How Do You Use Trust Signals in Content? Get to Know EAT and YMYL
Do you remember the trust fall game where you put on a blindfold or closed your eyes while your friends or teammates stood behind you with outstretched arms? Then you fell backward, trusting that your friends would catch you, so you didn't crash into the hot pavement.
Trust signals in SEO are the same way. An internet user opens a search engine like Bing or Google and assumes that the top websites listed can be trusted in what content is served. to the user.
Trust signals are essential in search engine optimization because sites with the best trust signals get ranked higher.
What Are Trust Signals?
Thankfully, trust signals aren't a group of people giggling to themselves and trying not to lose focus.
Instead, they are based on different algorithms. For this blog post, we will focus on the Google algorithm. Trust signals are what Google's machine learning tools use to determine whether a website is worthy of being ranked.
Of course, keywords also play a major role, but if a site has a host of keywords and lacks trust signals, it will still be ranked poorly.
That is why your website needs to utilize EAT and YMYL.
What Does Google Mean By EAT?
One of the primary Google algorithms to be aware of is EAT, which stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is no secret that Google ranks sites with great content higher in search results. However, it must be good content that meets specific criteria.
Expertise
This is an easy-to-understand concept if you think of it in terms of your daily experiences. For instance, what do you look for in a new doctor? You want that doctor to have degrees, years of experience, knowledge, etc.
Google favors experts as well, especially in niches such as legal, financial, medical, the services industries, and so on.
While Google wants subject matter experts to speak on topics they know about, it is also aware that there may be individuals with what they call “everyday expertise.”
Thus, when you write content on your website, it should be written with research and expertise.
Authoritativeness
This refers to the website’s reputation. In other words, how do other business leaders see you and your company? There are many ways that Google will determine how the industry views you, but one of the most significant is through backlinks or links from other websites to your own. These backlinks cannot be toxic, as in, they should come from reputable websites.
For example, suppose you run a technology company and have created new software. A website like PCMag might write an article about it and link to your site. That’s great! That means that you have earned an authoritative trust signal through this backlink. The more authoritative your company is, the higher Google will rank you in the search results.
Trustworthiness
While expertise and authoritativeness are important, a lack of trustworthiness is what will get your website knocked off results altogether. Therefore, you need to ensure that users can trust your website, and in doing so, Google can, too (which leads to more users, all of which increase your trust signals).
Great content helps, but there are trustworthiness indicators as well. For instance, your trust ranking will increase if it is clear who is behind the website, including NAP (name, address, phone number) and highlighting the credentials of those involved in any content displayed, such as author bios.
In addition, review sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Trustpilot, or even Facebook can impact your website, positive or negative.
All of the above factors will determine how Google ranks your website.
What Is YMYL?
YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life” and is how Google categorizes any website or content that can impact a user’s happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.
Some examples of these are:
Government and Law
News or Current Events
Financial Content, such as financial planning
Shopping
Health and Safety
Since these topics greatly impact users, they have higher requirements to be ranked by Google. Therefore, not only should you follow the EAT requirements above, but these topics should be well researched, and it should be clear that you are an authority on the subject.
For example, if you have a beauty blog and suggest a new makeup technique, if this harms your subscribers and Google and its algorithm pick up on it, you can expect to be delisted altogether.
Thus, you should ensure that the content you post is relevant and researchable.
Where Do Trust Signals Appear?
SEO trust signals can and should appear across your website.
Here are some examples of how you can increase your trust signals:
Reputation: While it may feel rewarding to comment harshly on negative feedback, this will hurt your rankings. Instead, find ways to improve your feedback and be open to implementing changes customers want to see.
Identify Your Authors: Who is writing your content? Users want to know who is behind the text, so it is always helpful to include a byline and bio in all pieces of content. While leaving “Admin” as an author might be easy, it does not engage users like matching a face and name.
Include NAP: As mentioned, name, address, and phone numbers go a long way in showing users you are an honest company.
Include Testimonials: You can include testimonials from customers or clients. Users are more likely to purchase if they feel others have had positive experiences.
These are just some of the many things you can do to increase the EAT of your site. Implementing trust signals is a surefire way to improve your Google search ranking by engaging your audience.
Create The Right SEO Trust Signals Using Content Marketing
Your content strategy should include ensuring EAT and YMYL concepts are implemented when applicable. If you are looking to create a business blog or need to improve your overall SEO content strategy, reach out! We’re always happy to help!
For more information on Google's content requirements, you can refer to Google's Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines.