No more fake news. Faced with a lowering of the level of information and the excessive use of sensationalist headlines, Google and other online platforms have decided to take action and reward authentic news from sources deemed reliable.
The EAT model , which stands for Expertise, Authoritativness, Trustworthiness, establishes the reliability of a news item or a source of information. These three cornerstones, already fundamental in Google’s indications to Quality Raters, acquire even more importance after being included in the guidelines to be indexed in Google Discover.
What does the acronym EAT mean for Google
The acronym Eat stands for Expertise, Authoritativness, Trustworthiness and specifies the parameters for measuring the quality of online content. They apply to all types of content, but especially YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) content that deals with specific topics about investing or people’s lives. For example, articles on medical and health topics were among the most affected by Google’s so-called Medical update.
Experience
For each piece of content, it must be clear who the author is and this must have experience in the relevant field. This experience can be professional or even life-related. If I have experienced an illness, I have the necessary experience to write on a page that is meant to provide a story, but not on one that wants to scientifically explain the results of a therapy and therefore must be written by a doctor or researcher.
Authority
Authoritativeness is more linked to a professional field and investigates whether the author (or the website) is appropriate for the type of content on the page. The first concept on which it is based is that of peer reference through link building: if other authoritative authors (or domains with good authority) link to its content, it means that they consider it coherent and useful and therefore recommend it. The second concept is related to entities: Google understands that the author entity is linked to the topic entity and therefore gives it value in that context.
Reliability
This is one of the most important parameters. Trustworthiness refers to the accuracy with which certain topics are covered by the page or website. It is important to cite sources and link to authoritative content that allows you to verify the information.
From Quality Pointers to Google Discover Guidelines
The first hints of EAT content were seen in the guidelines for Quality Raters released by Google in 2015. It is a document with instructions for choosing quality content, especially in relation to the most sensitive topics that can affect people’s lives, health and money. With the 2018 Medical update, these indications have returned to the fore because many sites that dealt with these issues have warned of changes in Serp.
Recently, Google revived this theme by explaining how the EAT model will soon be used to determine the indexing of news and information websites in Google Discover, one of the largest sources of traffic for this type of portal.
Before Google: NewsGuard’s Ratings
Before Google, there were other platforms that tracked on similar parameters in order to promote quality journalism and information. Among them is NewsGuard , which painstakingly analyzed the world’s largest news sites based on credibility and transparency and assigned an overall rating that sometimes punished some of the top sites in traffic rankings.
NewsGuard certainly doesn’t have the power of Google, which is able to increase or decrease web traffic and consequently profit (here’s how to make money from online journalism), but it has prompted some sites to correct the course. In fact, many of them have begun to verify sources, give up overly sensationalist headlines and declare information about the editorial staff and authors of the articles.
How to Create Quality Content Optimized for Google
Google is pushing towards quality content and so are other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. There are no SEO tricks to fool the algorithm that analyzes the news, but only good practices of quality journalism (read the SEO guide for journalists).
On a general level, a site should always state who the author of the article is and provide contact details for the editorial staff. In addition, it should address topics for which it can ensure good authority. A good link building profile from other authoritative sites is an extra weapon, but it must be as natural as possible.
At the level of individual news, the rule of originality of the content applies: news copied from elsewhere is to be avoided. If we use a source, we must verify it thoroughly and cite it (with links if possible). The title should be clear and consistent with the content: Google doesn’t like click-bait headlines and images. The author must be authoritative or must prove the truthfulness of the information reported.
The starting point is a well-structured editorial plan, followed by a scrupulous analysis; The goal is quality content that gives added value to the reader.
