Factoring E-A-T Into Your SEO Strategy

1. Factoring Into Your
SEO Strategy
Lily Ray
June 2021

2. Sr. Director, SEO &
Head of Organic
Research
Lily
Ray
@lilyraynyc

3. @lilyraynyc

4. is the criteria
Google’s Quality Raters
use to evaluate content,
authors, & websites.
@lilyraynyc

5. @lilyraynyc

6. @lilyraynyc
I’ve led two award-winning SEO teams
working on hundreds of big brands in
health, retail, ecommerce, b2b & more
U.S. Search Awards 2018
Best SEO Campaign for Health
U.S. Search Awards 2019
Best Use of Search – FMCG
Campaign
Search Engine Land Awards
Best Enterprise SEO Campaign
2018, 2020
Conductor
Best in Class Agency
(AKA my “brag /
Nascar slide”)
@lilyraynyc

7. @lilyraynyc
So why do I focus so much on
?

8. The rise of may be the
biggest change we’ve seen to
SEO in the past several years
@lilyraynyc

10. Core Updates of Past 3 Years
@lilyraynyc
Medic Update
(8-1-18)
Medic #2
March 2019
Core Update
June 2019
Core Update
Sep 2019
Core Update
Jan 2020
Core Update
May 2020
Core Update
Dec 2020
Core Update
June 2021
Core Update

11. It started with a reduction in visibility among questionable
news sources, conspiracy sites, and “fake news” in 2017…
@lilyraynyc

12. …And continued to health, medical, science, ecommerce, and other
Your Money, Your Life (YMYL) sites in 2018, particularly with the
Medic update (8-1-18)
@lilyraynyc

13. Google
What Does
Google say?
@lilyraynyc
@lilyraynyc

14. Trillions of Questions,
No Easy Answers:
A (home) movie about how Google Search works
(link)
Google just published this movie…
@lilyraynyc

15. Authority >
Relevance
Authority >
Relevance
@lilyraynyc

16. @lilyraynyc
2016

17. @lilyraynyc
“There is no situation in
which fake news
should be distributed.
We are all for doing
better here.”
- Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google
BBC Interview in 2016

18. @lilyraynyc
But beyond that, Google doesn’t tell us a lot about
how E-A-T works, or which factors contribute to it.

19. Let’s remember why
Google might choose
to be secretive about
these things…
@lilyraynyc
SEO

20. @lilyraynyc
So I’ve set out on a multi-year
mission…
@lilyraynyc
…to figure out what Google is up to.

21. Analyze organic visibility (VI) of 1,700+ domains
in U.S. index over time.
Methodology
@lilyraynyc
Maintain categorized lists of high-traffic domains
and changes in traffic patterns.
Cross-reference organic performance with Sistrix
data, look for link-related anomalies.
Analyze how sites have changed their content
over time.

22. Results
@lilyraynyc

23. @lilyraynyc
Overarching Trends
Rise in
importance of
E-A-T for
YMYL sites
Authority >
relevance for
controversial/
crisis queries
Reduction
in adult content
Elimination
of fake news,
pseudoscience
& clickbait

24. @lilyraynyc
DOMAIN AVERAGE OF GAIN %
24,603%
870%
691%
324%
254%
133%
108%
53%
49%
42%
Winners

25. @lilyraynyc
WINNING CATEGORIES
Cooking sites, arts & entertainment, social media, shipping,
public health and stock photography sites saw the biggest
average percent increases in visibility.
Average
%
Change
in
Visibility
Index

26. @lilyraynyc
LOSING CATEGORIES
Religion and spirituality, humor, adult content, marketplaces,
and natural medicine sites saw significant percentage
declines in visibility.
Average
%
Change
in
Visibility
Index

27. @lilyraynyc
HEALTH WINNERS
These health, science, and medical domains saw the
greatest total growth in visibility since the Medic update.
Gain in Sistrix U.S. Visibility Index

28. Extreme declines in “natural
wellness” visibility
@lilyraynyc

29. July 2018 May 2021
Keyword: “hydrogen peroxide”
@lilyraynyc

30. July 2018 May 2021
Keyword: “natural cough remedies”
@lilyraynyc

31. July 2018 May 2021
Keyword: “baby gender”
@lilyraynyc

32. July 2018 May 2021
Keyword: “crystal healing”
@lilyraynyc

33. 33
What did losing
sites get wrong?
@lilyraynyc

34. @lilyraynyc
“get rid of ants naturally”
“big breasts”
“remedies for acne”
These pages
ranked #1 in 2018

35. Lack of Sufficient Expertise
Not listing author’s name(s) or biographies
No evidence of working with experts
Not citing sources
No proof of claims
Dangerous medical advice
@lilyraynyc

36. @lilyraynyc
Pushing products in informational YMYL content

37. How has
transformed the organic
search landscape
and how to respond
@lilyraynyc

38. @lilyraynyc
SIGNALS that can bring you DOWN

39. @lilyraynyc
(Really) BAD REPUTATION

40. @lilyraynyc

41. @lilyraynyc
DECEPTION

42. @lilyraynyc

43. @lilyraynyc
Lack of EXPERTISE &
INSUFFICIENT SOURCING of claims

44. @lilyraynyc

45. @lilyraynyc
DANGEROUS Medical Advice

46. @lilyraynyc

47. @lilyraynyc
EXTREMISM, HATE, PSEUDOSCIENCE
& MISINFORMATION

48. @lilyraynyc
labeled ‘inaccurate,’
‘misleading’ or ‘propaganda’*
6 sites

49. @lilyraynyc
EXCESSIVE AFFILIATE LINKS & SALESY
LANGUAGE in INFORMATIONAL CONTENT

50. (selling his own product)
(these point to Amazon)
@lilyraynyc

51. @lilyraynyc
Jack of all trades, MASTER of NONE

52. @lilyraynyc
Jack of all trades
master of none
Generalist / DIY sites
that write about “all
the things”

53. KEYWORD POSITION (JULY 2018) POSITION (MAY 2021) URL SEARCH VOLUME
deep sea creatures 1 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-most-terrifying-deep-sea-creatures/ 14,800
expensive shoe 1 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-most-expensive-shoes-in-the-world/ 5,150
facts Christmas 1 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-bizarre-interesting-facts-christmas/ 27,100
fastest in world 1 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-fastest-things-in-the-world/ 110,000
garden famous 1 Not Ranking
https://list25.com/25-photographs-of-the-worlds-most-famous-
gardens/
5,600
most animals 1 Not Ranking https://list25.com/the-25-most-dangerous-animals-in-the-world/ 18,100
vicious dog 1 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-most-dangerous-dog-breeds/ 19,000
worlds expensive 1 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-most-expensive-things-in-the-world/ 40,500
charms good luck 2 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-good-luck-charms-from-around-the-world/ 14,800
exotic pets 2 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-exotic-animals-you-could-legally-own/ 15,500
good charms 2 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-good-luck-charms-from-around-the-world/ 14,800
Marvel characters 2 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-most-powerful-marvel-characters/ 40,500
most snakes 2 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-of-the-worlds-most-venomous-snakes/ 12,100
optical illusions 2 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-incredible-optical-illusions/ 98,600
silly jokes 2 Not Ranking
https://list25.com/25-silly-jokes-that-will-have-you-laughing-in-no-
time/
5,600
art piece 3 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-most-famous-art-pieces/ 33,100
extreme torture 3 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-most-brutal-torture-techniques-ever-devised/ 14,800
philosopher 3 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-greatest-philosophers-who-ever-lived/ 7,100
records sold 3 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-top-selling-music-artists-of-all-time/ 18,100
superpower 3 Not Ranking https://list25.com/25-superpowers-you-wish-you-had/ 74,000
@lilyraynyc

54. @lilyraynyc
Client Case Studies &
How We Improve

55. What We Tackle With Clients
Updating, removing,
redirecting or
consolidating
underperforming
content
Ensuring we
demonstrate sufficient
E-A-T to address
certain topics
Increasing
transparency and trust
throughout our
content
Optimizing site
architecture & using
structured data to
reflect our sites’ areas
of expertise
@lilyraynyc

56. -Focused Website Overhaul
@lilyraynyc
Total Clicks
19.5M
Total Impressions
715M
Average CTR
2.7%
Average position
12.1
1 year of E-A-T focused website rebuilding

57. -focused URL consolidations
@lilyraynyc
June 2021
Core Update
6 months of very hard work

58. @lilyraynyc
@lilyraynyc

59. Updating Content to Improve E-A-T is *Hard Work*
@lilyraynyc

60. Do you really need 5 articles
that say the same thing?
Consolidate
Similar Articles
Consolidate
@lilyraynyc

61. @lilyraynyc
Good UX is
Crucial
Custom
jumplink
images! 😍
@lilyraynyc

62. @lilyraynyc
Optimize
Every Available Feature
Optimize
@lilyraynyc

63. Ecosystem
Google Maps
T
h
e
p
i
c
t
u
r
e
c
a
n
't
Google Play Store
The
pictur
e
can't
be
displa
yed.
Images
YouTube
Google News
Google Discover
Featured Snippets
Interesting Finds
Organic Search +
The Knowledge Graph
@lilyraynyc

64. @lilyraynyc
Don’t Forget…
What webmasters should
know about Google's core
updates
! the Answers are in
the Guidelines
@lilyraynyc

65. @lilyraynyc
…It just takes a LOT of hard work and a LOT of patience.
Improving and recovering
from core updates is possible.
@lilyraynyc

66. Lily Ray
@lilyraynyc