Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an important part of any business with an online presence. It helps you position yourself higher in the results of Google searches for queries relevant to your business. YMYL and EEAT are key components of your SEO efforts, acting as the driving force behind the Search Quality of your content.
At Squarebird, we provide SEO services to help B2C and B2B businesses fly through the rankings. In this article, we’ll explain what EEAT and YMYL are, why they’re important, and how you can optimise your website for these concepts to achieve the greatest results.
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What does EEAT mean?
Previously known as EAT, EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. It’s an element of the Search Quality Rater Guidelines from Google, which serves to instruct Quality Raters on determining the quality of search results. While EEAT doesn’t directly impact rankings, the feedback from Quality Raters informs Google on the success of its algorithm updates – meaning further adjustments can then be made to the way it perceives content.
Experience. Added to the previously named EAT in December 2022, experience is all about proof of knowledge. To demonstrate experience, you need to show in your content that you have hands-on experience with the subject matter that cannot be easily replicated just by reading about it. Experience is often closely related to expertise.
Expertise. This is the knowledge and accreditations that shore up your content. Having the right qualifications to back up your claims shows Google that your content comes from a place of authority.
Authority. Based on your reputation in the industry, authority is how Google perceives your website as a whole. It revolves around the steps taken to ensure your content is accurate such as the expertise behind it, other content you’ve produced, and how often you’re cited. It also ties in well with trustworthiness.
Trustworthiness. Showing that you are trustworthy means citing any sources you use, making the author of your content clear, and not using too many marketing tactics like an over-reliance on ads or pop-ups. It also includes the technical elements of your site such as page security and choosing https over http.
Why is EEAT important for SEO?
Even though it doesn’t directly impact your ranking on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), Google still wants to give users content with good EEAT. This makes it an important concept to understand and apply to your site.
SEO is all about serving users quality content that matches their interests, and strong EEAT can build trust in your users, provide them with accurate and helpful information, and lead to a better conversion rate (CVR).
What does YMYL stand for?
YMYL stands for Your Money or Your Life. We’re not asking you to “stand and deliver” – instead, YMYL refers to a set of topics relating to B2C companies that offer services around finances, mortgages, and the medical sector. Basically, if you’re a business that makes a real, serious impact on peoples’ lives, YMYL is an important factor for your content.
YMYL topics may include:
- Health
- Financial planning
- Financial stability
- Mortgages
- Well-being
- Current events – particularly serious ones like natural disasters, conflict, or vital information
You can determine whether or not a topic is a YMYL topic by how closely it aligns with the topics above. If a topic is vital for people to know and could cause physical damage, financial damage, or loss of life if not reported on correctly, then it is YMYL.
Other topics can also qualify as YMYL while having a smaller potential risk and impact, but the final decision of what is YMYL and what isn’t is up to the Quality Raters that survey Google’s top-ranking results.
The impact of YMYL for B2C companies
If your content is YMYL, then you need to display the absolute highest levels of EEAT. This puts your business’ SEO efforts under the magnifying lens, requiring you to only post content that has been thoroughly scrutinised.
For B2C companies, this means being extra diligent when researching and writing about topics. You want to ensure you’re learning from and linking to reputable, qualitative data, and not making any unsubstantiated claims. For sectors such as finance, this often comes with the need to include disclaimers on content to show that it does not constitute as advice.
As challenging as writing for YMYL topics may seem, it’s not all bad. Since you’ll be creating more in-depth, relevant, and accurate content, the quality of it will also increase. This boost to your EEAT will show you as a reputable business, and even offer a boost to your conversions.
How to optimise a website for EEAT and YMYL
Optimising your website for EEAT might seem wasteful since it doesn’t directly impact your rankings. However, it does impact people’s perceptions of what you offer. And it doesn’t mean you need a full overhaul for your content strategy – you just need to strengthen what you’re already doing.
Better content means a better chance to successfully convert a site visitor, so it’s important to make your content as beneficial and EEAT-aligned as can be. For YMYL businesses, this is especially of note due to the meaning and impact of your content.
High-quality content
Put the needs of the reader first. Your content should answer the question or topic at hand in a concise, coherent way. If you’re providing advice, make sure it’s relevant to the needs of the reader and that it will actually give them the best result. High-quality content should be:
- Written with the audience in mind
- Not duplicated
- Helpful
- Written by a person
Having your content written by a human adds a quality to it that other generation methods fail to achieve. Additionally, Google is cracking down on AI-generated content, so using human writers is crucial to make your content the best it can be.
Tone of voice
The best content speaks directly to you, speaking conversationally about the topic. This doesn’t mean being informal – for YMYL topics, a certain degree of seriousness is a must – but it does mean speaking in a nice, pleasant-to-read fashion. Tone of voice is all about making your content understandable at the user’s point of entry, and bringing them through it in a logical and even enjoyable way.
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Credible sources
If you want your content to be trustworthy and authoritative, the information in it needs to come directly from the source. Linking to qualitative, reputable data will improve the quality of your work while also making it more credible. These sources can include:
- Peer-reviewed journals
- Studies
- Research papers
- Government sources
- The news
You can even turn to social media if you’re looking for first-hand accounts or impressions. YMYL topics benefit the most from credible sources, as they show how reliable the information in the content is.
User-generated content (UGC)
Any content relating to you, but not created by you, falls under the category of UGC. This is a highly impactful part of your marketing, as user impressions are most heavily impacted by truthful testimonials from other users. Making sure your customers trust you involves monitoring user-generated content, responding to complaints or success stories, and ensuring you have a positive representation in things like user reviews.
Brand reputation
Public perception of your brand will impact your EEAT. Having a positive perception is great for business, but it’s also good to ensure your SEO efforts reach their full potential. You can keep your reputation high by being generally polite, helpful, and informative, while responding to any negative press with courtesy and professionality.
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Backlinks
Authoritative backlinks to your website show Google that you offer quality, reputable content. They also give users an extra way to access your site, sending them to you via relevant content that will have already prepared them for what you have to offer.
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Author bios
Adding an author to your content shows it has been written by a person. This provides credibility to the information, showing both Google and readers that the knowledge comes from a legitimate source. Readers can then go on to see other work by the author, or even a full bio on a dedicated team page. You can add to the expertise and relevance of your authors by having them write guest blogs on other related sites, or by hiring writers to create content for you.
Expert SEO support from Squarebird
Maximising your EEAT is part of SEO, and for YMYL business this is a major part of making your content relevant, trustworthy, and informative for your readers. B2C businesses benefit most from EEAT, increasing their conversion rate while building a positive reputation among prospective customers.
At Squarebird, we can help you with all aspects of your SEO, building strategies for EEAT and YMYL businesses that skyrocket your potential. Get in touch to find out more about our marketing services and other digital offerings, or check out some of our related articles below.
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