You Are What You EAT: A Guide to Google Quality Guidelines

On September 24th, Google released the September 2019 Core Algorithm update.

Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the September 2019 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before. Please see this blog for more about that: https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) September 24, 2019

They have also published their Quality Guidelines describing how they want their Search Quality Raters to assess the quality of your website.   It's 167 pages long, and worth a read if you have the time, but the most important lesson is:

You Should Boost your EAT Signals

EAT is a bit of a buzzword in SEO, it stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, and it's a big deal when it comes to Google positioning. The more your website shows that you are an expert, that you have authority, and that you are trustworthy, the more visible your website will be.

Expertise

It helps if you're an expert. So how do you show expertise?

• It's a good idea to update your 'About Us' page to describe how much experience you have, why you are better than the competition and what makes your business special
• If you have a blog or show articles on your website you should describe who is writing the blog and explain why they are qualified to give this advice

The more qualified you are, the more expertise you have.

Authority

It's one thing to be a qualified expert, but it's another to be recognised online as an expert.  How do you demonstrate this online authority?

• Your site should look professional and attractive, and be easy to navigate
• If you can get recommendations from experts, show them on your website (see expertise above)
• Can you get your site users to post some quality user content on your site?  Will they write reviews for your products, or can you encourage them to contribute to a Q and A?
• If you're a member of a professional body then you should mention that, and show their logo
• Have you won any awards, or been featured in a newspaper on TV?   If so then let people know.  It all adds to your authority.

Trust

If your business has a bad reputation, and comments like "I got scammed", "Customer service was terrible" or "They wouldn't refund me" are floating around you on social media or review sites, this will affect your ability to rank well as your trustworthiness rating will be damaged.

How do you encourage trust?

• Show clear contact information, and display your address in the footer of every page
• Make sure your customer service policies (on refunds and cancellations) are easy to find for Google as well as for your customers
• A privacy policy and a terms of business page should be part of your site too.

Google's Quality Raters are instructed that if any one of expertise, authority or trustworthiness is lacking on a website, then that site is to be rated as low quality.  If you get these right then your rivals can EAT your dust!