The growth of content generated by artificial intelligence, the explosion of influencers or aspiring influencers, the birth of new sharing platforms have put Google and users under an information bombardment, with content that is often the same and of poor quality. The search engine has therefore established to run for cover and add experience as an important element for evaluation of info from on the web.
This new parameter is thus added to the three that already make up the EAT model, that measures the quality of online content: expertise, authority, reliability. Direct experience of the article author complete this model, which basically becomes EEAT.
March 2024 Google Core Update and Reviews System
Fight against spam and low-quality content was the goal of the March 2024 Google Core Update , which took a good 45 days to end the release phase. An eternity! This intervention completes the November 2023 Core Update and, in particular, the Review System. The direction outlined by the latest updates is clear.
Guidelines of Google Review System
In the official documentation released in 2023, Google explained well what the interventions and guidelines for reviews by experts, bloggers and editors were:
- Evaluate from a user’s perspective.
- Demonstrate that you are knowledgeable about what you are reviewing — show you are an expert.
- Provide evidence such as visuals, audio, or other links of your own experience with what you are reviewing, to support your expertise and reinforce the authenticity of your review.
- Share quantitative measurements about how something measures up in various categories of performance.
- Explain what sets something apart from its competitors.
- Cover comparable things to consider, or explain which might be best for certain uses or circumstances.
- Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of something, based on your own original research.
- Describe how a product has evolved from previous models or releases to provide improvements, address issues, or otherwise help users in making a purchase decision.
- Focus on the most important decision-making factors, based on your experience or expertise (for example, a car review might determine that fuel economy and safety are key decision-making factors and rate performance in those areas).
- Describe key choices in how a product has been designed and their effect on the users beyond what the manufacturer says.
- Include links to other useful resources (your own or from other sites) to help a reader make a decision.
- Consider including links to multiple sellers to give the reader the option to purchase from their merchant of choice.
- When recommending something as the best overall or the best for a certain purpose, include why you consider it the best, with first-hand supporting evidence.
- Ensure there is enough useful content in your ranked lists for them to stand on their own, even if you choose to write separate in-depth single reviews.
Google rewards real-world experience
In a world where artificial intelligence is also spreading in content production, real experience becomes the added value that distinguishes man from machine. Do you have a travel blog? So pack your bags and go, tell us about your trip, show photos and videos of the amazing places you have visited. Do you have a recipe site? Then take us inside your kitchen and show us how you prepare your delicious dishes.
Though in the past it was enough to know how to write well, using the correct keywords, today the competition has increased. To stand out among the crowd of bloggers, you need to bring online your expertise.
Author is the core of the experience
The author of the content is the one who lives and tells his experience. He has to be real and his image has to be congruent: I can’t talk about travel if I’ve never moved from the village.
For a blog written by a single author, it is sufficient to present him in the typical About Us” situation (in this case it is better to call this page “Bio”). If you have multiple authors, it’s best to create a page for each one, with a congruent bio and the list of published articles. The optimal situation is when the author is also indicated as such by other websites that deal with topics related to his articles.
In each article, the author must be indicated by the author meta tag, both in the front-end and through structured data.
Video is the perfect content
One of the best tools to show direct experience is video, and the best performing channel is YouTube. Here, the author can directly show how-to guides and reviews a product. If the content is original and authentic, this is the best way to create engagement with your audience.
Reviews & Affiliate Marketing
First, artificial intelligence increased competition. Then, Google’s updates have start to penalize bloggers who have written rivers of words about never used by them products and who had set their strategy completely on affiliate marketing. That is no longer enough. An era ends, but new opportunities open up.
The need for writing about real experience limits author’s scope. Only those who manage to be credible and engaging for specific niches, using more than one communication channel and an appropriate communication style, will be able to have great success on the web.
