WordCamp Miami 2015: Using Expertise, Authority and Trust in Your Content to Boost Search Ranking

Using Expertise, Authority and Trust in Your Content to Boost Search

Ranking

Lisa MelegariWe Do Web Content, Inc.

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.

Establishing Your Expertise

Decide which areas of expertise you want to rank for.

• Lawyer = Personal Injury• Doctor = Podiatry• Food Blogger = Bacon Recipes

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.

Why care about your authority?

Google says authority = quality = higher page rank.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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)

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)

YMYL SitesYour Money or Your Life

YMYL sites contain content that deals with a person’s

happiness, health and wealth.

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!

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)

Your Guide to E.A.T.ing Well

Site Design

Content Cleanup

Miscellaneous

Site Design

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

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

Miscellaneous

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

an answer.

Questions?Download the slides here:

http://goo.gl/oTW4cCDownload the PDF Checklist here:

http://goo.gl/jKjIvp

If you want to read all 160 pages of the Google Quality Rating Guidelines –

google it!

Thank You!

Contact me at:

@[email protected]