Expert Kyle Roof joins the podcast to discuss E-A-T metrics and staying on Google's good side. Topics include the impact of BM-25 on SEO, the importance of relevant experience, genuine product reviews, authority and user-generated content, launching pages at once, and analyzing information at a large scale.
Establishing expertise and providing valuable information are crucial for content creators to boost their EAT metrics and maintain a good standing with Google.
Google's evaluation process for trustworthiness involves human evaluators applying search quality evaluator guidelines, distinct from algorithmic analysis which requires significant computational resources.
To build trust and expertise on affiliate websites, it is important to have contact information, editorial guidelines, transparency pages, and HTML sitemaps for improved crawlability and overall trustworthiness.
Deep dives
The Importance of EAT in Google Rankings
This podcast episode delves into the concept of EAT (Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) and its significance in Google rankings. The hosts emphasize the need for content creators to establish themselves as trustworthy sources by displaying their expertise and providing valuable information. They discuss the importance of personal experience and how it can enhance the credibility of content, particularly in niches where personal knowledge holds more weight than formal education. The podcast also touches on how factors like duplicate content and editorial guidelines can impact trustworthiness and offers suggestions to ensure a website maintains a high level of EAT.
Key Insights on Google's Evaluation Process
The podcast delves into the evaluation process that Google employs to assess the trustworthiness of web pages. It discusses the role of the search quality evaluator guidelines and how these guidelines are applied by human evaluators to review search results. The hosts highlight the distinction between the evaluation process and the technical aspects of algorithmic analysis, which require extensive computing power and resources to analyze the entire internet at a granular level. They also touch on the challenges associated with scaling and maintaining cost-efficient processing of search results.
Building Trust and Expertise on Affiliate Sites
In this segment, the podcast explores strategies for building trust and expertise on affiliate websites. It emphasizes the importance of presenting oneself as a legitimate business with contact information, including a physical address and a local phone number. The hosts discuss the significance of having an 'about us' page, which details the company's background, values, and the team behind the website. They also recommend creating editorial guidelines and transparency pages to outline the website's review process and selection criteria for recommended products. Additionally, HTML sitemaps are mentioned as a way to improve crawlability and ensure that all pages are discovered by search engines, contributing to the overall trustworthiness of the site.
The Importance of Clear Website Responsibility and Content Creator Identification
One key aspect of trust and authority, according to Google's guidelines, is clearly establishing who is responsible for the website and who created the content. It is crucial to have information that identifies the company behind the website as well as the individuals who authored the content. This helps build trust and credibility with users and search engines. Failing to provide this information can negatively impact website trustworthiness.
The Role of Comments and User-Generated Content (UGC) in Establishing Authority
Comments and user-generated content can play an important role in demonstrating website authority. Google has expressed its fondness for comments as they indicate that a website is considered a go-to source for information. Comments not only encourage user engagement, but they also provide additional content and keyword-rich information to a page. Responding to comments with optimized responses can further strengthen the page's topical relevancy and authority. However, it is important to ensure that comments are easily crawlable by search engines and that they contribute to the overall quality and relevance of the page.