“EEAT Optimization” is Crap. Differentiate Your Brand to Become a Destination

Every business, even a small one, can become a brand and get found! Here's how

The term “EEAT Optimization” is being used more and more often, and in most cases (as it usually happens in the SEO industry), the advertised SEO tactics aim at “faking” EEAT signals, for example, creating fake authors with fake bios that include education and experience with a given topic.

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These services have become more popular after Helpful Content updates, which impacted many independent publishers. No official recovery route was shared by Google, so “EEAT Optimization” has become a popular recovery service.

The growth of these types of “EEAT Optimization” services is now reflected in the recently updated quality guidelines (pdf). The guidelines now instruct quality raters to look out for fake authors, fake profile pictures, and fake expertise.

This update in the guidelines signals about two important things:

• Google recognizes the problem of faking EEAT signals (usually, that happens when a tactic becomes very popular)

• Google is introducing algorithmic changes to address the issue (and quality raters are encouraged to evaluate if the algorithm is doing the right job).

Be careful with any services that promise to make your site better optimized for EEAT. There is no proof, official statement or study that would clearly prove the effectiveness of EEAT optimization for improving organic search visibility.

NOTE: We don’t provide “EEAT optimization services” but, on popular demand, we are launching brand marketing services. We did our best to come up with a package which even smaller businesses can afford. Get in touch!

EEAT is not part of the algorithmic ranking system. It’s a set of criteria for human evaluation. As quality raters do not directly impact search results, optimizing for something they use makes no sense.

Turning your business into a brand is what matters, though

People are searching for your name or head directly to your site because they know your business - that is the biggest, strongest signal you can get. It may not be a direct signal (or it may be one, Google won’t confirm it), but even Google acknowledges the fact that it is important. Google’s Danny Sullivan was the closest to confirming that branded search matters:

I’ve seen where people do research and say, ‘I’ve figured out that if you have a lot of branded searches…’ That’s kind of valid in some sense. … What it’s saying is that people have recognized you as a brand, which is a good thing. We like brands. Some brands we don’t like, but at least we recognize them, right?

So if you’re trying to be found in the sea of content and you have the 150,000th fried chicken recipe, it’s very difficult to understand which ones of those are necessarily better than anybody else’s out there.

But if you are recognized as a brand in your field, big, small, whatever, just a brand, then that’s important.

That correlates with a lot of signals of perhaps success with search. Not that you’re a brand but that people are recognizing you. People may be coming to you directly, people, may be referring to you in lots of different ways… You’re not just sort of this anonymous type of thing.

So, how to become a recognized brand (even if it’s a small one)?

Danny’s advice on that is actually not so bad, and it is doable in most cases:

Make it easy for them to come to the site and know exactly what you’re about.

I know the travel bloggers, you all have the thing on the side that says, ‘we love travelling the world…’ It’s like, OK, that’s fine, and at least people know to expect that from travel bloggers and you’ve got it there.

But help them understand what’s unique or different about you, that makes you a brand. And that is a really good thing.

In other words, niche down. Your experience with the topic of your site is what makes you unique. You don’t just travel, you travel with kids or a cat. You found a way to work full-time and still travel a lot. You know how to find hidden gems when traveling, not just obvious sights everyone blogs about. There’s always something unique about the way you do what you write about. So, tell your readers what it is and stick to that when planning your content.

This can extend to any business, small or medium, not just publishers. Think about a way to make your site unique enough for people to remember you. Invest in branding, even if it’s a little bit. The key is consistency. I can review your site and brainstorm some ideas with you if you need help. Just schedule a quick free call.