How can you write authoritative SEO copy for E-A-T and YMYL topics?

This is how we should writer for... anything. Writing with expertise, authority and earning trust has been how marketing materials (what we now call "content") were created for the last 150+ years. Winners win by ignoring the acronyms and focusing on their ideal customer.

The obvious answer is to hire an expert who has the actual credentials. If you can't afford it, you can instead focus on the first "E" in E-E-A-T - "Experience". Use lots of "I" pronouns, as well as phrases like "in my experience", "when I tested it out", "when I was doing X". This signals to Google that you have personal experience in the topic.

Remember E-A-T is now E-E-A-T, and the new E stands for Experience. Some topics require expertise, like which type of medicine should you take? For that, you’d want to hear the opinion of a medical expert. But what about if you want to know how it feels to take a medicine? A medical expert may not know, but the experience of others who’ve taken the medicine could be informative. Also, transparency matters. If someone has expertise or experience on a topic, explaining why that is the case is important for justifying the value of what they’re saying. And while E-E-A-T isn’t a ranking system, it does represent how Google would like its algorithms to perform, especially for YMYL topics. Learn about it and the Quality Rater Guidelines as well.

When writing for E-A-T, you also want to pay close attention to M-U-N-C-H and Y-U-M. If you get your deliciousness score high enough, you can unlock maximum rankings and skyrocket your profits.

Forget all the acronyms. In the end, EEAT or not, quality content and valuable links are the most important ingredients for SEO. Couple this with a friendly language, charts, comparisons and authoritative testimonials, and you have your recipe for success.

Writing with authoritative SEO copy begins and ends with one thing: Taking the time to think about what a real human wants to achieve when they Google something. That's it. Ditch all the tech and spend time understanding your ICP by talking to them. Then, put yourself in their shoes and consider what they'd want and need when they search for something.

Leverage unique data to build your authority. Often, data exists scattered across the internet. It's waiting for you to compile it. If you were writing about e-commerce, it might be helpful to cite data for when, on average, Top 100 companies launch Black Friday emails. All you need to do is sign up for each company's email list and chart out when you receive the email. Now you have a unique, original data set that adds value for your audience! Academic papers, journals and even published books (sometimes available for free digitally via Google Books) also offer data points that may not be widely available. Citing this data, instead of recycling trite data points your competitors use, will elevate your content.

Topic and audience research are important for creating quality content, especially for YMYL topics that can influence people’s consequential decisions. But information gain matters as well. Merely paraphrasing information from other sources found on the web doesn’t necessarily add value for a user, which is what Google wants to reward. This is where having real experts or people with experience author or contribute to content makes a difference. Someone who isn’t an expert or has no experience in a YMYL topic will not be able to deliver the same value or earn the audience’s trust like someone truly learned in the topic. This is the type of helpful content Google is prioritizing more, especially when it satisfies deliberate search intent.

Too many people say "understand the consumer" - HOW do you do that? start with keyword research. Keyword research is literally people putting into google (or other search engines) what they want to know. Figure out what questions people have around that topic, be super clear about what, why and how. Once you know what do people want to know - choose 3 things and answer them succinctly

Researching your topic and audience is crucial for crafting authoritative SEO copy, especially for E-A-T and YMYL subjects. Start by identifying reputable sources and studies that substantiate your claims; this enhances the trustworthiness of your content. Understanding your audience is equally important—gather insights on their needs and concerns through tools like keyword research, social media analysis, and surveys. These methods reveal the questions they ask and the keywords they use, allowing you to create relevant content that resonates deeply. By addressing your audience's specific queries and incorporating wellresearched data, you not only improve your contents SEO performance but also build credibility and authority in your niche.

If you want examples of authors, bios and how to add credentials - read here for 2 that do really well! https://riseatseven.com/blog/eeat-on-steroids-how-are-your-money-or-your-life-brands-doing-it

First of all, many companies and publishers tend to publish content without an author and information about her/him. An author bio is a must-have for YMYL topics. That person should have direct experience with the topic written about. Secondly, many articles have a very chaotic structure and contain claims which cannot be verified and have no source. Be sure to support your information either with experience or with links to high quality articles either on your domain or on other, relevant, high authority websites. Source your material and give credit where credit is due. There is nothing to lose here. A good way to add value is to add citations -don't be afraid to pick up the phone and ask people about the topics, do an expert survey, etc.

Displaying credentials or testimonials on your own website are helpful signs of expertise and experience for users. But to build a reputation as an authority, it helps to contribute widely on your topic, and this can include publishing information on other websites. If the facts on your author bio page are supported by other online profiles (and why not link to them as well!), that’s supporting evidence. If the topics written about on your website reflect the same topics where you’ve shown expertise consistently in other places on the web, that’s a sign of an authoritative voice. Also, solidifying those credentials with structured data on your website helps connect the dots of your expertise in Google’s knowledge graph.

A clear referencing to high authority websites such as pubmed is of utmost importance for health-related claims. It improves credibility while creating high quality external links for SEO.

People only want to know your credentials if they disagree with you. But all means, put that stuff in an author box, but the real test is what's in the copy and content.

Ensuring that copy is concise, useful, and engaging is important. You need it to be effective for search engines but readable. Think about search engines and the reader. Focus on best practices for both and you’ll get there! Have any questions, I’d love to chat!

Hemingway editor is also a great tool to improve the readability score, in particular when the target audience is consumer-based.

The point about grammar is an important one. All the expertise in the world may not help you build trust with an audience if the content has careless errors of style, spelling, or grammar. (If you can’t take the time to edit copy - especially in a world of AI tools ;) - how can we trust the proper time was spent on the information itself?) On the flip side, while content should be readable, it should also convey evidence of an expert’s voice. An expert may naturally add more related entities and keywords in their content because of their breadth of understanding of the subject. These entities and terms can increase the relevance and comprehensiveness of content, making it more helpful for users and valuable in the eyes of search engines.

My god this is myopic. Again, this begins and ends with writing to a person that has searched for a thing. Don't cram a bunch of random media in there or think that using Grammarly is going to help your content do anything other than earn a quick scan before they click back to Google. Create copy that opens hearts, minds and (yes) wallets by focusing on the person, not keywords.

Writing clear, concise, and engaging SEO copy is essential for establishing E-A-T and YMYL credibility. Focus on crafting content that resonates with your audience by incorporating relevant keywords naturally and strategically. Catchy headlines and well-structured subheadings will draw readers in, while short sentences and paragraphs enhance readability. Utilize bullet points and lists for easy navigation, and complement your text with high-quality images and videos that enrich the user experience. Ensure that your copy is informative, persuasive, and free from errors.

This section is complete nonsense. Technical SEO has absolutely nothing to do with EAT or YMYL. It's what you get when AI writes the content.

Trust is based on a user’s experience. Deceptive tactics used for the sake of improving search rankings or convincing users to take an action can permanently erode trust. Transparency and honesty are key. If your website sells products, for example, but doesn’t clearly display pricing, shipping, return, or customer service details, that can reduce trust. The same goes for security during the checkout process. Or if you say an expert wrote content, but they didn’t, that’s deceptive. Same for reviews. If a person didn’t use a product or service, claiming they did isn’t helpful. Fake E-E-A-T signals, so to speak, put trust at risk. Investing in having real experts write or review content or showing proof reviewers used a product builds trust.

To enhance your E-A-T and YMYL standing, it's essential to optimize both your technical SEO and overall site quality. Begin by ensuring your website loads quickly, is secure, mobile-friendly, and offers intuitive navigation. Adhering to Google's webmaster guidelines is crucial; steer clear of practices like cloaking, keyword stuffing, or using spammy links that could tarnish your site's reputation. Regularly assess your site using tools like Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights to identify and resolve issues. Also, utilize the Mobile-Friendly Test to guarantee your site performs well on all devices.

Studies have proven that the most up to date stories/content ranks higher (of course it needs to still tick googles quality guidelines) but how recent it is, does impact googles opinion on which is most relevant and trust worthy (especially if a topic is ever changing)

Content about YMYL topics should be timely and refreshed when new information comes to light. Giving financial advice, for example, but using outdated information could put users at risk. Proactively updating content based on the latest information also hedges against losing ground in search results to competitors who create fresher content on the same topic. Listening to feedback or looking for friction points in the user’s journey and addressing these through content or UX updates can also build trust with your audience. Pages getting clicks for irrelevant queries in Google Search Console, drop-off areas in Google Analytics behavior flows, or confusing areas seen in Microsoft Clarity recordings can all be starting places to investigate.

To establish and maintain authority in E-A-T and YMYL topics, it's crucial to regularly update and refresh your SEO copy. Start by ensuring your content remains accurate and relevant, reflecting any shifts in your industry or topic area. Utilize tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor your copy’s performance, user engagement, and feedback, allowing you to identify areas for improvement. Implement Google Alerts to stay informed about industry news that may affect your content's relevance. Additionally, leverage social media analytics to gauge audience interaction and sentiment.

When writing for E-E-A-T and YMYL, consider the credentials and authority of the sources you're linking to. It's important that the sources referred to and linked within the blog are undeniably authoritative. Relying on established, reputable sources increases the overall reliability of the blog and also aligns with E-E-A-T principles. Reference information from recognised experts, scholarly journals, government entities, or renowned institutions and ensure you link to them within the article and add a credit at the end of the article.

Here's how you can achieve E-E-A-T for your blogs: Experience: The writer should have first-hand experience on the topic. Add real and detailed info, review, share personal experience. Expertise: Create thought leadership content. Position yourself as an expert. Use credible sources. Authoritativeness: Create High-quality backlinks, Provide actionable and accurate content Get published in big publications Trustworthiness: It’s affected by factors like: Never use fake data about the blog Clarity about who wrote the article Accurate and authentic sources No hidden content Clear about page

As takeaways, I’d say: 1. get familiar with Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines and what they have to say about E-E-A-T and YMYL, 2. follow SEOs who share insights on these topics regularly, like Dr. Marie Haynes and Lily Ray, and 3. rather than trying to take shortcuts to build E-E-A-T, like fake blog authorship, for example, invest in the contributions of experts or showing the experience of others as well as building the E-E-A-T of the brand and people associated with your website.