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If you want your website and content to rank well on Google, you have to remember and understand that Google and other search engines EXIST to provide their users with the information they need. And, any good search engine is going to strive to provide its users with the most helpful, accurate, and credible search results that it can.

As a result, if you want your website and content to rank well in search results, you have to prove to Google that you’re a credible source and an expert at what you do. In other words, you need to prioritize and improve your “E-E-A-T.”

That’s why in this episode of Priority Pursuit, Victoria and Angel—Treefrog’s content director—discuss how you can utilize content and other tactics to improve your E-E-A-T and start ranking higher on Google.

 

What is E-E-A-T?

As we mentioned, search engines exist to provide their users with the most helpful, accurate, and credible search results that they can. So, in order for your website and content to rank well as a small business, you more or less have to prove to search engines that you’re a credible source.

To do this, as Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines explain, you need to demonstrate a “high level” of “E-E-A-T.”

“E-E-A-T” stands for “experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.” Now, we know that’s a lot of words, but the important thing to remember here is that your website and content need to show Google that you’re an expert who can help search engine users solve their problems.

 

Why does E-E-A-T matter for SEO?

Now, improving your E-E-A-T has two benefits.

First of all, it’s going to help prospects see you as an expert they can trust. Basically, when you’re producing helpful, credible content, this is going to make your ideal clients more likely to buy from you.

Secondly, from an SEO perspective, Google and other search engines’ algorithms prioritize websites and content with high E-E-A-T. As a result, you want to focus on and improve your E-E-A-T so you can improve your search engine rankings and get your website in front of prospects who are actively searching for products, services, and content like yours.

Essentially, E-E-A-T is the key to improving your SEO, and as we’ve talked about in many episodes of Priority Pursuit, SEO should be one of your top marketing priorities because it can help you reach consistent, sustainable business growth.

After all, 97% of people use Google when they're in need of a local product or service; 90% of consumers who search for local businesses make purchases within a week; and SEO drives 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media.

So, if you want to stop chasing business and let your strongest leads come to you through Google or other search engines, you need to prioritize your E-E-A-T.

 

11 Ways to Improve E-E-A-T as a Small Business

Ready to get started on improving your E-E-A-T? Check out these 11 tips.

 

1. Create content that serves your audience well & showcases your expertise.

As we’ve already mentioned, Google strives to provide its users with the most helpful, accurate, and credible search results that it can. So, one of the most effective things you can do to improve your E-E-A-T is to create content that helps Google achieve its goal. In other words, you need to publish credible content to your site that serves your audience well on Google and showcases your expertise.

Now, just for clarification, when we say “content” we mean blog posts, videos, podcast episodes, infographics, and any other medium that allows you to share a message and engage with your audience. For small businesses, blogging tends to be the easiest—but still highly effective—form of content, so that’s what we typically recommend.

There are all kinds of things you could blog about, but as you decide what kinds of blog posts you’re going to write, remember that Google users don’t conduct searches on a whim. Whether they want to solve a problem, get an answer to a question, or find specific information, they search with a goal or an intention. As a result, Google prioritizes the content that helps users accomplish their search goals.

With this in mind, as you plan and write content, Angel recommends you ask yourself:

• “Does this content help my audience solve their problem?”
• “Does this content answer my ideal client’s question?” 
• “Does this blog post include the information my audience needs to accomplish their goal?”

If you can answer yes to at least one of these questions, chances are, you have great content that serves your audience well, and by providing the information they need, you show both Google and prospects that you’re a trusted, credible source.

 

What kinds of blog posts can be written to improve E-E-A-T?

First, you can write educational blog posts. These kinds of posts teach your audience about a topic. By explaining complex subjects in a way that’s easy to understand, you position yourself as a knowledgeable source.

For example, if you own a plumbing company, you might release a blog post that explains the differences between tankless and traditional water heaters to help readers choose the right option for their home.

You can also write how-to blog posts, which are simply guides that walk readers through a specific process. These posts show your expertise by giving readers actionable advice and showcasing your skills.

For example, if you’re a wedding planner, you could write a post titled “How to Create the Perfect Wedding Day Timeline.” In this post, you could break down the different components of a wedding day and everything that is needed to design a seamless timeline. You could also provide sample timelines to help couples plan their big day. By offering this helpful advice, you show that you’re a pro.

Blogging your work is also a great way to improve E-E-A-T. This is going to look a little different from small business to small business, but essentially, you can use your blog to showcase how your products or services helped your customers solve their problems.

This might mean using your blog to publish case studies and before and after photos, or to showcase your work in a way that makes sense for your audience. For example, when Victoria was a wedding photographer, she used to blog her weddings by writing about the couple, talking about their wedding day, and showcasing some of their photos.

Basically, by blogging your work, you can show Google that you know what you’re doing and are actively taking clients.

 

How can you make the most of your blogs?

First of all, it’s important to showcase your expertise, but you don’t want to be braggy or salesy. Remember, you want to make your ideal client the hero of your marketing story. We won’t get into this today because we have a lot to cover, but in short, and to put this in writers’ terms, show that you’re an expert; don’t tell people you’re an expert.

Also, the more comprehensive your blog posts are, the more likely they are to rank well and improve your E-E-A-T. So, when you go to write a new blog post, look to see what similar blogs are already ranking well on Google. Then, determine how you can make yours better.

This might mean offering additional information, including more relevant photos, including screenshot examples, or so many other things. But, your goal should essentially be to one-up your competitors in helpfulness, which usually means covering the topic more thoroughly.

If you want to learn more about how to create content that improves your SEO and E-E-A-T, Angel wants to encourage you to go back and listen to “Episode 161: 3 Types of Content to Boost Your SEO.”

 

2. Use data & cite sources.

Another way to improve E-E-A-T is to use data and cite sources. Remember, E-E-A-T stands for “experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.” And, when you use data to support your content and link to trusted sources that gives both Google and your audience more reason to trust your content.

Now, to include data in your content, you can include industry statistics, survey results, case studies, or even specific examples from your own business. To cite credible sources, you can refer to academic journals, studies, respected news outlets, or even just content from leading experts in your industry.

Chances are, this is going to look a little different from industry to industry. But, when you back your content up with data and trustworthy sources and you link to these resources, you add credibility to your content, which improves your E-E-A-T.

 

3. Collaborate with experts.

In addition to citing other experts, another great way to improve E-E-A-T is to collaborate with experts within your industry.

There are a lot of ways you can do this, but a super simple way is to ask an expert in your field to serve as a guest blogger and publish their content to your website.

For example, let’s pretend you own a wedding venue. You could reach out to your favorite planner, photographer, florist, and any other vendor and ask them to contribute an educational or how-to blog post to your website.

By featuring a guest post from a respected colleague, you're not only adding valuable content but also showing Google and your audience that you're connected with other authorities in your field. This adds credibility to your website, gives your favorite colleagues backlinks, and most importantly, serves your audience well.

Plus, this can be a huge time-saver. You don’t have to write the blog post. Your colleague will do it for you. So, if you want to improve E-E-A-T AND save yourself or your marketing team some time, reach out to experts in your industry that you respect and ask them to contribute a blog post.

Better yet, arrange a trade—so they write a post for you and you write one for their site—giving you both an opportunity to improve your E-E-A-T, earn backlinks, and tap into one another’s audiences.

 

4. Add credentials to your “About” page & website.

Another great way to improve your E-E-A-T is to include your credentials and qualifications on your “About” page.

To give you a few examples, you might highlight your background by including your education, certifications, licenses, and any relevant training you might have. You might make mention of how many years you’ve been in business. You can also display noteworthy clients or projects. You can include bios for you and your team members that highlight your expertise and experience.

You might also consider adding testimonials to this page. You can link to press features or any awards you’ve received. If you’ve published work on other sites, link to it. And, if you’ve been featured in the media or in a publication, consider linking to those features.

Basically, use your “About” page to highlight your qualifications. However, it’s important to remember that your “About” page shouldn’t be about you; it should be about how you can help your ideal client solve their problem.

Your “About” page is likely going to be one of the most visited pages on your website, but your prospects are not going to want to work with you if this page is full of narcissistic weirdness.

Like with every piece of your marketing, your ideal client needs to be the hero of the story.

Now, we aren’t going to get into how to write an “About” page in this episode. However, if you’d like step-by-step instructions on writing this page and any other page of your website, Angel did a really great episode a few months back all about this. You can find “Episode 107: How to Write Website Copy for Your Small Business” wherever you listen to podcasts.

 

5. Feature testimonials & customer success stories on your website.

Something else you can add to really any page of your site to improve E-E-A-T is client testimonials. This helps both Google and your website visitors see that you serve your customers well and are great at what you do. Testimonials act as social proof, which reinforces trustworthiness and authoritativeness in Google’s eyes.

To give you an example of where to include testimonials, whenever we write a home, product, or service page for our clients, we’re always sure to include testimonials from their customers.

 

6. Earn honest, positive online reviews.

And, speaking of testimonials, a great way to both get testimonials to feature on your site and to improve your E-E-A-T is to earn honest, positive online reviews.

Reviews provide further social proof and show Google and other search engines that your business is actively serving customers well, and as a result, reviews better your E-E-A-T.

Now, earning Google reviews, Yelp reviews, or reviews on any other site will improve your E-E-A-T. However, Victoria wants to encourage you to specifically ask your customers for Google reviews because most people—81%—read Google reviews, and Google reviews are going to most effectively improve your SEO.

Basically, Google is the leading search engine, and Google tends to like its own features, so Google reviews are typically your most strategic bet.

If you want to generate more reviews, you have to ask for them. More than 70% of consumers will leave reviews when directly asked. However, you’ll likely find that few to none of your customers will take the time to leave you a positive review without being asked.

And for the record, that isn’t because your customers don’t appreciate you. They just have busy lives of their own and because they don’t necessarily realize how helpful reviews can be to small businesses, it likely won’t occur to them to leave you a Google review unless you specifically ask them to.

 

7. Make sure your content is up to date.

Another simple but highly effective way to improve your E-E-A-T is to ensure that your content is up to date. Google prioritizes content that is both accurate and relevant, and as time goes on, information changes. By keeping your blog posts and content current, you show both Google and your audience that your website is trustworthy and maintained.

And the good news is that this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to create new content all the time. Updating old content can, sometimes, be just as effective. Let’s go back to the plumber example we started with. If you have a blog post about traditional vs. tankless water heaters that you wrote a few years ago and the technology of tankless water heaters changes, some of that information is no longer relevant. So, you can go back, make updates, and publish a refreshed version.

Again, updating your content shows Google that your site is active and your content remains useful to users. Plus, republishing updated content can give you fresh content—which is great for SEO—without having to start from scratch.

And, don't forget that updating your content also improves your user experience. Your audience will appreciate up-to-date, accurate information. No one likes to land on a page that references old trends or outdated practices.

 

8. Build a strong backlink profile.

Another crucial factor in improving your E-E-A-T is building a strong backlink profile. In simple terms, backlinks are links to your website from other reputable sites, and they are especially important because they signal to Google that your content is valuable and trustworthy.

When other trusted websites link to yours, it’s like they’re vouching for your content. Google sees these links as a vote of confidence, and the more quality backlinks you have, the more Google will see your site as an authority.

 

What are a few practical ways small businesses can earn backlinks?

This is likely going to look very different from industry to industry, but one of the easiest ways you can earn backlinks is to serve as a guest blogger. Basically, you could reach out to a publication in your industry or colleagues—like we discussed when we talked about collaboration opportunities—and offer to write a guest post for their site. Then, in the post you write, be sure to include links to your website.

Now, as a business owner, you probably regularly get those cold emails of people asking to contribute to your blog. We hope this goes without saying, but don’t send cold emails. You’re going to have so much more success offering to write guest posts for people, businesses, and publications you actually have relationships with.

Another strategy to earn backlinks is to collaborate with other colleagues or vendors in your industry. Let’s say you’re a wedding vendor of some kind. You could collaborate with other vendors by adding one another to your preferred vendor lists (assuming those lists are online), by swapping testimonials and linking to one another’s sites, by co-hosting styled shoots where all parties involved blog about the shoot and linking to one another websites, or by swapping featured vendor blog posts—which is where you essentially highlight a preferred vendor on your blog and they do the same for you on theirs. This not only helps you earn backlinks but also strengthens relationships within your industry.

You can also strive to get your work published or make moves to be featured in news or media outlets that link to your site. You can earn a lot of backlinks at once by being featured as a podcast guest because podcast show notes are typically featured on the show’s blog and also on all podcast player sites. So, you’d earn backlinks wherever the podcast is available.

Finally, probably the easiest way to earn more backlinks is to create online directory listings. You can actually do this in a matter of minutes if you use Moz Local, which we will be sure to link to in the show notes.

 

9. Engage in thought leadership.

Another effective way to improve E-E-A-T is to engage in thought leadership. This simply means positioning yourself as an expert in your field by regularly sharing your insights, opinions, and unique perspectives on industry trends and topics.

When you consistently share valuable knowledge and take the lead on conversations in your industry, both search engines and your audience will begin to see you as an authority. You can establish yourself as a thought leader through blog posts, podcasts, speaking at industry events, or even just being active on social media.

Basically, Google is everywhere. As a result, if you start publishing opinion pieces or offering actionable advice, you can establish yourself as a go-to resource, and this is a fantastic way to improve your E-E-A-T and build trust with your audience.

 

10. Invest in an SSL certificate.

We’ve spent most of this episode talking about what kind of content to develop to improve your E-E-A-T, but to give you a technical step, it’s really important to invest in an SSL certificate.

An SSL certificate helps secure your website by encrypting the data exchanged between your site and visitors. This means any information shared—like personal or payment details—is kept safe.

Have you ever gone to a website and received a message asking if you want to proceed because the website isn’t secure? That’s because that site doesn’t have an SSL certificate.

Chances are, most of your site visitors won’t notice if you have one. However, they’ll definitely notice if you don’t because they’ll get that message, and this will most likely result in them leaving your website. So, having an SSL certificate is super important because it makes both your prospects and Google more likely to trust you.

If you don’t currently have an SSL certificate, you can get one from providers like Namecheap, GoDaddy, or wherever you purchased your domain.

This might sound techy and hard, but we promise you it’s not. You just need to purchase it and follow the instructions to install the certificate, which you can likely do in just a few clicks.

 

11. Maintain consistent branding & messaging.

You might not be surprised that we’re—once again—talking about messaging, but you might be surprised to find out that consistent branding and messaging is crucial for improving your E-E-A-T.

You see, just as people find comfort in consistency and familiarity, Google values consistency. So, when your visual brand and your messaging align across platforms—like your website and social media—this helps Google see you as a professional and helps them understand who you are and what you do as a business. As a result, this consistency can positively impact your ranking.

 

What is the easiest way to establish consistency?

To establish branding and messaging consistency, consider creating a brand guide. This document should outline your logo usage, color palette, fonts, and anything else that’s pertinent. Then, to make sure your messaging is consistent, you’re going to want to take the time to write your Marketing Guiding Statements.

Victoria and Kelly have talked about Marketing Guiding Statements in so many episodes at this point, but in case you aren’t familiar with this idea, Marketing Guiding Statements are written guidelines that position your brand and business as a trusted partner. And, the process of developing these statements gives you the information you need to write clear, concise, and effective messaging in a story-based framework.

If you’re a regular listener, you know that clear messaging is the key to effective marketing. And, because there’s nothing we want more than for your small business to succeed, we put together a free mini course—“The First Step to Effective Marketing for Small Businesses: Writing Your Marketing Guiding Statements”—that walks you through exactly how to write your small business’s Marketing Guiding Statements.

By keeping both your branding and messaging consistent, you can improve your E-E-A-T; make your site more likely to rank well on Google; and even create a strong, recognizable brand that stands out in your industry.

 

If you prioritize E-E-A-T, you’re almost sure to win at SEO.

We know that was a lot, but in case you’re feeling overwhelmed, we want to tell you two things that we hope give you peace of mind.

First of all, you don’t have to do everything we just suggested. You don’t have to complete all 11 steps. If you do, great! But, the fact of the matter is that few small businesses will prioritize their E-E-A-T. As a result, even if you just do a few of these things, especially if you focus on the content suggestions, you will likely see pretty drastic SEO improvements.

Additionally, E-E-A-T isn’t a fad. It’s a fundamental aspect of how Google evaluates content quality, and as long as Google’s goal continues to be to provide its users with helpful content, E-E-A-T is only going to become more important. So, investing time and/or money in these tactics will only benefit your SEO and set you up for long-term success.

Think of E-E-A-T as a foundational piece of your SEO and content marketing strategy.

So, take a deep breath, prioritize a few of the tactics we discussed, and start implementing what you can. Remember, every step you take towards improving your E-E-A-T will contribute to improving your SEO and reaching long-term, sustainable success.

 

Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• “The First Step to Effective Marketing for Small Businesses: Writing Your Marketing Guiding Statements”
• “Episode 161: 3 Types of Content to Boost Your SEO”
• “Episode 107: How to Write Website Copy for Your Small Business”
• Receive 30% Off Your First Year of HoneyBook
• Learn More About Treefrog’s Small Business Marketing Resources & Services
• Join the Priority Pursuit Facebook Community
• Follow or DM Treefrog Marketing on Instagram
• Follow or DM Kelly Rice on Instagram
• Follow or DM Victoria Rayburn on Instagram

 

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The Priority Pursuit Podcast is a podcast dedicated to helping small business owners define, maintain, and pursue both their personal and business priorities so they can build lives and businesses they love.

You can find The Priority Pursuit Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Stitcher, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

 

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