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From Guidelines to Growth:Unleashing the Potential of EEAT Bianca Anderson hims & hers Speakerdeck.com/binksdoesseo /in/bianca-anderson/ @BinksDoesSEO

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 What’s E-E-A-T? (and why you need a playbook) 02 Building an E-E-A-T Playbook (what you need to do and how to do it) 03 Case Studies (yay– data!) 04 E-E-A-T FYIs (what I wish I knew)

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What is E-E-A-T?

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“E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. E-E-A-T is an acronym created by Google in its Search Quality Guidelines and is used throughout that document as the criteria evaluators use to assess the quality and credibility of content.” - Jedi Master, Lily Ray

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To put it another way, E-E-A-T and Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines serve as a VITAL tool for Google to understand how humans, rather than algorithms, are perceiving web content.

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Why You Need an E-E-A-T Playbook With AI Overviews taking hold, click through rates are inevitably going down and SERP real estate is becoming more precious. In tandem, content is getting scaled by AI and so quality not quantity will be the key differentiator.

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Why You Need an E-E-A-T Playbook Focusing on an E-E-A-T-centric strategy is crucial when making "people-first" content that genuinely engages readers – and yes, satisfies Google.

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Building an E-E-A-T Playbook

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Here’s a glimpse of questions Google’s quality raters use to evaluate web content. Let’s take a closer look…

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Please add a " Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well? 01 Does your content clearly demonstrate a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)? 02

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Please add a " Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well? 01 Does your content clearly demonstrate a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)? 02 Add a "productive perspective" to your article. It's crucial to establish your expertise and enthusiasm on the topic by sharing a relevant professional anecdote that's unique/personal.

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Please add a " Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well? 01 Does your content clearly demonstrate a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)? 02 Add real-life examples of us demo-ing the product(s) mentioned in this webpage. Include annotated screenshots of said demo when possible. Add a "productive perspective" to your article. It's crucial to establish your expertise and enthusiasm on the topic by sharing a relevant professional anecdote that's unique/personal.

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Phase 2 - Experiment Phase 3 - Scale Phase 1 - Establish the Foundation

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Establishing the Foundation This phase focuses on organizing, optimizing, and potentially pruning existing content. It also includes building out internal resources that empower writers to create high-quality content.

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Plays for Establishing the Foundation Auditing Topic Clusters ● This process involves reorganizing existing content into strategic topic clusters, each centered around a comprehensive pillar page. ● It may also include pruning content that is outdated, irrelevant, or potentially harmful to your site’s reputation.

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(Taken from Ahrefs’ recent HubSpot Case Study)

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Plays for Establishing the Foundation Author & Team Mapping ● Mapping your entire team—including writers, editors, freelancers, and SEOs—to specific topic clusters ensures that each content piece is backed by relevant expertise.

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Plays for Establishing the Foundation Centralizing Internal Data Resources ● Quotes from internal experts ● Survey results ● Content created by your video team

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Experimenting and Accelerating The experiment phase builds on the established foundation by innovating and exploring new methods to enhance your content's E-E-A-T signals.

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Plays for Experimenting and Accelerating Integrating “Productive Perspectives” ● Adding Unique Author Insights: Infuse content with personal experiences and expertise to demonstrate firsthand knowledge and create value for readers. ● Writing in First Person: Engage readers by writing in a first-person voice, actively showing how you’ve tackled and solved the topic at hand. ● Demo-ing Products and Tools: Show readers how products, software, and tools work through real-life demos, providing hands-on insights.

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Plays for Experimenting and Accelerating Reddit Data Mining for First-Person Content ● Analyze Content Gaps & Identify Trending Topics: Compare discussions in relevant Reddit subforums with your site's content to find gaps and discover trending topics for first-person narratives and real-life experiences. Reddit Data Mining for First-Person Content

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Plays for Experimenting and Accelerating Competitor Comparisons ● Target branded “vs” keywords to establish your brand’s authority by offering transparent comparisons with competitors, which also attracts users who are typically closer to making a purchase decision Reddit Data Mining for First-Person Content

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Scale The final phase focuses on scaling efforts to reach a broader audience and further solidify a position as a trusted authority.

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Plays for Scaling Scaling Primary Research Capabilities ● Use Tools Like Glimpse for Survey Efficiency: Leverage Glimpse and similar tools to scale surveys effectively. This includes using shorter surveys for quick insights and running longer surveys to support multiple content pieces. ● Collaborate with Email and Social Teams: Streamline the collection of valuable insights through CRM and social channels by gathering incentivized and anonymous feedback.

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THIS IS NOT SPONSORED!!🗣

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Plays for Scaling Amplification Program for Writers ● Leverage Guest Posts: Secure guest post opportunities on reputable industry websites to showcase your experts and writers, boosting their authority and reach. ● Facilitate Expert Interviews: Arrange interviews with your experts to highlight their knowledge and increase their influence in relevant fields. ● Produce Short-Form Videos: Collaborate with video teams to create engaging short-form content featuring your experts, enhancing their visibility and engagement on platforms like YouTube.

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Case Study: Free Website Builders

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fstarwars.fandom.com%2Fwiki %2FSacred_Jedi_texts&psig=AOvVaw3FZnixKRRkz9jVmcQDytyq&ust=17215063213 29000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBEQjRxqFwoTCLjbvfr0s4cDF QAAAAAdAAAAABAE The E-E-A-T Playbook Was Born …

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Performance on HubSpot’s “Free Website Builders” Article

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Plan of Attack Personalize • Added unique author insights to create value for readers • Wrote in the first-person, using a Productive Perspective throughout Truncate • Focused on quality > quantity • Trimmed list of Website Builders from 17 down to 7 Demo • Added demos of the onboarding workflows and features of each Website Builder

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The Results (Month-Over-Month) +724% CLICKS +251% SIGNUPS +26% CVR

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Case Study: October 2023 BIR

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What The Heck Is a BIR? The Blog Insights Report (BIR) is a monthly deliverable that includes optimization and new content instructions. It's crucial to content creation at HubSpot, generating over 90% of content, and it served as the testing ground for phase 2 of the E-E-A-T-ification experiment

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EEAT Analysis Approach We used the success of the 'Free Website Builders' piece to establish a benchmark for evaluating the October BIR URLs that received E-E-A-T treatment. By month two, ‘Free Website Builders’ had sustained a 100.45% traffic increase post-publication.

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EEAT Analysis Approach To set a realistic benchmark, we defined success as a 40% traffic increase (or higher) by month two. For context, content optimized without E-E-A-T treatment during this period showed only a 15% increase in month 2 (on average).

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The Results (Month 2, Post-Optimizations) 60% Saw a 100%+ traffic increase by month 2 post-optimization. 10% Saw a 40%+ traffic increase by month 2 post-optimization. 13% Outperformed non-EEAT-ified posts in month 2, with a 15%+ increase.

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60% of URLs exceeded expectations🤩

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Verdict The new strategy was a SUCCESS! October’s cohort of URLs exceeded expectations 60% of the time and performed notably better than traditional updates over 80% of the time.

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E-E-A-T FYIs

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#1 This is going to take a while ….

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#2 So get really good at prioritizing URLs

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The top 20% of URLs…

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The top 20% of URLs… The top 20% of URLs… drive 80% of conversions

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The top 20% of URLs… So, start with the top 20% of URLs!!

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#3 There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to E-E-A-T

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#4 The type of content that’s ranking on the SERPs IS changing, but it’s not happening overnight

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Reddit Data Mining for First-Person Content

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Reddit Data Mining for First-Person Content (Source: Lily Ray’s August 2023 Core Update Analysis)

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“Difficult to see; always in motion is the future.” - Jedi Master,Yoda

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Credit | Image: Unsplash THANK YOU!