These days, Google search results are extremely competitive. If you want your blog posts to rank, you’ve got to find ways to create outstanding content.
One key way to achieve this is to embrace Google’s recommendation to use “E-E-A-T” in your blog posts and other written content.
The EEAT acronym stands for:
- Experience, or first-hand experience with the subject matter
- Expertise, or years of experience/accreditations of the publisher
- Authoritativeness, or the overall reputation of site and its content
- Trustworthiness, or the level of honesty and transparency of the site and content
Not every piece of content needs all four of these elements to rank, but great content often uses all four.
The good news is, when you learn how to incorporate EEAT into blog posts, your copywriting career benefits, too.
Whether you own a freelance-copywriting business, run a blog, or write in-house for a company, you’ll benefit from building this skillset.
So, how do you successfully incorporate these elements into your content?
The challenge and opportunity of EEAT
Incorporating EEAT into blog posts can feel challenging, especially to newer writers.
If the subject matter is complicated, or if the topic is new to you, you may not know where to start. Plus, clients don’t always provide access to resources that can help.
Incorporating EEAT into your content also takes time.
Generative AI may be able to create a generic article in a few seconds… but writing an article with rich detail, original expert quotes, and helpful examples takes much longer.
Since using EEAT successfully does take some skill and time, clients and employers are often willing to pay for writers who can handle it. In my experience, I’ve been able to charge between $250 and $700 for this kind of article, but I’ve heard of writers earning $1,000 per article.
Ready to earn these kinds of fees? Here are six easy ideas to get you started.
#1: Pitch articles where you already have subject-matter knowledge.
By far, the easiest way to incorporate EEAT into blog posts is to write about topics you’re already familiar with.
Were you a nurse in your past career… or, are you an avid gardener in your free time? Then consider pursuing content topics and opportunities that take advantage of this experience.
As one example, I sometimes write articles for publications like Digital Copywriter. Since I’ve been working as a copywriter for several years, I have lots of ideas and examples I can use in my content.
#2: Interview a subject-matter expert.
As an introvert, I used to think it was easier to research the material myself, rather than take the time and effort to interview a Subject-Matter Expert (SME).
Since then, I’ve realized, when writing about complex or new topics, interviewing an SME makes my life much easier!
While I still do my own research to understand the topic, interviewing and quoting SMEs cuts down on this time and results in better content. Often, your client will have an SME on staff whom you can work with.
If you’re not able to conduct an interview, you’ve got a few alternatives:
- You can email back-and-forth with an expert about the piece to source insights and quotes.
- You can watch a recorded webinar or topic discussion from your client to capture quotes and insights.
- You can have an expert review the piece at the end.
#3: Capture and curate personal stories and examples.
Now, let’s look at other ways you can build EEAT into your blog posts.
The first “E” in “EEAT” stands for personal experience, which refers to first-hand experience with the subject matter.
So, when writing your content, think about how you can showcase stories and examples that demonstrate your first-hand experience with the material, or that of others.
If you don’t have access to original personal stories and examples, one great option is to curate stories and anecdotes about other people’s experiences.
Rather than showcasing original quotes and stories from your own life or from people you interview, gather examples you find through research and then reference them in your content.
For instance, you might feature customer success stories your client has already shared on their website.
Or, you might feature anecdotes you’ve seen in other people’s content. Just make sure to credit the original source any time you use anecdotes from other people’s content.
#4: Curate experts’ insights and expertise.
The second “E” in EEAT stands for “expertise,” which is about industry knowledge. This is especially important in content about health and finances, which are considered higher-risk industries.
To satisfy the “expertise” angle, you’ll ideally have some original quotes and insights in your piece from experts. But, you can also curate this material from other sources, like you do with stories.
One technique I sometimes use is to listen to podcasts that feature expert discussions, and then feature some of the best quotes from the discussion. Of course, I make sure to properly attribute and link to the source.
This is added value, because these quotes often aren’t easily accessible without listening to the full podcast.
Here’s an example of what this kind of curation looks like…
#5: Include research and back up claims.
Next, we get to the “A” in EEAT, which stands for authority. This refers to the reputation of the website as a
whole and the accuracy of the individual content.
Building a website’s overall authority takes time, and the content you write can play an important role. If your content is so reliable that people are willing to share it with others, that will help to build the website’s authority.
One way to bring authority and reliability into your content is through those SME interviews I mentioned earlier. When it isn’t possible to work with subject-matter experts on content, you’ll need to rely more on your own research.
When presenting your research, include links and/or references to the claims you’re making. Quoting reputable sources and being transparent about the reliability of your research adds authority to your content and helps build overall authority over time.
#6: Build trust with a reasonable next step for your readers.
Finally, we get to the “T” in EEAT — which stands for “trustworthiness.”
Here, think about whether the website and content builds trust with your visitors. Is your website secure? Is it clear the company is a legitimate business, with a customer support team to answer questions and address
any issues?
At a minimum, trustworthiness means the company is transparent about who they are, what they do, the benefits of their products or services, and how to contact them.
But, websites that want to take this to the next level will provide a strong user experience across their site and their content.
What does a strong user experience and trust look like in a blog post?
Aside from the elements we’ve discussed already, you can also lead readers to additional content and resources that further build trust.
A helpful guide, a free trial, or a great email newsletter can all deepen a relationship with the reader before they’re ready to buy.
Get better at EEAT techniques, and build a better copywriting career
It takes work and practice to develop tactics for creating authoritative, expert-level content. And, in most cases, you might be limited by the time, resources, and budget you have available.
The great news is that high-value clients value EEAT, because it’s an important skill — and they’re willing to pay you well for it.
So, the next time you’re working on a blog, try one or more of these tactics to incorporate EEAT into the piece. The content will get better results, and you’ll get more practice flexing this skill. That adds up to greater earning potential as a content writer.
