When we think about traditional marketing methods, building trust has long been a proven strategy for brands and businesses. By building trust across traditional marketing channels, businesses were able to effectively establish credibility and develop long-lasting relationships with their target audience.
Building trust as a small business is more important than ever. With the intense competition in the digital landscape, as well as the prevalence of scams, data breaches, and misinformation, consumers are more cautious than ever before.
Google doesn’t provide us with much information on how their search algorithm works, but they do provide us with some guidelines. A key push for 2021 onwards is people-first, quality content. As part of this, Google has developed the concept of “experience, expertise, authority and trust (E-E-A-T)”.
If you’re a business owner and you’re not sure how you could better market your business online, read on to find out the importance of E-E-A-T elements and how to quickly and effectively bolster up your website.
What Is E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T is the acronym for:
- Experience (the author’s first-hand experience)
- Expertise (the author’s level of knowledge)
- Authority (the website and author’s credibility)
- Trust (the website’s reliability + what people think)
By leveraging experience and expertise, establishing authoritativeness, and enhancing trustworthiness, businesses can effectively build their online reputation, attract customers, and drive growth.
Furthermore, the search engine optimisation (SEO) benefits derived from prioritising E-E-A-T principles can significantly boost your website’s visibility and overall online presence. In a digital landscape where trust is key, being mindful of E-E-A-T can serve as a powerful tool for business owners to succeed in their online marketing endeavours.
Think about it… you live in Surfers Paradise and your refrigerator has stopped working and you now urgently require someone to come and repair it. You Google ’24/7 fridge repairs surfer paradise’. What do you look at before clicking? What do you look at after clicking on someone’s website? Is this company or person experienced in your particular fridge model? What have other people said? Do they offer their services 24/7? Can you trust that they aren’t a scam, or that they won’t foot you with an expensive bill?
All of these types of questions are often subconscious as a consumer. E-E-A-T is about answering these questions clearly, both on search engine ranked pages (SERPs) and on your website.
Both the consumer and Google should best understand your business, what you offer, how the products/services you provide are relevant to a location and search query, and if the products/services you provide are trustworthy.
How Do I Showcase My Experience?
The latest addition to Google’s E-E-A-T concept is experience. When releasing this update, they explained:
Now to better assess our results, E-A-T is gaining an E: experience. Does content also demonstrate that it was produced with some degree of experience... There are some situations where really what you value most is content produced by someone who has first-hand, life experience on the topic at hand.
So… proof of actual first-hand experience. How does that look for a service-based or even an e-commerce business?
- Original images and videos: High-quality visuals can provide a glimpse into your products/work, processes, and the real-life experiences you’ve had.
- Showcase qualifications and accreditations: Display any relevant certifications, accreditations, or industry recognition your business has received, providing validation of your experiences and capabilities.
- Post case studies: Highlight specific projects or client success stories that demonstrate your brand or product’s experience and the positive outcomes you’ve achieved.
Showcasing your experience is a key component of building expertise, authority and trust in yourself and your business, website and products/services. Overall this instils confidence in potential customers and establishes a strong online presence.
How Would People Know I'm An Expert?
Expertise is often attributed to a particular individual and their content. Some factors to show off your expertise include:
- Quality and industry-specific content: Create and share high-quality, informative content that showcases your expertise in your industry. This can include blog posts, articles, or guides that address relevant topics and provide valuable insights to your target audience. Don’t forget to add an author box to your articles!
- Showcase professional development: Emphasise your commitment to staying up-to-date with the latest industry trends, technologies, and best practices. Showcase any ongoing professional development, certifications, or training programs you and your team undertake to enhance your expertise.
- Add your personal accreditations: Display any relevant accreditations or qualifications that highlight your expertise and credibility in your author box and ‘About’ page.
What's Authority?
Authority is mostly attributed to the overall website’s credibility as a source of information on a particular topic/industry. As an authority figure, Google may value your website’s content and brand more, pushing you up the top of SERPs in the most prime real estate.
Ways to establish your website and brand as an authority online include:
- Ensure your website is secure and SEO-friendly: Implement robust security measures to protect user data and instil trust in your small business such as an SSL certificate, and secure payment gateway. Also develop a solid SEO strategy that focuses on optimising title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and image alt tags. A well-optimised website signals authority to search engines and increases your chances of being found by potential customers.
- Enhance user engagement: Focus on creating a website that prioritises user experience. A well-designed and user-friendly interface, intuitive navigation, and responsive design all contribute to a positive user experience which can be observed by Google and build your authority.
- Gain inbound links from other industry experts: Seek opportunities to contribute guest posts or articles to reputable industry blogs, publications, or websites that may link back to yours. Sharing your expertise and insights with a wider audience enhances your authority and expands your reach.
I Need To Build Trust
Trust is the most important factor when selling a product, service or even a simple message. There are many ways to build trustworthiness in your website and content such as:
- Highlight objective content: Create objective and informative content that educates and empowers your audience. Focus on providing unbiased information, industry insights, and expert advice that aligns with fact.
- Display testimonials and reviews: Showcase positive testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers prominently on your website. Genuine feedback from real customers adds social proof and credibility to your small business. Include testimonials with specific details about the positive experiences customers had with your products or services.
- Include privacy policies, refund/return policies and a terms and conditions page: Demonstrate transparency and build trust by clearly displaying important policies on your website. Include a privacy policy that outlines how you handle customer data, a refund/return policy that explains your return process, and a terms and conditions page that outlines the terms of using your website or purchasing your products/services.
Stay on Top of Your E-E-A-T
In the ever-evolving world of online marketing, small business owners cannot afford to overlook the importance of E-E-A-T.
As a business owner, it is crucial to align your efforts with Google’s priorities. Google prioritises its users over individual websites. To remain competitive, it is important to prioritise your audience and focus on creating reliable and valuable content. By keeping your audience as your top priority, you can develop content that is both helpful and trustworthy, thereby establishing a strong online presence. Working in harmony with Google and understanding its user-centric approach will enable you to enhance your visibility, engage your target audience, and achieve your marketing goals.
If you’re not sure how to implement E-E-A-T elements that best suit your industry, chat with a specialist! At 5 Twelve, we have a specialist in each area of SEO, Google Ads and Social Media Ads, understanding the value of E-E-A-T as an integral part of online marketing strategy.
