Expertise, Authority and Trust is a topic widely discussed in the digital space, especially when it comes to SEO. Although Google has over 400 different ranking factors that it takes into consideration when it’s looking to rank a website, we know that expertise, authority and trust are pretty high up there in terms of the ones that really matter.
When people talk about E-A-T they usually focus on what we can do on-site to help build this across a website.Common elements that get discussed are external trust reviews, on-site testimonials, author profiling, attribution and external linking. There are of course many more on-site tactics, but E-A-T isn’t just limited to on-site workIf you are really looking to enhance this area, especially if you are a website that falls into the Your Money Your Life category, then utilising your external linking building techniques properly can also be a great way to build this trust.Which will result in an even bigger boost to your SEO performance.
How Do I Build E-A-T Friendly Links?
So building E-A-T friendly links is a lot easier than it sounds and, in general, if you are building links to the website through Digital PR then they should already be E-A-T friendly, as they will be genuine, high quality links, designed to exhibit the expertise of your website.
However, if you do really want to focus on enhancing your E-A-T, and you want some great Digital PR to support the improvements that you’re making on-site, then you can put a particular focus on any of the areas below:
Thought Leadership
Thought Leadership is one of the best ways to build expertise and trust.It’s built on giving your expertise to an external party or creating something which exhibits your expertise that you can showcase online. This alone can help to build the trust and authority of your website in a great, knowledge-sharing approach.
Thought Leadership can be quite straightforward.You can either interview your client or choose relevant representatives from your client’s business (or your business) to provide their expertise. Have a bio at the ready to prove to journalists why they are experts in their field, and keep up to date with newsjacking opportunities or proactive opportunities for upcoming events to get them in front of the press. If you’re looking for proof of how effective this can be, check out our Little Loans case study to find out more about how targeted thought leadership can drive solid results.
Newsjacking
Newsjacking is another great way to build external E-A-T for your brand.This is the concept of jumping on something that is trending in the news and coming up with great ideas or a new angle from your resident expert. You can then seed this content out to journalists to add into their story, or create a whole new story and showcase your client’s expertise by adding an authoritative comment to a trending topic.
The idea doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming; we did a great piece with our client Hayes Garden Worldand their resident gardening guru Angela Slater, on what happens when your houseplants get lonely after lockdown.It was a simple idea with a quick turnaround which landed a lot of high quality links – you can read more about it here.
Data Campaigns
Data campaigns are another great way to showcase your expertise and, if you are looking to use a more data-led approach to your outreach, then this is a great place to start. Analysing your own data, or data that is relevant to your industry, can not only showcase expertise within the industry, but it can also provide a very valuable resource to journalists. They may choose to link back to it time and time again as you are really adding value.
Many times I’ve seen businesses publish guides on their website such as “How Much Energy Do Your Household Appliances Provide.”It’s a really simple concept which is data driven and could be easily tied back to an energy provider or anyone who works in the energy industry. It’s also the gift that keeps on giving, as if you get that page to rank it means that journalists will continue to use it as a resource and link to it!
Each of the approaches above will really help you to hone in on building that E-A-T through each of your external link acquisition campaigns which, when paired with a solid on-site strategy, will improve your website visibility in no time.
To find out more about how our Digital PR and Link Building service can help your SEO efforts, you can contact us here.
