Why E-E-A-T and YMYL Are Critical for Your Content Strategy
In the digital world, trust is everything. What makes a user choose one search result over another? Why do they trust the information on one website but not a competitor? Google’s mission is to provide relevant and reliable information, and it has made its expectations for what constitutes a trustworthy website clearer than ever.
To rank well, particularly for sensitive topics, you must prove your credibility. In this article, we explain the modern SEO concepts of E-E-A-T and YMYL, their impact on your content, and how you can apply these principles to build a website that both search engines and people trust.
A note for health and wellness brands: Your website and all off-site collateral are under close scrutiny by Google. The information in this article is essential for your content strategy.
Understanding the Core Concepts
- YMYL (Your Money or Your Life): This category includes topics that could significantly impact a person’s health, financial stability, or safety. Google places a high standard of quality on these pages because low-quality content could cause serious harm.
- E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness): This is the framework Google’s quality raters use to evaluate the credibility of a website and its content. All four pillars—now including Experience—are crucial for demonstrating that you are a reliable source.
- Page Quality: This is a rating assigned by human raters to evaluate how well a page achieves its purpose. The ultimate goal is for pages with the highest Page Quality rating to rank on the first page of search results.
The Four Pillars of E-E-A-T
Google has elevated the importance of E-A-T to E-E-A-T by adding the “Experience” factor. This change reflects Google’s focus on first-hand, real-world knowledge. For a YMYL website, demonstrating all four pillars is non-negotiable.
- Experience: Does the content creator have personal, hands-on experience with the topic? For a health brand, this means showing that the author has tried the products, has a background in the field, or can share a compelling, authentic story.
- Expertise: Is the content created by a subject matter expert? This is particularly important for YMYL topics. Medical advice should be written by a doctor, and financial advice by a qualified professional. Author bios with verifiable credentials are a must.
- Authoritativeness: Is the website or author a respected authority on the topic? This is a reputation-based metric often built by getting mentions, links, and citations from other reputable sources in your industry.
- Trustworthiness: Is the website safe, transparent, and accurate? This is the most crucial of the four pillars. It includes technical trust signals like HTTPS protocols and clear privacy policies, as well as content-level trust signals like citing sources, providing a clear “About Us” page, and offering easy-to-find contact information.
How to Apply E-E-A-T to Your Content Strategy
Your entire content strategy should be built around the principle of helping people. Every piece of content you create must demonstrate E-E-A-T to earn Google’s trust and rank well.
- Create People-First Content: Google’s algorithms now have a strong “helpful content system” that rewards content written for people, not search engines. Focus on providing unique value, answering questions comprehensively, and sharing authentic insights.
- Audit Your Website and Content: Review every page with the mindset of a Google quality rater. Ask these questions:
- What is the purpose of this page, and does it align with our website’s overall purpose?
- Does this content show a high degree of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness?
- Would I feel confident recommending this content to a friend or family member?
- Is it easy to find who created this content and what their credentials are?
- Is the content well-written, free of errors, and easy to navigate?
- Prove Your Expertise: For YMYL topics, you must have clear author bylines and bios with credentials. For scientific or health claims, provide endnotes and references to support your statements. This is what Google and regulatory bodies expect to see.
- Prioritize Transparency: A trustworthy website is transparent. Make your contact information, company story, and policies easy to find. This builds trust with both users and search engines.
It can be challenging to objectively review your own website. For a professional analysis and an honest assessment of your content’s E-E-A-T, contact us for an audit. We specialize in helping brands like yours build a content strategy that earns trust, authority, and high search rankings.
