top of page
  • Writer's pictureHalina Biernscki

WHAT IS PAGE QUALITY?

Updated: Aug 30, 2022


Goolge  smiley logo


E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), or Page Quality is a concept Google initially introduced in 2014, And since that time there have been a few revisions. Currently, this concept resides within a 175-page guideline. The most recent Search Quality Rating was published in October 2020. These guidelines are meant for human quality raters “Search Quality Raters”. Their ratings are used to measure how well search engine algorithms are performing for a broad range of searches. Apparently, there are about 10,000 people employed by Google to carry out these spot-checks, a process which is designed to check up on the ranking algorithms effectiveness in recognizing web page quality.



What are the Keys to Understanding Google’s Definition of Quality for Web Pages & Content?

  • Beneficial Purpose

  • E.A.T.

  • YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)

1. What is meant by Beneficial Purpose?

In simple terms, it's purpose is to offer a website with content that is useful to the searcher.


An excerpt from Google's Search Quality list includes the following definition:

2. What is E.A.T.?

The purpose of E-A-T is to ensure the content of a website is quality driven.


Expertise: This refers to the creator of the main content (MC) of the page. Are they an expert on the topic? Do they have the credentials, if necessary, to back that up, and is this information available to read on the website?


Authoritativeness: This means having generally recognized authority. People know you, know your background, and look to you as a leader in your industry. They accept you as a good source of information.

Trustworthiness: Being a trustworthy expert and source means people can trust you to provide honest, true information that is accurate.


3. What is YMYL?

Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content is the type of information that, if presented inaccurately, untruthfully, or deceptively, could directly impact the reader’s happiness, health, safety, or financial stability. In other words, the stakes are high for this type of content. If you create a YMYL page with bad advice or bad information, it could affect people’s lives and livelihoods. For example, offering financial advice that might cause harm ... similar to fraud.


" Google doesn’t just care about delivering the most relevant information — they also want to deliver the correct information. With certain types of searches, there is a huge potential to negatively impact users’ “happiness, health, or wealth” — in other words, were these pages low quality, they have the potential to impact a user’s well-being."




So, the bottom line … Do websites have an E-A-T score?

No. This answer is quite obvious when you understand that Google evaluates E-A-T based on the human Quality Raters, which the engineers use to develop algorithms and guidelines.


Scoring something requires measurable quantitative data, such as, a jug of milk equals 1 gallon.


Whereas, E-A-T is a qualitative data; that approximates a website, observes it, and records an opinion. This data type is non-numerical. E-A-T is all about words which characterizes a website.


How To Improve For Page Quality?

  • Build more links

  • Keep content up to date

  • Fact check the content


On December 3, 2020, Google’s Search Liaison wrote on Twitter:


“Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the December 2020 Core Update.”


So far it appears that rankings based on thin or poorly written content were hit the hardest. It is suggested to review any important ranking pages you have and ensuring the E.A.T conditions are met. Since its inception in 2014, Google has continued to stress the importance of the E-A-T principle. Specifically, that content has Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.


~~~







43 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page