How to Follow the EEAT Framework to Create SEO Content

Irrespective of the industry you’re in, the business you’re running, or the audience you cater to, you’re probably creating content daily. In fact, if you’re here, you’re probably looking for tips on making your content better. And that you’ve probably already come across several pieces talking about the EEAT framework…

…leaving you scratching your head around how you can balance people-first content and the right frequency of keywords. We’ve all been there.

But what if you could create SEO content that meets the EEAT framework? This post will tell you how.

Recap: What is the EEAT framework

First things first, EEAT is often misunderstood and considered all too complicated, and hence, ignored. But it’s really not that difficult!

Simply put, EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It’s a framework that lays down a set of criteria used by search engines like Google to evaluate the reliability and quality of content.

Here’s a breakdown:

Experience - Refers to what extent the author has the required first-hand experience on the topic being written on.
Expertise - In continuation to the above, this parameter refers to the level of knowledge or skill of the author on the topic.
Authoritativeness - Measures the extent to which the website or the author is considered a go-to source of information in the field.
Trustworthiness - Assess the level of accuracy of information in the content and the reliability of the website.

Doesn’t sound all that difficult to achieve, right (if your heart’s in the right place)?

Now before we dive into how to create people-first content that the search engine loves, let’s quickly also recap what SEO content traditionally means.

Recap no. 2: What is SEO content

SEO content refers to any content that is created with a primary goal of attracting traffic from search engines. This typically includes creating web pages, blog posts, articles, product pages, guides and tutorials, infographics, visual content, and other content types.

Traditionally, SEO content is often categorized as content created to incorporate the keywords you want to ‘capture’.

And that sadly translates to - content that isn’t focused on the audience, but on the:

Number of keywords included
The frequency at which the keywords are used

That’s exactly why 96.55% of content gets no traffic from Google.

The content that does, is the one that taps into the power of both SEO and EEAT and I’m going to tell you how to do this.

How to create SEO content that meets the EEAT framework

While the EEAT framework isn’t complex, we’re not going to say it is easy and you can ‘get to it’ right away. There’s a bit of hard work you need to put in, but let’s make that more actionable:

1. Identify your content tilt

The very first thing you need to do is identify your content tilt - the unique angle or perspective that will differentiate your content from the others.

With thousands of pieces getting published every day, just creating content doesn’t cut it anymore. But to find your differentiator, you require a deep understanding of your audience, expertise, and what makes you (or your brand) special.

Here’s how to find your content tilt:

Identify your core audience - Conduct surveys and interviews to get first-hand insight on your audience, and create detailed audience personas, 🎁 Get your free personas template.
Assess your expertise and resources - Honestly list out your strengths and weaknesses, and unique knowledge, and ensure you evaluate your content creation resources (budgets, tools, formats).
Analyze the competition - Take a look at companies you’re competing with directly and indirectly to identify gaps and opportunities.
Identify trends - Deep dive into industry trends using tools like Google Trends and BuzzSumo to find overlaps with your experience.
Align with your values - No matter what you think is on the uptick, ensure it aligns with your vision, mission and values.

And while this is step one in this post, it should remain in a continuous loop of iteration where you experiment, measure and optimize your content tilt.

2. Leverage the expertise within and around you

Let’s be honest for a minute - you can’t be an expert at everything.

And the sooner you realize that, the better you become at following the EEAT framework.

Here’s what this means:

Identify your expertise - Take a good look at the work you’ve done so far, what you’re good at and where you could be better.
Find subject matter experts - Seek out who in the business has the most experience to write on a topic, who you’d want as a spokesperson and who can commit to sharing insights, comments and thoughts on it.

This is important because a key part of EEAT is to not just voice your expertise but also give a name to it.

While there’s no harm in publishing authorless content, knowing ‘who’ has written a piece and giving the readers a way to validate what they’re saying, gives you a competitive edge.

For example, if you’re reading this piece authored by me right now and head over to my LinkedIn profile, it will tell you that everything written here comes from over a decade of experience in implementing it for startups.

3. Add value beyond what’s already present

Ever stumbled upon a piece of content online with a promising title and not enough material?

There’s so much content published every day that everything is starting to sound the same.

Irrespective of the content format, everything looks like a rehash of something you’ve seen or read before.

We won’t call it ‘copycat’ content, but it sure seems to be inspired from the same thing.

So here’s how you’re going to stand out:

Find the top-ranking content for the topic (web pages, blogs, ebooks, and others)
Take note of information and knowledge gaps
Identify where you or your team of experts can contribute
Ensure you’re covering enough of the topic to build topical authority

4. Establish a positive brand reputation

Everyone talks about building topical authority.

But as you work your way towards building it, you also need to focus on the overall reputation.

And the best way to build a positive one is to get your work recognised or acknowledged. Here are some ways in which you can do so:

Ensure you’re putting your best foot forward (quality content)
Get your existing customers and subscribers to share reviews or testimonials
Get backlinks from high-authority websites within your industry
Engage in guest blogging and collaborations with recognized names
Speak at industry conferences and co-host webinars
Get your brand and people featured in the press (yes, digital PR works)
Showcase any awards, recognitions, or certifications your business has received

5. Give your audience a reason to trust you

While the above can definitely help move your brand (and your content) in the right direction, there’s more that you can do.

This is where the About Us page comes in handy.

But don’t just make another /about-us web page alone. The content here matters more than you think!

You should be including the following topics:

Your story (what, why and how)
Product/ service information
Unique selling proposition (USP)
Team information
Awards, accreditations and similar social proof
Reviews and testimonials
Locations
Contact information
Clients and customers

Here’s an example from Zoho:

6. Optimize for the search engine

You didn’t think you could skip search engine optimization for your web content, did you?

Let’s break this down into a simple actionable checklist of direct ranking signals:

Keyword research - Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to identify high search volume and low competition keywords. Ensure you include long-tail and jobs-to-be-done keywords to niche down.
On-page SEO - Optimize titles and meta descriptions with primary keywords, use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure the content and incorporate primary and secondary keywords naturally. Ensure you include keywords in the first 100 words of your content!
Content quality - Focus on high-quality, informative and engaging content. Ensure there are no grammatical errors or typos, and you offer a comprehensive coverage of the topic.
Multimedia use - Include images, videos and infographics in your content but also ensure you optimize them with descriptive ALT text and filenames. And please, stop using those stock files and rather use your own multimedia.
Internal linking - Link to related content within your website to improve navigation and reader experience.
External linking - Link to authoritative and relevant external sources when you cite statistics, facts or information. But ensure these links open in a new tab!
Mobile optimization - Ensure where you host your content is mobile-friendly and responsive because we all consume information on-the-go.
Page load speed - Optimize images and use a content delivery network (CDN), and minimize CSS, JavaScript and HTML files, to ensure your load times are up to the mark. Make use of the lazy loading feature, so your webpage starts off smaller than its full size and thus will load faster.
URL structure - Use short, descriptive URLs and include primary keywords.
User experience (UX) - Ensure your website content is easy to browse through and navigate with an intuitive, clutter-free layout.
Schema markup - Implement structured data (schema markup) to enhance search engine understanding and use appropriate types.
Social sharing - Include sharing buttons to key social platforms to encourage content sharing to reach a wider audience through your readers.

Make sure to follow this checklist to improve the search performance and overall quality of your content.

7. Keep your content updated

No matter how comprehensively you cover a topic, it comes with an expiry date.

As the industry evolves or trends change, some of your content will become outdated and soon turn into old or inaccurate information for the same target audience that liked it before.

That’s why you need to review your content regularly and update it.

As a general rule, review your content every six months or at least once a year. Here’s how to approach updating content:

Update statistics and data with the latest figures
Revise outdated information
Improve readability with shorter paragraphs and better structure
Add new sections or subtopics
Change the multimedia (images, infographics, videos)
Integrate new keywords into the content, title tags and meta description
Add links to newer, relevant articles on your site and on others
Update and optimize anchor text
Reshare content on social media and with subscribers on email
Refresh calls to action (CTAs) to include new offers

Oh and when you do update your content, let everyone know.

For example, at Contensify, we create extensive resources on B2B SaaS content marketing and ensure they remain up-to-date.

8. Encourage reader engagement

Remember, EEAT is about indicating to the search engine that your content is valued. This happens when your readers actively engage with your content.

This can be through likes, comments, shares and other forms of engagement. But at the same time, it is also about responding to each interaction to build a sense of community and trust!

Here are some ways to do this:

Add clear call-to-actions to engage with the content
Make it easier with smart plugins like Hubspot, Disqus or a comment box
Reward the engagement by giving shoutouts for positive feedback

9. Maintain a consistent publishing schedule

Authority isn’t built in a day.

And the search engine knows when you publish a few pieces of content, to only disappear for the next couple of months.

A go-to source of information will focus on keeping up and providing content to their audience in a timely manner.

That’s where consistency comes in.

Here’s how you can ensure a consistent publishing schedule:

Set clear business goals and objectives
Create a documented content calendar
Research topics, brainstorm ideas and catalog them
Develop a content creation process
Make the most of tools and technologies
Maintain a content inventory
Automate where you can

This is where a content marketing suite like Storychief comes in handy. Right from creating and sharing a content calendar to centralizing content creation, ensuring multi-channel marketing, search engine optimization or even measuring the performance of your content, you can streamline it all to one platform.