How to Boost Your Author Reputation for Google’s E-A-T Standards

Cover Photo How To Boost Your Author Reputation For Google's E A T (1)

Why are Google’s E-A-T standards important for my author reputation and SEO?

Quick Answer: Establishing your reputation as an author is crucial when you want to strengthen your SEO and online presence. But, doing so isn’t just about putting your name on an article, but passing Google’s E-A-T standards. Meeting them is a must to for your website to become an authoritative source. Here, we cover all the different strategies you can use to boost author reputation, such as stating expertise, creating a proper author bio, improving engagement and interaction with your audience, and a few important tips for producing unique and interesting content.

Overview

As the common saying goes, content is king on SEO. Being one of the main sources of driving traffic into a website, great content can help you a long way in establishing your online presence and branding. However, there are times that you may have invested your time on writing great content, only to see it barely gaining any traffic.

This lack of traffic can be caused by a number of factors, such as similar and higher ranking content being present, or a poorly optimized website. While these issues are very common, one thing that not many websites take into account in establishing the authority of the people who create content. Authors not only provide a face to the content creator but also helps your content rate much better on Google’s E-A-T standards.

While this may sound simple, establishing the author’s reputation isn’t just putting their name on every article they write, it is also about passing Google’s E-A-T standards to help you become an authoritative source. To help you out, here are effective strategies you can use to establish your author reputation.

What is E-A-T in SEO?

E-A-T means Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This is a criterion used by Google Quality Raters to assess website quality and help Google provide users with websites that they trust.

Google Algorithm Updates and E-A-T

Before we talk about how to establish author reputation, it is important to know more about how Google’s past algorithm updates have not only helped websites push for better content, but also ensure that they meet the E-A-T standards upon being reviewed by Google Quality Raters. These Quality Raters not only help analyze content but also collect data that can affect future Google Algorithm updates.

The recent algorithm update that happened during March is an indicator that creating quality content has become more competitive than ever, especially with Google providing traffic to lesser-known websites.

How does Authorship help?

To establish the importance of having the name of the author in your content, let’s present one simple question: Which article would readers take a look first? An article with the author’s name, or an article with no stated author?

A majority of readers would always pick the former over the latter, not just because the author is named, but also because users would trust that article more, especially if the author is well-known, and has established expertise on the subject matter of the article. Authors help establish your website as an authority on the subject matter, as both users and Google would identify the content on the website as trustworthy information written by someone with significant expertise.

How to Boost Author Reputation

Establishing the author’s reputation is crucial when it comes to reaching Google’s E-A-T standards and strengthen your online presence. Here are some of the best ways that can help boost your author reputation online, and become an authoritative source for your website.

State Expertise

I’ll be asking a similar question to the last time, but in this scenario, both articles have authors. The question is if you were to read an article about health, which one would you pick? The article that was written by someone with a Ph. D, or a similar article that was written by a blogger with little expertise on the subject?

Once again, users would prefer the former over the later, simply because they know that the author has more knowledge and expertise on health, compared to someone who isn’t a health professional. Having the right credentials count, especially on important subjects like health and technology. These credentials can include your college degree, written works, awards and citations, and even experience in your profession. Stating your expertise on the author bio is important, as it would help users identify you as a credible source on a specific subject matter.

Proper Author Bio and Page

While having a short author bio at the end of your article is a good touch, having a dedicated author page is the better approach. Having an author page helps users identify you more completely, and further establish yourself as an authoritative voice, whether it be on your personal website, or at the website of your brand.

Author Page Sean Si

Author pages are also another great way for users to be able to access more content from you, as you can link your personal or business website, and even your social media profiles. Being an identifiable figure is crucial in the competitive digital landscape and having a well-structured author page is a sure-fire way to stand out and be seen as an authority.

Get people to talk about you

While quality content is almost always bound to help you gain more traffic, having other authors mention you in their articles by name is another factor in strengthening your online authority. Brand mentions allow fellow users to cite you and your works organically and is essentially a way to market you and your brand without even asking.

Creating content is not the only way of getting mentioned by different authors and websites, conducting seminars, and participating in industry-related events, and having scholarly works are just a few of the many ways you can expand your presence and authority and become a recognizable figure.

Google Alerts

If you want to know which articles or websites have cited or mentioned you online, one of the tools that you can use to track it is Google Alerts. This tool allows you to track whenever keywords, names, and terms have been mentioned on a certain website or web article.

You can also make search across social media, as sites like Twitter and Facebook have their own dedicated search features to allow you to track brand mentions in their respective platforms. You can also conduct a simple Google Search on your name and see what are the first things that come up on the first page to give you a general impression of how many people mention you.

Produce content that is unique and pique audience interest

Being an authoritative author means that you are able to deliver well-written and research content, while also knowing which topics pique the interest of your audience. Users have now become more direct with they are searching for online, and providing them with a detailed, useful, and informative response to their query.

Users will always look for unique content in a specific niche and being able to produce content that they would engage with is a guaranteed way to generate traffic, along with being cited by other authors. It is also a good practice to research which parts of your content are being engaged by the readers more, allowing you to optimize your content, and continue delivering quality content.

Key Takeaway

Authors not only provide a face to your content, but also helps establish your website as a source of content that has the expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. With these tips, you would be able to boost your reputation as an author, while ensuring that you meet Google’s standards.

If you have questions about content marketing and SEO in general, leave a comment below and let’s talk.

 

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Sean Si

About Sean

is a Filipino motivational speaker and a Leadership Speaker in the Philippines. He is the head honcho and editor-in-chief of SEO Hacker. He does SEO Services for companies in the Philippines and Abroad. Connect with him at Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. He’s also the founder of Sigil Digital Marketing. Check out his new project, Aquascape Philippines.