E-E-A-T for Success: How UK SMEs Can Demonstrate Expertise to Google’s Algorithm and Boost Rankings 🥇

As an SME owner, I know the importance of maximising your online presence, but at the same time appreciate there is a limited budget and minimal time to actually execute it. Proving expertise in Google’s algorithms can significantly enhance your search rankings and visibility. In this blog post, we will expand on the five practical and cost-effective strategies with real-life examples to help you prove your expertise to search algorithms.

TL;DR

1. High-Quality Content: Create well-researched, insightful content that demonstrates your knowledge in your field. Consider leveraging AI tools to support content creation, but always add personal insight to maintain a human touch.
2. Authoritative Sources: Collaborate with local industry experts or other SME owners to add credibility to your content. Show your authors’ expertise through an outlined editorial process.
3. Schema Markup: Use schema markup to help search engines better understand and categorize your content. This hidden markup can provide critical context to search engine crawlers.
4. Natural Link Building: Focus on creating valuable, share-worthy content that attracts natural backlinks from reputable sources. Promote your content effectively to improve your website’s authority and search engine rankings.
5. Social Proof: Leverage reviews, testimonials, case studies, and other evidence of your work to build trust with potential customers and search engines. Display any awards, press features, client logos, and certifications to boost your reputation.

What is E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This acronym is used within the context of Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines.

• Experience: This refers to the user’s experience interacting with the webpage. It can be influenced by various factors such as page design, usability, and the relevance of the content to the user’s search intent.

• Expertise: This pertains to the level of knowledge or skill in a particular field that the creator of the webpage content has. A higher level of expertise is generally associated with a higher quality of content, especially for topics that require professional knowledge such as medical or financial information.

• Authoritativeness: This is the credibility or reliability of the website publishing the content. It is determined by factors like the website’s reputation, the credentials of the content creator, and the quality and reliability of the content itself.

• Trustworthiness: This refers to how trustworthy the website is, based on the accuracy and transparency of its content, the security of the website, and the website’s adherence to ethical web practices.

Google uses these factors to evaluate the overall quality of a webpage and determine how high it should rank.

High-Quality Content

Creating well-researched, in-depth content is essential in proving your expertise to Google’s algorithms. For instance, if you run a small bakery, you could write a blog post on “The Science of Baking Perfect Sourdough Bread.” This topic demonstrates your knowledge in the field, and by citing reputable sources and providing valuable insights, you’ll create a high-quality piece that appeals to both your audience and search engines.

It would be impossible to write this without pointing out the ability to use AI to support this content creation. We are still in the testing stage for how impactful AI-driven content is on search rankings, but from all the tests we’ve done so far, not only does it get indexed, but in some cases, on niche topics, it ranks well. Like any tool, the key is to not rely solely on the generation but to add insight, link to further insight and ultimately retain the tone of voice that makes you…human. This guide from Forge and Smith draws the line in the sand quite well.

Authoritative Sources

Collaborating with local industry experts or other SME owners can lend credibility to your content. For example, if you own a digital marketing agency, you could collaborate with a local web design firm on a blog post discussing the importance of responsive web design. By exchanging guest posts, sharing insights, or conducting interviews, both parties benefit from increased exposure and authority.

This is usually the part where we introduce a Guest Author…no…guess not.

One of the other tactics we’ve been using recently to demonstrate authority on specialist topics is to introduce an outlined editorial process. The authors of your posts, their expertise and the content they produce is equally as important as sharing outside expertise. By providing an editorial process, that outlines the authors of the content on your website, it can help support their expertise and where they’ve been published previously. The web team at Healthline.com have implemented this with fantastic success.

Schema Markup

Implementing schema markup can help search engines better understand and categorize your content. Let’s say you run a small plumbing business, and you have a blog post on “How to Fix a Leaky Faucet in 5 Easy Steps.” By using the “HowTo” schema markup, you’ll provide search engines with more context about your content, making it easier for them to identify your expertise in plumbing.

Schema is worth a completely separate post, especially with the advancements in AI, Googles Bard and the new approach to providing AI-generated search results. Schema has been providing an important role in generating quick answers from Google search results since 2011, so despite having evolved, the hidden mark-up of content is continuing to become an important part of any webmaster (an outdated name for someone who actually adds content to the website regularly) process. This hidden markup of content provides essential context to search engine crawlers, helping them to better understand, categorize, and rank web content.

Here are some key examples of schema used in 2023:

1. WebPage Schema: This schema provides vital information about individual pages on a website. It includes properties such as the name, URL, description, and language of the page. It can also help search engines understand the relationships between pages with the “isPartOf” property and show details such as the publication date, author, and featured image of the content​.
2. Organization Schema: This schema helps search engines understand critical details about a company or other types of organizations. It can improve the way your business is presented in search results. Tags you can add include the name, URL, logo, description, contact point, founding date, founders, and more​.
3. Breadcrumb Schema: This schema provides information about the organization and structure of the website, which can result in your breadcrumb trail displaying in search results. This is typically a much more user-friendly way of showing your page’s destination than displaying a long URL structure​.
4. Review Schema: If you sell products or services via your website and use customer reviews and star ratings, then the Review Schema is crucial. Adding the Review Schema makes it possible to display reviews and ratings with your entry in Google’s Search results and listings on Google Maps​.

Reference: https://seochatter.com/schema-markup-examples-for-seo/

Natural Link Building

Ultimately you should be looking to create content that others find valuable and share-worthy, you can attract natural backlinks from reputable sources.

For example, if you run an eco-friendly clothing brand, you might write a comprehensive guide on “The Benefits of Sustainable Fashion for the Environment and Your Wardrobe.” By sharing this guide on social media and engaging with like-minded individuals or businesses, you can build connections and potentially earn valuable backlinks.

Continuing with this example, once you’ve published the guide on you can take a few additional steps to promote it and increase its visibility:

1. Guest Blogging: You can reach out to fashion bloggers, sustainable living blogs, or environmental websites to offer guest posts. In your guest post, you can subtly reference your comprehensive guide and link back to it.
2. Influencer Outreach: Connect with influencers in the sustainable fashion industry and ask if they’d be interested in sharing your guide with their followers. This can dramatically increase your reach and the potential for natural backlinks.
3. Social Media Promotion: Share your guide across all your social media platforms. Encourage your followers to share the guide with their network, further increasing the chances of earning natural backlinks.
4. Email Newsletters: If you have an email subscriber list, send out a newsletter highlighting your new guide. Encourage your subscribers to share it on their own websites or with anyone else they think might be interested.
5. Forums and Community Boards: Participate in relevant forums and community boards, like Reddit or Quora. If there are questions or discussions about sustainable fashion, provide useful answers and a link to your guide if it’s relevant and allowed by the platform’s rules.

Remember, natural link-building is about creating high-quality, relevant content and effectively promoting it. It may take time, but the high-quality backlinks you earn will be well worth the effort, improving your website’s authority and search engine rankings.

Social Proof

Leveraging reviews, testimonials, and case studies can demonstrate your expertise and accomplishments. For instance, if you own a small accounting firm, you could create a case study detailing how you helped a local business save money on taxes. By encouraging satisfied clients to leave reviews on platforms like Google My Business, Trustpilot, and social media, you can build trust with potential customers and search engines alike.

Social Proof is an influential factor that can significantly enhance your credibility and trustworthiness. By displaying evidence of your work and the positive experiences of your clients, you can effectively sway potential customers’ decisions in your favour.

Here are a few additional strategies you can use to leverage social proof for your accounting firm:

1. Client Testimonials: Ask your satisfied clients if they would be willing to provide a testimonial about their experience with your firm. You can then feature these testimonials prominently on your website. Consider creating a dedicated “Testimonials” page where potential clients can see all the positive feedback you’ve received.
2. Case Studies: Continue creating detailed case studies like the one you mentioned. These can be incredibly effective in showcasing your expertise and the tangible results you’ve achieved for clients. Make sure to include real numbers and data to highlight your impact.
3. Awards and Recognitions: If your firm has received any awards or recognitions, be sure to highlight them on your website. This not only demonstrates your competence but also your recognition in the industry.
4. Press Features: If your firm has been featured in any articles or news stories, be sure to mention this and provide links if possible. This kind of publicity can significantly enhance your firm’s reputation.
5. Client Logos: If you’ve worked with any well-known clients, consider asking for permission to display their logos on your website. This can lend additional credibility to your firm.
6. Certifications and Affiliations: Display any relevant certifications or professional affiliations prominently on your website. This can help reassure potential clients that you are a legitimate and reputable firm.

By leveraging these forms of social proof, you can effectively build trust with potential clients, leading to higher conversion rates. In addition, positive reviews and testimonials can improve your search engine ranking, especially on local searches.

Conclusion

In conclusion, maximizing your online presence as an SME owner doesn’t have to be a financial burden. By focusing on creating high-quality content, collaborating with authoritative sources, implementing schema markup, encouraging natural link building, and leveraging social proof, you can prove your expertise to Google’s algorithms without breaking the bank. These strategies are not only cost-effective but also help to build trust and credibility with your target audience.

For high-quality content, consider collaborating with AI tools to save time without sacrificing the human touch. To establish authority, collaborate with other industry experts, introduce an outlined editorial process, and make your author’s expertise known. Implementing schema markup will provide search engines with more context about your content, helping them to understand and categorize your information better.

Remember, natural link-building should be about providing value to others. Create share-worthy content, and promote it effectively to earn high-quality backlinks. Lastly, use social proof to your advantage by showcasing reviews, testimonials, case studies, and other forms of evidence to boost your credibility and trustworthiness.

Mastering Google’s algorithms may seem daunting, but with the right strategies and a bit of patience, you can significantly enhance your search rankings and visibility. No matter what industry you’re in, understanding and implementing these tactics can be a game-changer for your online presence. Stay consistent, stay informed, and watch your online presence grow.

For help with this, delivered by experts then consider Spark*, the content marketing solution from Brand Ambition.