Google’s updated search quality guidelines place a major focus on three key principles; expertise, authority and trust. These updates have changed the game for ecommerce brands when it comes to content, user experience and brand positioning. The update saw a number of established and trusted brands have suffered at the hands of Google’s new policy, so how do ecommerce brands convey expertise, build authority and establish trust whilst, at the same time, producing content that sells? We’ll explore just what has happened with the Google EAT update, and what you need to do to step up your content and search marketing strategy. Speaker - Jack Nottidge, SEO Lead, Stickyeyes

1. How brands can survive
Google’s E-A-T update.
November 2018.

2. Agenda
• An overview of information from Google
• What is E-A-T?
• What should you be doing about it
• Understanding content types
• How to show your expertise
• The importance of technical SEO
• External signals
• Q&A session

3. Information from
Google.

4. “This week we released a broad core algorithm update, as we
do several times per year. Our guidance about such updates
remains the same as in March”.
- Google Search Liaison, Aug 1st 2018

5. Quality Rater Guidelines.
• Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines can be
used to gain an understanding of what
their algorithm tries to do.
• The guidelines should be used to help
understand, rather than fully inform.

6. YMYL
Your Money Your Life (YMYL) search results have seen the
biggest impact.

7. What is E-A-T?

8. Authoritativeness Trustworthiness
Develop the expertise of the creator
of the content, Your right as an
author / website to be talking
about a particular subject
Addressing commercial
bias in authoritative pieces
& answering ALL
questions.
The depth,
presentation, quality
and external
validation of the
content in question
and why that places
you as an authority
on the subject.
Expertise
E-A-T overview.

9. What should you be
doing about it.

10. Firstly, understand the
different forms of
content.

11. The 3 types of web page
content
Advertisements
Advertisements that are placed on a web
page to make money and do not always
follow the purpose of the page.
Supplementary content
Content that may aid the user in their
journey, based on the page which they are
viewing. This content can come in many
forms; including related products or
articles.
Main content
The main content of the page and the
reason the user is here. Main content can
vary in size and format but must match the
customers intent.

12. Identifying content types.
Main content
(MC) can take
the form of
images or
text.
This
content
helps the
page
achieve
its main
purpose
&
displays
trust.

13. This supple-
mentary
content
aims to give
a greater
user
experience.
More
helpful
content
related to
the page.

14. More useful content
designed to give the user
everything they need to
make a decision on the
product they are looking
at.

15. Advertisements

16. Complete content.
INSIGHTS
ON-SITE
ENGAGEMENT
CONTENT DEPTH &
RELEVANCY
BRAND AWARENESS
CONTENT DEPTH &
RELEVANCY
ON-SITE
ENGAGEMENT
AUTHORITY & TRUST
ON-SITE
ENGAGEMENT
BRANDAWARENESS
AUTHORITY & TRUST
ON-SITE
ENGAGEMENT
AUTHORITY &
TRUST
BRAND AWARENESS

17. Micro-moments.
Understanding the stage of journey your customer is at is crucial for content production.
“Sell” when a user wants to buy and “Inform” when they need more information.
I WANTTO
KNOW
I WANTTO
DO
I WANTTO
GO
I WANTTO
BUY
Informational search Commercial search

18. Commercial
content.
Quality, user
generated content
and reviews.
High level of main
content and product
specifications
Useful, point of
purchase information
clearly broken down.

19. Informational
content.
Quality, easy to
follow video that aids
the user experience.
Easy to follow,
written step-by-step
guide.
Useful, step-by-step
imagery.

20. Cite your research.
When creating content, cite the sources of
your research.
Back up claims that you make with hard
evidence. Especially when considering
YMYL topics.

21. Showcase
your expertise.

22. Showcase your expertise.
How?
How to accurately portray your
expertise and increase trust signals.
What?
How to identify what expertise within
content looks like across different
verticals.
Who?
Identifying who your experts
are and why they are.

23. Identify your experts
Formal expertise
Theseexpertsoranabsoluterequirementforany
consideredYMYLbrandssuchaslegal,financialor
medicalproducts.
Thisincludesexpertswithformalqualifications
whetheracademicorotherwise.

24. Identify your experts
Informal expertise
Peoplewithlifeexperience,firsthandproduct
experienceandcommentsonforumscanallbe
classedasinformalexpertise.

25. Identify your experts
Other experts
Itispossiblethatanenthusiastichobbyistis
consideredanexpertintheirfieldorhobby.
Thiscanbedowntothelevelofexperience
theyhaveandtheknowledgethey’vebuiltup.

26. Tiers of content expertise
01
A well known industry expert is curating
information or articles for your site on your
site only.
02
A well known expert is attributed to the
content or information on your site and it has
their ‘seal of approval’
03
Your content is linking out or linked to by
external high quality articles or relevant
information.

27. Provide complete information
ACCURATE
Highly accurate, informative information is
vital. Immediately showing the user what
they can expect from the product they are
purchasing. 1
THOROUGH
Be thorough and share information or
knowledge about your products and the
issues or problems they could help users
overcome.2
HUMILITY
Let users know if the product on page
wouldn’t be suitable for them and why.
Suggested alternatives here are great.
3
HONEST
Avoid deception. This includes deceiving
users and Google. Your e-commerce
pages must be accurate, trustworthy and
the correct level of depth.
4

28. Be an expert.
To be truly seen as experts, make all of your brands expertise clear.
Awards
Showcase your hard earned awards
and external industry recognition.
Standards
If you conform to ISO standards or
manufacturing conduct codes, make
this clear
Authors
Content author bios can be a good
way to showcase individual awards
and expertise
Production
Your product production process and
where products are sourced from can
demonstrate your expertise.

31. Showcasing author credentials.
Links to social media or the authors
own site
Including a short bio of the author at
the beginning or bottom of the article
Linking to the authors profile to
showcase other content they have
produced

33. Technical SEO is
still important.

34. Technical SEO and security
Interstitials / ads
Interstitials, ads and supplementary
content that make it difficult to access the
main content should be avoided.
Shopping cart
Quality raters are instructed to test the
shopping cart functionality, so ensure any
“add to bag” buttons are obvious to users
and function correctly.
Maintain your site
Your website appears managed and well
maintained. Functionality should be tested
to ensure it is up to date and working
correctly, and any UGC should be reviewed
for spam / abuse.
Secure website
HTTPS and security features are a part of
Google’s search algorithm, web browsers,
and also quality rater signal. Ensure all
pages on your website are served securely.

35. It’s about much more
than just your website.

36. Citations and links
01 Consider the authority, reputation and balance of
any sources and citations you use.
02
External links and references to your content from
authoritative sources will reinforce your websites
reputation.
03
Other internal links on the page should be used to
aid navigation of your site, and not to mislead /
deceive users.

37. Your reputationis
important.
Monitor your brands reputation
and stay on top of customer
reviews.
Find references to your brand
using:
• -site:example.com ‘brand’
• -site:example.com ‘brand
reviews’

38. Build topical relevance.
Marketing Business RegionalsNationals
Build relationships with the industry websites that matter to your customers. Coverage in
these places will build brand reputation and topical relevance.
Example niches for Stickyeyes.com

39. Measuring topical relevance.
Prettylittlething.com - Topical Trust Flow Example
Arts / Television Arts News / Magazines and E-zines Computers / Software / Internet
Arts / Design News / Media Industry News / Newspapers Society / People
Arts / Music Regional / Europe Business / Opportunities Recreation / Travel
Other
Majestic’s Topical Trust Flow rating can be used to understand your brands topical
relevance.

40. Want more insight?
Download our free whitepapers and sector
reports and watch our bi-weekly video news
series at:
https://www.stickyeyes.com/resources/