with. The key is to optimize content quality as much as possible, and in doing so give users a reason to come back to your webpage. You can’t just rent an expert, you essentially have to be the expert or have your hired expert provide content that lines up with other ranking factors and signals.
Image: Digital Information World - AIgen
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In spite of the fact that this is the case, SEO experts have been told time and time again that EEAT is not a factor in search engine rankings on the SERP. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google’s search liaison Danny Sullivan recently confirmed that it doesn’t factor into any other factors as well.
This statement was made in response to a query about using expert authors for content. The person that asked this question tried to determine whether or not this would give them a better ranking than might have been the case otherwise. It turns out that hiring expert authors won’t automatically boost your rankings on the SERP.
Honestly, I'm at a loss sometimes what else to say. We get asked things like:
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 5, 2024
Is EEAT a ranking signal?
And say "No, EEAT is not a ranking signal"
And people go "Well, what does ranking really mean. Maybe it's signals? They didn't say it's not signals!"
So do we have a signal…
Google is avoiding using EEAT as a ranking signal because anyone can essentially refer to themselves as some kind of an expert. Of course, using an EEAT framework in your content is still something that can be worth your while with all things having been considered and taken into account. It creates content that people would enjoy, and this would result in it naturally aligning with the signals that Google’s web crawlers are looking for.
In a nutshell, EEAT itself isn’t a factor in ranking. It doesn't affect any other factors either. However, what it can do is to create genuinely helpful content that users will want to interact with. The key is to optimize content quality as much as possible, and in doing so give users a reason to come back to your webpage. You can’t just rent an expert, you essentially have to be the expert or have your hired expert provide content that lines up with other ranking factors and signals.
Read next: Romantic AI Chatbots Fail At Protecting User Privacy, New Mozilla Survey Confirms
