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If you’re into search engine marketing, you know how arduous it can be trying to get a website ranked at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). And right when you think you have it all figured out, Google throws a monkey wrench in the form of another algorithm update!
A couple years back, Google rolled out an update that significantly changed how site authority is evaluated, measured and scored.
Previously, backlinks were taken into account to analyze the performance of pages and to subsequently rank them. However, Google now emphasizes Expertise, Authority and Trust (E-A-T) factors when calculating a URL’s site authority.
Site Authority and E-A-T: The Connection
Google has made E-A-T one of the most important factors that determine a website’s overall authority. If you’re wondering what does website authority mean and how E-A-T affects it, keep reading on:
Website authority — or domain authority (DA) — is a metric that assesses how well a website will perform in the SERPs. Created by Moz, this site authority ranking metric has 40 rating criteria points to score a website between 1 and 100.
Many businesses often ask: What is domain authority and why is it important?
While there’s no simple answer to what constitutes having good domain authority, what’s important to understand is that a website’s DA should be used as a factor to analyze its relative competitiveness.
A website with a higher DA score than its competitor is more likely to get ranked higher in the SERPs.
You might be wondering how to find your website’s score. Well, we recommend going straight to the source and using Moz’s free tool to check your site’s authority score.
Google continually strives to enhance its users’ search experience, so it creates algorithms to promote only those sites that are relevant, authoritative and trustworthy. The latest algorithm update focuses on just that.
Understanding E-A-T
E-A-T metrics are configured to gauge a company’s expertise in its respective domain. While analyzing a site’s E-A-T, Google takes several factors into account like the entirety of the website, content on individual pages, and the expertise level of the content creator(s).
1.) Expertise. Demonstrating expertise in your field has become essential. If you can demonstrate in-depth knowledge to your targeted audience, Google will regard you as an expert and display you on top.
2.) Authority. Authority is associated with the author or creator of the main content of a website. It’s indicated through a professional biography on the author that’s usually included with the content.
The easiest way to achieve high site authority is to have an expert create content for your website. Also, make sure to cite other high-authority ranking websites wherever it makes sense.
3.) Trust. Your website’s trustworthiness is determined by measuring your visitors’ reliance on the information you provide. If you keep putting out helpful and informative content that keeps visitors coming back for more, you’re on the right track.
We hope you learned something today about site authority. Visit our blog for more articles and subscribe to learn more about search engine marketing!