In it, we get a better understanding of Google’s view on what is a quality website. From there, we can piece together how that might factor into Google’s algorithms.

After the dust has settled with algorithm updates, we can see much more clearly that Google actions speak louder than words. Many of you know we study, then speak, so while we are not the first to the party, what we say when we arrive is worthy of a listen.

In this article:

• What is Google’s E-E-A-T and where did it come from?
• How does Google’s search quality rater guidelines work?
• E-E-A-T and rankings
• How does Google define experience, expertise, authority, and trust?
• How E-E-A-T and YMYL go hand-in-hand
• Have a purpose, then E-E-A-T
• TL;DR
• FAQ: How does Google define experience, expertise, authority, and trust in the context of E-E-A-T?

What Is Google’s E-E-A-T and Where Did It Come From?

The concept of E-E-A-T, also known as experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust, originated in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines (SQRG).

We first found out about search quality teams in 2004 — people who evaluate the quality of the search results — then later when the internal SQRG document was leaked from Google.

In 2015, Google made the full version of Search Quality Rater Guidelines available to the public. Since then, it has gone through several iterations, with the latest version dated December 2022.

(This is a good summary of big changes since the last iteration of SQRG.)

The concept of E-E-A-T within the SQRG debuted in 2014, giving us clues into what Google believes is quality. The added “E” for experience debuted in 2022.

E-E-A-T can apply to individual pages or whole sites, and how important E-E-A-T also depends on the type of topic. I’ll touch more on that later.

How Does Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines Work?

The SQRG allows Google to better understand if the changes it’s making to its Search algorithms are producing quality results.

Human evaluators (thousands of them) use the guide as a way to evaluate the search results for certain queries and then report back what they have found. This can act as a feedback loop for Google engineers to make further tweaks to the algorithm.

Here are some snippets from Google explaining how search quality raters work.

In a help file here, Google explains how raters work:

We constantly experiment with ideas to improve the results you see. One of the ways we evaluate those experiments is by getting feedback from third-party Search Quality Raters. Quality Raters are spread out all over the world and are highly trained using our extensive guidelines. Their feedback helps us understand which changes make Search more useful.

Raters also help us categorize information to improve our systems. For example, we might ask what language a page is written in or what’s important on a page.

We use responses from Raters to evaluate changes, but they don’t directly impact how our search results are ranked.

Another explanation from Google here on its “how search works” page:

We work with external Search Quality Raters to measure the quality of Search results on an ongoing basis. Raters assess how well content fulfills a search request and evaluate the quality of results based on the expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of the content. These ratings do not directly impact ranking, but they do help us benchmark the quality of our results and make sure these meet a high bar all around the world.

And here’s a 2012 video of former Googler Matt Cutts (remember him?) discussing it:

E-E-A-T and Rankings

E-E-A-T does not directly impact rankings as an algorithm would. Instead, Google uses a variety of signals in its algorithm to align with the concept of E-E-A-T.

For example, I believe the “Panda” update was about expertise, the “Penguin” update about authority, the “Medic” update about trust, and the “Product Review” update about experience.

In my opinion, experience is just a different form of expertise … not good for all topics, but important for some.

Those who watch Google know how to read between the lines. When the Medic update hit, we saw both a blog post from Google and a tweet from Googler Danny Sullivan about the SQRG:

Want to do better with a broad change? Have great content. Yeah, the same boring answer. But if you want a better idea of what we consider great content, read our raters guidelines. That’s like almost 200 pages of things to consider: https://t.co/pO3AHxFVrV

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) August 1, 2018

In that blog post, Google said:

Another resource for advice on great content is to review our search quality rater guidelines. Raters are people who give us insights on if our algorithms seem to be providing good results, a way to help confirm our changes are working well.

It’s important to understand that search raters have no control over how pages rank. Rater data is not used directly in our ranking algorithms. Rather, we use them as a restaurant might get feedback cards from diners. The feedback helps us know if our systems seem to be working.

If you understand how raters learn to assess good content, that might help you improve your own content. In turn, you might perhaps do better in Search.

In particular, raters are trained to understand if content has what we call strong E-E-A-T. That stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Reading the guidelines may help you assess how your content is doing from an E-E-A-T perspective and improvements to consider.

Back in 2019 (and the tweet looks like it has since been deleted by Sullivan), he had this to say about how E-E-A-T factors into search:

It’s almost like we look for signals that align with expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. We should give that an acronym like E-E-A-T and maybe suggest people aim for this. Oh wait, we did: https://t.co/1fs2oIS54L pic.twitter.com/xNL424dDdq

— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) October 11, 2019

How Does Google Define Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust?

Now let’s examine experience, expertise, authority, and trust and how to achieve it on your website. First, it’s important to know that Google places “trust” at the center of page quality.

As outlined in the SQRG:

Trust is the most important member of the E-E-A-T family because untrustworthy pages have low E-E-A-T no matter how Experienced, Expert, or Authoritative they may seem. For example, a financial scam is untrustworthy, even if the content creator is a highly experienced and expert scammer who is considered the go-to on running scams!

Let’s look closer at each of the factors in E-E-A-T.

Trust

Trust is assessed on multiple levels:

1. The trustworthiness of the content creator
2. The trustworthiness of the content itself
3. The trustworthiness of the website as a whole

Regarding trust, Google says: “Consider the extent to which the page is accurate, honest, safe, and reliable.”

It goes on to say:

The type and amount of Trust needed depends on the page, for example:

• Online stores need secure online payment systems and reliable customer service.
• Product reviews should be honest and written to help others make informed purchasing decisions (rather than solely to sell the product).
• Informational pages on clear YMYL topics must be accurate to prevent harm to people and society.
• Social media posts on non-YMYL topics may not need a high level of Trust, such as when the purpose of the post is to entertain its audience and the content of the post does not risk causing harm.

The guidelines further highlight how trust factors into quality:

The website or content creator may not be a trustworthy source if there is a clear conflict of interest. For example, product reviews by people who own the product and share their experiences can be very valuable and trustworthy. However, “reviews” by the product manufacturer (“Our product is great!”) or “reviews” from an influencer who is paid to promote the product are not as trustworthy due to the conflict of interest. Finally, there are many aspects of Trust, some which are not captured by Experience, Expertise and Authoritativeness. Please consider other aspects in your overall Trust assessment, such as customer service information for online stores or peer-reviewed publications for academic authors. If a page is untrustworthy for any reason, it has low E-E-A-T.

The guidelines also give examples of trust as it relates to websites with the highest level of E-E-A-T:

Trust is especially important for high quality pages that involve processing financial transactions or cover YMYL topics. Even if the topic is not YMYL, trust may still be required; for example, product reviews and pages offering advice require at least some level of trust. While not all pages require a high level of trust, a trustworthy page is often a satisfying one.

Trust – at least in part – is about reputation.

From the SQRG:

Reputation research is especially important for detecting untrustworthy websites and content creators. Content may look great on the surface, but reputation research can expose scams, fraud, or other signs of harm. You never know what you will find unless you look! Therefore, reputation research is required for all PQ rating tasks.

Google further defines how it thinks about reputation:

A website’s reputation is based on the experience of real users and the opinions of people who are experts. Websites may represent real companies, organizations, and other entities. Reputation research applies to both the website and the actual company, organization, or entity that the website is representing.

Reputation, says the SQRG, is determined by outside information about the website (not just what the website says about itself):

Many websites are eager to tell users how great they are. … Be skeptical of claims that websites make about themselves, particularly when there is a clear conflict of interest. Instead, look for independent reviews, references, recommendations by experts, news articles, and other sources of credible information about the website. Look for information written by a person or organization, not statistics or other machine-compiled information.

The guidelines give clues into some ways that Google evaluates trust and reputation:

News articles, Wikipedia articles, blog posts, magazine articles, forum discussions, and ratings from independent organizations can all be great sources of reputation information.

For YMYL topics, the reputation of a website should be judged by what experts in the field have to say. Recommendations from expert sources, such as professional societies, are strong evidence of a positive reputation.

Sources of reputation information will also vary according to the topic or type of company/organization/entity that the website represents. For example, you might find that a newspaper (with an associated website) has won journalistic awards. Prestigious awards or a history of high-quality original reporting are strong evidence of positive reputation for news websites.

Trust and the Algorithm

Product Reviews

In 2022, Google launched a product reviews update. This update aimed to weed out product reviews written by people who had not actually used the product. The SQRG discusses trust as it relates to product reviews throughout.

Bad Reputation and Rankings

Google does not look kindly upon sites or brands with a bad reputation. This is something it has been battling for years and gained a lot of traction with the Decor My Eyes debacle many years ago.

I believe sentiment is an important factor in trust and can impact rankings. I also believe that artificial intelligence has allowed Google to make significant advances in sentiment measurement as a part of that trust component.

As outlined in an article I wrote on sentiment as a trust signal, things like low ratings on the Better Business Bureau can be a big deal. We believe this harmed rankings for a client.

Others have reported how reputation (specifically poor BBB ratings) may have impacted rankings after the “Medic” update.

Past versions of the SQRG in fact mentioned the BBB several times. Here was one instance:

Look for articles, reviews, forum posts, discussions, etc. written by people about the website. For businesses, there are many sources of reputation information and reviews. Here are some examples: Yelp, Better Business Bureau (a nonprofit organization that focuses on the trustworthiness of businesses and charities), Amazon, and Google Shopping.

One excerpt indicated that “very low ratings on BBB are usually the result of multiple unresolved complaints,” and to “consider very low ratings on the BBB site to be evidence for a negative reputation.”

To be clear, I do not think a BBB rating is a direct ranking signal. Google has confirmed here that it is not.

Again, the SQRG is designed to be used as a feedback loop for how Google designs its algorithms.

Does Google want brands or websites with a bad reputation to rank high? Of course not. Does Google integrate things like the BBB rating into its search results? Yes, just look at the entries for Google Local Services.

It seems that Google AI technology can separate good from bad reviews, and properly count them in your rankings. They know if you have been naughty or nice.

So, where does that leave us? Does sentiment impact a website’s trustworthiness, and indirectly impact rankings? I believe so.

I have written more about sentiment as a trust signal in a two-part series. For more, see:

• Sentiment as an SEO Trust Signal
• How to Use Sentiment Analysis to Strengthen SEO Trustworthiness

Experience

Prior to introducing the “experience” category in 2022, Google discussed the importance of life experience in past versions of the SQRG – but mostly as it related to “expertise.” Now, Google has decided that experience is important – and different enough – to have its own category.

Experience has to do with first-hand experience about the page topic from the content creator.

The guidelines clarify:

Consider the extent to which the content creator has the necessary first-hand or life experience for the topic. Many types of pages are trustworthy and achieve their purpose well when created by people with a wealth of personal experience. For example, which would you trust: a product review from someone who has personally used the product or a “review” by someone who has not?

The guidelines go on to say that:

Experience is valuable for almost any topic. Social media posts and forum discussions are often High quality when they involve people sharing their experience. From writing symphonies to reviewing home appliances, first-hand experience can make a social media post or discussion page High quality.

However, low-quality pages do not have an adequate amount of experience behind them, says Google, and gives the example of a restaurant review written by someone who has never eaten at the restaurant.

Experience and the Algorithm

Google’s product review update in 2022 is about first-hand experience. Google has discussed the types of product reviews it is looking for – and they require that the reviewer has actually used the product.

The experience factor is also something that can help website publishers create more original content in general – content that can stand out from all the other listings in the search results.

The originality of content is discussed in the SQRG when assessing page quality:

Consider the extent to which the content offers unique, original content that is not available on other websites. If other websites have similar content, consider whether the page is the original source.

That said, Google’s helpful content update, which also went live in 2022, was designed to “provide better ranking of original, quality content.”

From Google’s announcement:

For example, if you search for information about a new movie, you might have previously seen articles that aggregated reviews from other sites without adding perspectives beyond what’s available elsewhere. This isn’t very helpful if you’re expecting to read something new. With this update, you’ll see more results with unique, authentic information, so you’re more likely to read something you haven’t seen before.

The bottom line: Differentiation will become more important. And sometimes you need experience to differentiate.

Expertise

Expertise has to do with the level of skill or knowledge that the content creator must have to speak intelligently on a topic. The guidelines discuss this concept further:

Consider the extent to which the content creator has the necessary knowledge or skill for the topic. Different topics require different levels and types of expertise to be trustworthy. For example, which would you trust: home electrical rewiring advice from a skilled electrician or from an antique homes enthusiast who has no knowledge of electrical wiring?

Google says that pages with a high level of E-E-A-T may demonstrate expertise in the following way:

Expertise is required for satisfying content on a variety of topics, from hobbies such as photography to YMYL topics such as tax preparation. Think about the topic of the page and what expertise is needed to create satisfying, trustworthy content. There are many types of informal expertise that may be visible in the MC itself.

Examples of Expert Content

In older versions of the SQRG, Google clarified some examples in which high expertise is critical:

• High E-E-A-T medical advice should be written or produced by people or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation. High E-E-A-T medical advice or information should be written or produced in a professional style and should be edited, reviewed, and updated on a regular basis.
• High E-E-A-T news articles should be produced with journalistic professionalism—they should contain factually accurate content presented in a way that helps users achieve a better understanding of events. High E-E-A-T news sources typically have published established editorial policies and robust review processes …
• High E-E-A-T information pages on scientific topics should be produced by people or organizations with appropriate scientific expertise and represent well-established scientific consensus on issues where such consensus exists.
• High E-E-A-T financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, etc., should come from trustworthy sources and be maintained and updated regularly.
• High E-E-A-T advice pages on topics such as home remodeling (which can cost thousands of dollars and impact your living situation) or advice on parenting issues (which can impact the future happiness of a family) should also come from “expert” or experienced sources that users can trust.
• High E-E-A-T pages on hobbies, such as photography or learning to play a guitar, also require expertise.

It’s worth reviewing the examples of high E-E-A-T in the SQRG, Section 8.3, and examples of highest quality pages in Section 8.4.

For example, for this recipe page, Google notes: “The author of this blog has documented her extensive experimentation with a chocolate chip cookie recipe, and her expertise is demonstrated in the large quantity of original high or highest quality MC.” It goes on to say, “The author of this blog has documented her extensive experimentation with a chocolate chip cookie recipe (Experience), and her expertise and skill is demonstrated in the large quantity of unique, original, and very satisfying MC.”

For this PDF of a campus map, Google notes: “This PDF file is a detailed campus map of a major university, which is hosted on the official university website. This is a highly authoritative source for this information. The map includes a listing of all the buildings, parking structures, parking lots, construction areas, etc. (effort, skill, accuracy).”

How to Determine “An Expert”

So how does someone show they’re an expert? Experts build a name for themselves on a particular subject matter. But how do you communicate that expertise to a person who may have just landed on your page from the search results?

Having easily accessible credentials is key. For example, author biographies.

In a Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout, John Mueller discussed E-E-A-T and author biographies:

In a nutshell, Mueller says it’s less of a technical thing (like using markup on the page) and more of a user experience thing. Make sure that visitors can easily identify who wrote the content and why they are qualified to do so.

In another Webmaster Central office-hours hangout, Mueller again discussed schema markup as it relates to E-E-A-T. He reiterated that while Google can use this info, make sure that information is accessible by users, not just search engines.

This article references a Pubcon Q&A with Googler Gary Illyes in which he was quoted as saying:

“In web search, we have entities for very popular authors, like if you were an executive for the Washington Post, then you probably have an entity. It’s not about the author, it’s about the entity.”

Going back to the SQRG, Google gives another example of how to determine an expert:

… you may be able to tell that someone is an expert in hair styling by watching a video of them in action (styling someone’s hair) and reading others’ comments (commenters often highlight expertise or lack thereof).

Expertise and the Google Algorithm

Let’s talk about expertise and the algorithm. When someone types in a query, Google is going to use its algorithms and RankBrain to determine which webpages (out of potential millions) in its index for that query will show up on page one.

One of the ways Google might determine if your content is “expert” is how similar or different that content is to other expert, high-quality webpages.

In the SQRG, Google reiterates time and again the importance of topics – especially YMYL topics – to be “consistent with well-established expert consensus.”

For instance, say you have content that states that blueberries can cure cancer. Even if you feel you have the authority to make this claim, when competing against YMYL content, you will not be considered an expert for a query about cancer because the claim is not supported elsewhere.

In fact, Google would go so far as to say that this information is harmful, and a page with this type of information may get the lowest rating:

Health-related advice that contradicts well-established expert consensus and could result in serious harm or could prevent someone from undertaking a life-saving treatment.

In summary, expertise is really as simple as this quote from SQRG: “Expertise is required for satisfying content on a variety of topics, from hobbies such as photography to YMYL topics such as tax preparation. Think about the topic of the page and what expertise is needed to create satisfying, trustworthy content. There are many types of informal expertise that may be visible in the MC [main content] itself.”

Authoritativeness

Authoritativeness builds on expertise, and takes three things into account:

1. The authority of the content creator
2. The authority of the content itself
3. The authority of the website as a whole

To achieve authority, one must be a recognized expert in their field, whether a brand or a person. From the guidelines:

Consider the extent to which the content creator or the website is known as a go-to source for the topic. While most topics do not have one official, Authoritative website or content creator, when they do, that website or content creator is often among the most reliable and trustworthy sources. For example, a local business profile page on social media may be the authoritative and trusted source for what is on sale now. The official government page for getting a passport is the unique, official, and authoritative source for passport renewal.

On the flipside, the guidelines give an example of what would not be authoritative, such as tax form downloads provided on a cooking website.

And even though a website may be a collection of contributors, in many cases, the brand is responsible for the overall content. That means the authority of the brand can come into play.

In previous versions of the SQRG, Google had this to say:

Often a business or organization is responsible for the content of a website, not an individual person. The IBM Corporation is responsible for the content on ibm.com. The Cleveland Clinic is responsible for the content on clevelandclinic.org. An individual is not responsible for the content on these websites, even though many individuals contributed to creating and maintaining the content. In these cases, we will view the business or organization as responsible for the content on every single page, as well as maintenance of the website.

The December 2022 version gives examples of websites with the highest levels of authority:

Government tax websites are an authoritative source for tax forms. Local businesses and organizations may be go-to sources for local information. When looking at a page or website, consider whether it is considered a go-to, authoritative source for the type of information it is displaying.

Authority doesn’t have to be complicated to achieve. For example, the US Naval Observatory Master Clock page has a high level of E-E-A-T, according to the guidelines:

The SQRG says this about it:

The purpose of this page is to display the official US Naval Observatory Master Clock time in 7 different time zones. The page displays the clock information in a clear, easy-to-read format. The Naval Observatory is highly trustworthy and authoritative for this type of information.

Authority and the Algorithm

The SQRG does not make mention of links to a website as an indicator of authority. But we know from experience that links matter.

Since the beginning, a link to a site has been a vote of confidence. This is the concept of PageRank, and yes, it still exists.

Of course, you want links from other experts or other relevant types of sites, not just any links. Google is good at knowing which links should count, thanks to its evolving algorithm and updates like Penguin.

Mentions could also be a factor in how Google determines authority. When determining if an individual or brand is an authority on a topic, do a simple search online.

Is a person’s name connected with the subject matter in the search results?

In a post on E-E-A-T from Marie Haynes, she accurately points out that:

If your business is getting amazing press mentions, this really can help. The incredible thing though is that Google feels really confident that they can determine which mentions are there because there is true buzz circulating about your company, and which are just there because they’re paid, incentivized or self made.

There is a big difference between a mention from a Forbes contributor and a Forbes staff journalist. Google knows to ignore the former, and most likely, they can recognize the latter as a vote for your brand’s authority. In fact, we believe that this was one of the reasons why Google made changes to rel=nofollow. It is possible that now, if Google comes across a great link on an authoritative site, we think they can count it towards your E-E-A-T even if it is nofollowed.

To add to the discussion about rel=nofollow … I, too, believe what Marie is suggesting: that <nofollow> is merely a hint to Google nowadays. Just as a link with a <nofollow> on it can work to your advantage as in her example, it can work against you, too.

Take this scenario as an example: A person on your site is reading an informational article. Within that article is a link with branded anchor text pointing to a company website. This link is a paid placement.

The average reader would not be able to distinguish a <nofollow> link from a regular link. Therefore, that link may be automatically trusted by your website users.

If Google identifies this link as irrelevant or deceptive (especially when we’re talking about YMYL topics), Google might ignore the <nofollow> and still count that link against your site.

(For more on this, see a post I wrote on manual penalties and guest posts.)

Overlap in E-E-A-T

Experience, expertise, authority, and trust are interconnected concepts as it relates to a quality webpage or website. And the guidelines make clear that there is overlap when evaluating page quality:

Experience, Expertise, and Authoritativeness may overlap for some page types and topics (for example, someone may develop Expertise in a topic due to first-hand Experience accumulated over time), and different combinations of E-E-A may be relevant to different topics. You should consider the purpose, type, and topic of the page, then ask yourself what would make the content creator a trustworthy source in that context.

Another excerpt where the guidelines show how interconnected these concepts are:

These considerations overlap. For example, while examining the quality of the MC [main content], you may notice factual inaccuracies that lower your assessment of Trust. While conducting reputation research, you may find information about the expertise of the content creator which increases your level of Trust. This is how PQ rating is designed to work!

How this might work algorithmically is that Google would use different E-E-A-T factors and different weights for those factors based on the topic.

For example, the guidelines have this to say:

Very high E-E-A-T is a distinguishing factor for Highest quality pages. A website or content creator who is the uniquely authoritative, go-to source for a topic has very high E-E-A-T. A content creator with a wealth of experience may be considered to have very high E-E-A-T for topics where experience is the primary factor in trust. [emphasis added] A very high level of expertise can justify a very high E-E-A-T assessment. Very high E-E-A-T websites and content creators are the most trusted sources on the internet for a particular topic. Think about what E-E-A-T means for the topic of the page. How important is first-hand experience? Who are the experts? What makes a source highly authoritative for the topic? What makes a website or content creator trustworthy for the topic? Standards for very high E-E-A-T will differ depending on the topic of the page. [emphasis added]

How E-E-A-T and YMYL Go Hand-in-Hand

“Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) webpages or topics are those that Google says “could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society.”

These types of topics, in particular, are held to a very high standard. In these instances, E-E-A-T is critical.

YMYL topics could include:

• News and current events
• Civics, government, and law
• Finance
• Shopping
• Health and safety
• Info related to groups of people
• Social media viral “challenges”

Section 2.3 of the guidelines categorizes different types of harm that might occur from YMYL topics:

• YMYL Health or Safety: Topics that could harm mental, physical, and emotional health, or any form of safety such as physical safety or safety online.
• YMYL Financial Security: Topics that could damage a person’s ability to support themselves and their families.
• YMYL Society: Topics that could negatively impact groups of people, issues of public interest, trust in public institutions, etc.
• YMYL Other: Topics that could hurt people or negatively impact welfare or well-being of society.

Assessing YMYL topics, says the guidelines, is not cut and dry: “Because YMYL assessment is a spectrum, it may be helpful to think of topics as clear YMYL, definitely not YMYL or something in between.”

The SQRG gives examples of how YMYL would come into play:

When Google updated the guidelines in December 2022, it added a section to clarify when experience or expertise is important to YMYL topics:

Pages on YMYL topics can be created for a wide variety of different purposes. If the purpose of a page on a clear YMYL topic is to give information or offer advice, a high level of expertise may be required for the page to be trustworthy.

However, sometimes pages on YMYL topics are created to share personal experiences, often regarding difficult life challenges. People turn to each other in times of need to share their own experience, seek comfort or inspiration, and learn from others. Factual information from experts and authoritative sources may not satisfy this need.

Pages that share first-hand life experience on clear YMYL topics may be considered to have high E-E-A-T as long as the content is trustworthy, safe, and consistent with well-established expert consensus. In contrast, some types of YMYL information and advice must come from experts.

So the answer depends on the context of the page, and the guidelines clarify with some examples:

Have a Purpose, Then E-E-A-T

One of the most important things to remember is that a page has a purpose, and then delivers on it (so long as it’s beneficial to users and not intended to harm).

From the SQRG:

• The goal of PQ rating is to determine how well a page achieves its purpose. In order to assign a rating, you must understand the purpose of the page and sometimes the website.
• By understanding the purpose of the page, you’ll better understand what criteria are important to consider when evaluating that particular page.
• Websites and pages should be created to help people. If that is not the case, a rating of Lowest may be warranted.

The guidelines go on to say that “as long as the page is created to help people, we will not consider any particular page purpose or type to be higher quality than another.”

Note that Google said that E-E-A-T is important for “all other pages with a beneficial purpose.”

TL;DR

The concept of E-E-A-T, also known as experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust, originated in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines (SQRG).

The SQRG allows Google to better understand if the changes it’s making to its Search algorithms are producing quality results. This can act as a feedback loop for Google engineers to make further tweaks to the algorithm.

E-E-A-T does not directly impact rankings as an algorithm would. Instead, Google uses a variety of signals in its algorithm to align with the concept of E-E-A-T.

For example, I believe the “Panda” update was about expertise, the “Penguin” update about authority, the “Medic” update about trust, and the “Product Review” update about experience.

E-E-A-T is important for most websites, but for “Your Money or Your Life” topics, it is critical. The level of experience and expertise needed for other topics varies.

Trust is at the center of E-E-A-T. A page needs to be accurate, honest, safe, and reliable.

Experience is about the need to have first-hand knowledge on a topic, which is obtained through direct interaction or involvement.

Expertise is the necessary knowledge or skill needed to write about a topic.

Authoritativeness builds on expertise and is about being a go-to source on a topic.

Struggling to implement E-E-A-T principles in your SEO program? Our SEO experts can help transform your website into a trusted authority that gets higher search ranking and more qualified traffic. Reach out to us for a free consultation.

FAQ: How does Google define experience, expertise, authority, and trust in the context of E-E-A-T?

E-E-A.T is a crucial factor in Google search algorithms, helping determine the trustworthiness and quality of websites. Let’s delve into how Google defines the key elements of E-E-A-T:

Experience

Experience refers to the first-hand knowledge and life experiences of the content creator on a specific topic. Google gives greater consideration to content from people with direct experience, which increases the credibility and reliability of the information provided. A product review written by someone who actually uses the product has more weight than one from someone else.

Expertise

Level of expertise refers to the knowledge or skill base possessed by its creator on any particular subject matter. Different topics require varying levels and types of expertise to be considered trustworthy. For instance, advice on home electrical rewiring should come from a skilled electrician rather than an individual with no knowledge of electrical wiring.

Authority

Authority is closely tied to expertise and refers to the content creator’s reputation and credentials in their field. A reputable source with extensive experience and expertise is considered more authoritative, adding credibility to the information presented. Google evaluates authority by considering expert reviews, references, recommendations, and peer-reviewed publications.

Trust

Trust is the foundation of E-E-A-T and the most critical member of the family. Untrustworthy pages, regardless of their experience, expertise, or authority, will have low E-E-A-T. Google measures trust on multiple levels. This includes the creator’s credibility, content credibility, and website reliability as a whole. In order to achieve trust-building results, content must be honest, accurate, reliable, and secure.

Improving your website’s E-E-A-T and ultimately its rankings involves several key steps:

1. Familiarize yourself with Google’s E-E-A-T framework and its significance in website rankings and trustworthiness.
2. Research the specific topics and industries relevant to your website to identify the expertise and experience required for content creators.
3. Assess the reputation and credentials of your content creators to ensure they align with the E-E-A-T principles.
4. Review your existing content for accuracy, transparency, and trustworthiness, making necessary improvements where needed.
5. Identify authoritative sources in your industry and aim to obtain backlinks from them to boost your website’s authority.
6. Engage with industry experts and professional societies to strengthen your website’s credibility and expert status.
7. Conduct regular fact-checking and ensure the accuracy of all information presented on your website.
8. Create content that reflects first-hand experiences and authentic perspectives to resonate with users and search engines.
9. Optimize your website’s user experience, focusing on speed, usability, and valuable content delivery.
10. Utilize data from user feedback and behavior to continuously improve your website’s trustworthiness and user satisfaction.
11. Monitor Google’s algorithm updates and guidelines to stay up-to-date with any changes related to E-E-A-T.
12. Collaborate with subject matter experts and industry influencers to enhance your content’s authority and reach.
13. Establish a clear editorial policy that emphasizes E-E-A-T principles and enforces high-quality content creation.
14. Leverage social proof and positive user reviews to bolster your website’s trustworthiness and reputation.
15. Create comprehensive and well-researched content that serves as a reliable source of information for users.
16. Regularly audit and update outdated content to maintain its accuracy and relevancy.
17. Strategize a plan for disseminating your content across various channels so as to reach more viewers and build backlinks.
18. Engage with your audience through social media and other platforms, building trust and rapport.
19. Monitor your website’s performance metrics, including bounce rate and user engagement, to gauge its E-E-A-T impact.
20. Continuously refine your website’s E-E-A-T strategy based on user feedback, data analysis, and industry trends to stay ahead in search rankings.

By following these steps and prioritizing E-E-A-T principles, you can position your website as a reliable and authoritative source, fostering trust with both users and search engines.

The post The Complete Guide to the Basics of Google’s E-E-A-T appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

There are two forms of “penalties” that SEOs think about when they refer to a Google penalty.

One is a manual action penalty, which is site-specific and intentionally applied. The other type of “penalty” is really more of a consequence. It happens when a site loses rankings as a result of the Google algorithm.

Google reports that manual actions occur less and less frequently as the algorithm gets smarter. For example, Google applied 2.9 million manual actions in 2020, which is far fewer than the 4 million sent in 2018 and the 6 million in 2017.

Since algorithmic hits account for ranking drops more and more, calling them search engine penalties sounds fair to me.

Below I’ll give more details about both types and why penalties exist. Feel free to jump ahead:

• How webmaster guidelines and penalties work
• What is a Google manual action penalty
• What is an algorithmic penalty
• FAQ: How can websites avoid Google penalties and improve their search engine rankings?

How Webmaster Guidelines and Penalties Work

Google’s “Webmaster Guidelines” help website publishers understand what can cause a penalty or poor rankings.

These guidelines are centered on quality. A quality website will provide a good user experience. Websites that offer a good user experience have a better chance of competing in the search results.

Websites that create a bad user experience and violate Google’s guidelines can either receive a manual penalty from Google, or just not rank — or both.

The webmaster guidelines are driven by basic quality principles that include the following:

• Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
• Don’t deceive your users.
• Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee. Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”
• Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.

So how do you avoid deceiving your users and create a high-quality site? Google gives a list of things not to do in its “quality guidelines,” which should be a roadmap for your website. For example, don’t use automated tools to build your webpages. And avoid duplicate content as much as possible.

The guidelines also include some pretty basic lessons on spam.

But even if you consider your website and business to be on the up and up, you can still unknowingly get yourself into trouble.

Why? Perhaps you didn’t study the webmaster guidelines closely enough and accidentally got yourself into a link scheme. Maybe it was the guest posting service you hired that got you a penalty. Or, it could be that you hired a cheap SEO service that put your website on a bad trajectory.

Even the savviest of businesses have been caught up in bad SEO practices. So if you do happen to get a drop in rankings or even a manual penalty, don’t feel bad. Just make sure you hire the right SEO professional to fix it.

What Is a Google Manual Penalty?

A manual penalty is reserved for those sites that are violating Google’s webmaster guidelines. This is a very specific action that an employee of Google applies to your site in particular. (This contrasts with an algorithm, which might impact or “penalize” many sites.)

Google explains why manual actions exist:

Ever since there have been search engines, there have been people dedicated to tricking their way to the top of the results page. This is bad for searchers because more relevant pages get buried under irrelevant results, and it’s bad for legitimate websites because these sites become harder to find. For these reasons, we’ve been working since the earliest days of Google to fight spammers, helping people find the answers they’re looking for, and helping legitimate websites get traffic from search. …

Our algorithms are extremely good at detecting spam, and in most cases we automatically discover it and remove it from our search results. However, to protect the quality of our index, we’re also willing to take manual action to remove spam from our search results.

When Google doles out a manual action against your site, you will receive a message from Google.

Of course, you can check the Manual Actions report at any time in Google Search Console. If you’re in the clear, it looks like this:

And Google gives some helpful information on that here:

Manual actions can be detrimental to your website. Just listen to former Googler Fili Wiese talk about how having one stops the growth of your website:

So it’s important to address these manual action notices right away. You can find more information from Google on how to address those here.

How Google’s Algorithm Updates “Penalize”

Recently, I wrote about why sites lose rankings. Algorithm changes are one of those reasons. Keep in mind that Google makes more than 3,000 improvements to Search each year, including frequent algorithm updates. And the ranking algorithms consider hundreds of different factors.

Changes to the ranking algorithm can include new factors being added, factors being reorganized, or factors being increased or weakened in strength. For example, the Page Experience update takes several preexisting ranking factors and combines them with new “core web vitals” to create a new ranking signal.

Then you throw Google’s AI into the mix — RankBrain, which helps deliver what it believes to be the most relevant results — and your rankings could change in an instant.

As a result, any websites that are not weathering the changes that Google is making may experience lost rankings and traffic. This may feel like a penalty. And, of course, you want to avoid Google penalties of all kinds. However, keep in mind that an algorithmic penalty is just Google trying to serve the highest quality sites on Page 1 of the search results.

If you’ve experienced this, the smart thing to do is to understand how your website can improve so that it’s more like the websites that are now ranking in your place. As I’ve always said: SEO should beat the competition, not the algorithm. So get up, dust yourself off, and start analyzing the top results.

If you need an expert SEO to help you address a Google ranking penalty or otherwise improve your website’s visibility, contact us for a free quote and consultation today.

FAQ: How can websites avoid Google penalties and improve their search engine rankings?

Avoiding Google penalties and optimizing search engine rankings are paramount for website success. As the dominant search engine, Google has established rigorous guidelines and algorithms to assess websites’ quality and relevance. Falling afoul of these guidelines can lead to penalties that drastically hamper visibility and traffic.

Understanding Google’s Algorithms and Guidelines

At the heart of Google’s ranking system lie complex algorithms that evaluate websites’ credibility, relevance, and user experience. Staying informed about these algorithms, such as Panda, Penguin, and Core Updates, is essential. Regularly monitoring Google’s official webmaster guidelines is crucial for staying aligned with their expectations.

Crafting High-Quality, Engaging Content

Content remains king, and websites must prioritize creating valuable, informative, and engaging content. Strive to address users’ queries comprehensively, utilizing relevant keywords naturally. Diversifying content formats, from articles and infographics to videos and podcasts, can enhance user engagement, signaling quality to search engines.

Nurturing a Healthy Backlink Profile

Building a robust backlink profile is a cornerstone of SEO success. However, the emphasis should be on quality over quantity. Acquiring authoritative, relevant backlinks from reputable sources can bolster a website’s credibility. Avoid dubious practices like link farms, as they can trigger severe penalties.

Prioritizing User Experience and Technical Excellence

User experience (UX) plays a pivotal role in ranking. Ensure your website is responsive, easy to navigate, and quick to load. Google’s Core Web Vitals have gained prominence, measuring page loading speed and interactivity. Optimizing these aspects not only prevents penalties but also enhances user satisfaction.

Monitoring, Analyzing, and Adapting

Regularly monitor your website’s performance using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These platforms offer valuable insights into user behavior, search queries, and technical issues. Analyze this data to identify areas for improvement and adjust your strategies accordingly.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Navigating Google Penalties and Enhancing Rankings

1. Familiarize yourself with Google’s algorithms, including Panda, Penguin, and Core Updates.
2. Stay updated on Google’s webmaster guidelines to meet their expectations.
3. Create high-quality, informative, engaging content addressing user queries.
4. Utilize relevant keywords naturally within your content.
5. Diversify content formats to cater to different audience preferences.
6. Build a strong backlink profile with authoritative, relevant sources.
7. Avoid unethical practices like link farms or paid link schemes.
8. Prioritize user experience by ensuring a responsive and navigable website.
9. Optimize page loading speed and interactivity for better Core Web Vitals scores.
10. Regularly monitor your website’s performance using Google Analytics and Search Console.
11. Analyze user behavior, search queries, and technical issues from the collected data.
12. Identify areas for improvement in content, user experience, and technical aspects.
13. Make necessary adjustments to your strategies based on the insights gained.
14. Continuously update and refresh your content to maintain relevance.
15. Engage with your audience through social media and other platforms.
16. Address negative user experiences and feedback promptly.
17. Implement structured data markup to enhance search result appearance.
18. Collaborate with reputable websites for guest posting and mutual backlinking.
19. Regularly audit your website for broken links, technical errors, and outdated content.
20. Stay informed about industry trends and algorithm updates to adapt your strategies.

The post What Is a Google Penalty and How Do I Avoid It? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

We are in the midst of a massive shift in search behavior that’s impacting search results and traffic. Unlike a significant algorithm update though, no one saw this coming.

Now, as we figure out our new shelter-in-place lives, we’re also figuring out how to keep organic search traffic up.

In the past few weeks, the search results have been volatile.

SEMrush Sensor data for all categories, retrieved on April 6, 2020

This is especially true for things like news results (as we would expect right now):

SEMrush Sensor data for News category, retrieved on April 22, 2020

As we’re finding out, what you ranked for yesterday may no longer be the case. Path Interactive pointed out that the usual top-ranking sites for health queries are not on Page 1 anymore. At the same time, the CDC and WHO are claiming the top spots on Google.

As search behavior changes all over the world with new trends popping up daily, Google is striving to keep up with relevant results.

What is making the search results so volatile? In addition to a suspected algorithm update in late March, Google is dealing with an influx of new searches it has never seen before. Add to that the fact that people want different things as a result of the pandemic.

This different search behavior is no doubt giving AI systems a headache. The algorithm must think that the only thing important to people now are these new trending queries.

It must be difficult for the software to understand that we’re not always going to be in panic mode. The answers we want now will not be satisfied once things settle down. And I think that could be confusing. We’ll have to wait and see how the current crisis-driven behavior biases the top search results long-term.

As we know, search trends reflect the priorities of people. And as a business, it’s our job to listen and respond.

• What’s happening in search right now
• How to respond with SEO
• FAQ: How is the search behavior shift impacting online businesses?

What’s Happening in Search Right Now

There are many disruptive factors at play right now in the search results. As you may remember, RankBrain (Google’s search AI), is among the top three signals in Google’s algorithm.

What that means is that along with content and links, RankBrain helps determine rankings.

Google created RankBrain to handle the growing percentage of queries it had never seen before. You can imagine what RankBrain must be dealing with now. Each day, we’re seeing new searches that never existed before.

Google’s Coronavirus Search Trends data, retrieved on April 22, 2020

Not only are we seeing high-volume searches that never existed before (like “coronavirus money help”), but search behavior for goods and services is also changing.

It’s no surprise that searches for grocery stores are up while searches for restaurants are down. And new trends in searches for goods like cotton bandanas are up.

trends.embed.renderExploreWidget(“TIMESERIES”, {“comparisonItem”:[{“keyword”:”cotton bandanas”,”geo”:””,”time”:”2020-03-30T15 2020-04-06T15″}],”category”:0,”property”:””}, {“exploreQuery”:”q=cotton%20bandanas&date=now%207-d”,”guestPath”:”https://trends.google.com:443/trends/embed/”});

Now that people are sheltering in place, other trends include a drop in mobile searches and a rise in desktop.

WordStream reports a 24 percent drop on average in mobile search ad traffic. And Microsoft reports a rise in desktop searches compared to mobile.

Not to mention the amount of time now spent on social media like Facebook as people connect digitally, and how search is changing there, too.

All this is to say that the pandemic is shifting the way people search and behave online. Fortunately, the fundamentals of SEO have not changed. We would apply many of the same strategies today as we would in the past.

How to Respond with SEO

Here are four things to do now when it comes to SEO and keeping your website visible in the search results.

1. Understand Search and Ranking Trends

Look at Google Search Trends. You can use its coronavirus search trends hub to see what’s trending and refer to our guide to using Search Trends for more help.

You can use keyword tools like our free keyword suggestion tool or others like Ubersuggest to find different keywords you want to optimize for.

You can use our WordPress SEO plugin to get insights about the top-ranked sites for your keywords before you start writing content. This can give you key data points on what quality is for your targets.

Make sure you explore how search trends are impacting your particular niche. This Moz article has interesting ideas on the types of content to create per industry during COVID-19.

2. Continue to Publish Quality Content

Keep producing high-quality content. This is especially true for “Your Money or Your Life” sites, which would answer many search queries about the pandemic today. See our E-A-T guide for more info on this.

Now more than ever, Google needs help in finding and understanding the meaning of your content. So that means extra diligence with your optimization. See our up-to-date SEO checklist for ideas.

Google also recently gave tips on how health sites can optimize their content to be found in these times. Any website can apply these basics to help them get found.

3. Stay Relevant in Business and in Search Results

As people’s priorities change, so does search. Depending on how the economy reacts to the pandemic, search behavior may change for good.

For example, people may stop buying cars and want to sell them instead. New industries may emerge as a result of a potentially permanent work-from-home economy.

trends.embed.renderExploreWidget(“TIMESERIES”, {“comparisonItem”:[{“keyword”:”buy car”,”geo”:””,”time”:”2020-01-06 2020-04-06″}],”category”:0,”property”:””}, {“exploreQuery”:”date=today%203-m&q=buy%20car”,”guestPath”:”https://trends.google.com:443/trends/embed/”});
Search query data from Google Trends

Think about how you can be part of the conversation and add value now. What will that look like in the future, too?

Remember, if your webpages are not relevant to the searcher’s intent (what they want to accomplish), you will not be found online.

4. Be Patient But Act Now

SEO is already a game of patience. As Google works out the kinks in ranking the most relevant results, search results will be volatile, for some queries more than others.

But trends come and go, and as we pull out of this pandemic, searchers will turn their minds to other things.

There will be opportunities and challenges ahead. But SEO can support any shift in offers and messaging so that your business can be found for what people want.

Acting now will help your business weather the crisis, and come out ahead after it has passed.

For more on how to market and do SEO during COVID-19, see my earlier post Don’t Quarantine Your Marketing. If you’d like help navigating the online changes for your business, contact us right away.

FAQ: How is the search behavior shift impacting online businesses?

Search behavior has undergone a significant transformation. Understanding and responding to this shift is crucial for the survival and success of online businesses.

1. The Rise of Conversational Search:

Search engines have become more sophisticated in understanding natural language, leading to the rise of conversational search. Users now ask questions in a way they might speak, using voice assistants and mobile devices. Online businesses should optimize their content for voice search by incorporating long-tail keywords and providing concise, informative answers.

2. Mobile-First Indexing:

With mobile devices dominating internet usage, search engines have shifted to mobile-first indexing. This means that a website’s mobile version is the primary basis for ranking. Online businesses must ensure their websites are mobile-friendly, offering a seamless user experience across various devices.

3. Local SEO and Geotargeting:

Search behavior has become increasingly localized, with users seeking information relevant to their immediate surroundings. Online businesses must invest in local SEO strategies, including accurate business listings and geotargeted content, to connect with nearby customers effectively.

4. Visual and Video Search:

Visual and video searches are gaining prominence, driven by platforms like Pinterest and Google Lens. Online businesses should incorporate visual elements into their content and optimize images and videos for search engines.

5. E-A-T and Content Quality:

Search engines now prioritize content quality and expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T). Online businesses should focus on producing high-quality, authoritative content that demonstrates their expertise in their respective industries.

6. AI and Machine Learning Algorithms:

Search engines employ AI and machine learning algorithms to understand user intent better. Online businesses can leverage these technologies to personalize content, recommendations, and advertisements for users, enhancing their overall experience.

7. Featured Snippets and Structured Data:

Featured snippets have become a valuable source of organic traffic. Online businesses can increase their chances of being featured by structuring their content with schema markup and providing clear, concise answers to commonly asked questions.

8. User Experience and Page Speed:

A fast-loading website and a positive user experience are crucial for search rankings. Online businesses must optimize their websites for speed, usability, and mobile responsiveness to retain visitors and improve search performance.

The shift in search behavior has far-reaching implications for online businesses. To thrive in this changing landscape, businesses must adapt their strategies by embracing conversational search, prioritizing mobile optimization, local SEO, visual content, and quality. Additionally, leveraging AI and machine learning, optimizing for featured snippets, and enhancing user experience is key to staying competitive.

The post Google Search Trends Amidst COVID-19 and How to Respond appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

• What is a Google penalty
    •  Top 3 guidelines for avoiding Google penalties
    •  ​Google penalties by name
    •  Manual actions
• FAQ: How can I prevent Google penalties to maintain my website’s SEO visibility?

A penalty is when you get caught breaking the search engine’s rules, and they punish you. As the saying goes, if you can’t do the time, then don’t do the crime. And losing all rankings for years makes for a tough lesson.

How can you avoid Google penalties and protect your website’s SEO visibility? This topic is vital because a search engine penalty can reduce or even wipe out your search traffic — and it can be costly and difficult to recover.

With every new algorithm update, Google seems to tighten its standards a little more. Websites operating just outside search engine guidelines can get caught. If your site is penalized, you can expect your rankings to slip and revenues to fall.

What Is a Google Penalty

From an SEO perspective, the term “penalty” means any negative impact on a website’s organic search rankings caused by an algorithm update or a manual action.

Anything that directly violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines can result in a penalty against your website. The two main types are algorithm-based, which is automatic, and manual, which is an intentional penalization for “black hat” actions.

Though Google doesn’t call algorithmic hits “penalties” per se, the result feels the same to a website owner. It’s as if somebody threw down a penalty flag against your site.

Top 3 Guidelines for Avoiding Google Penalties

You can take steps to minimize the factors that contribute to SEO penalties. Here are the top 3 guidelines to avoid a penalty:

1. Don’t buy links. Links passing SEO value to your site should look natural. Make sure a “nofollow” attribute is added to any paid links (such as ads), and stay away from link schemes.
2. Don’t overuse keywords. Stuffing your content with exact repetitions of a key phrase can hurt your search engine rankings. Keywords are important, but use keywords appropriately in a natural-sounding way.
3. Make original, quality content. You must have unique, high-quality web pages to rank.

Google Penalties by Name

Penalties range from a slight, temporary ranking hit (a slap on the wrist) all the way to expulsion from the search engine’s index.

Don’t let the cute black-and-white animals fool you. Search engine algorithms have teeth in them and can bite sites that seem to be breaking the rules.

Note: We go into detail on Google algorithm updates and how to prepare for them on our blog.

Google Panda Penalty

The Panda update was in February 2011, with the first of many rollouts. By early 2016, Panda had grown up and become part of Google’s core algorithm.

The Google Panda algorithm aims to prevent poor-quality content from reaching the top of search results.

If Panda thinks your website provides low-quality content, it will be hard for your web pages to rank. Low-quality web content includes: “thin” pages with little or no added value, product pages with manufacturer-provided descriptions and no original text, and widespread duplicate content.

(The SEM Post’s guide to Google Panda is a good resource for more details.)

How to Avoid a Panda Penalty: Keep Panda fed and happy by providing original content that will satisfy searchers.

With a Panda issue, you can earn your way back up the search results by fattening up (rewriting/improving) your thin content, eliminating duplicate pages (or blocking them from search engines), and generally providing high-quality content for your site visitors.

Google Penguin Penalty

The Google Penguin algorithm combats webspam by detecting link spam.

When a site’s backlink profile (i.e., the full list of links coming from external sites) includes too many unnatural-looking links, Google suspects that site of trying to manipulate search rankings — and Penguin’s feathers get understandably ruffled.

Google launched the first Penguin update in April 2012. Several agonizingly slow rollouts later, Google announced a final update in September 2016. Penguin now operates in real-time as part of Google’s core ranking algorithm.

Google says that the new Penguin algorithm no longer gives penalties. Rather than demoting a site with low-quality backlinks, Penguin now just devalues bad incoming links so they don’t affect the site’s rankings.

However, your link profile is still your responsibility. Having a large percentage of poor backlinks is a low-trust signal. Many sites that were hit with a Penguin penalty still need to take steps to recover.

How to Avoid a Penguin or Link-Related Penalty: If Google detects a site is buying or selling links, negotiating link exchanges, participating in link farms, or engaging in any kind of unnatural linking, it should expect to get penalized.

Also, if your organic search traffic drops suddenly, it could be due to a link-related penalty. The traffic chart below shows a tragic but typical example:

To avoid Penguin issues, regularly monitor and clean up your backlinks. (Stay tuned — you learn how to do this in the next lesson!)

Intrusive Interstitial Penalty

Launched in January 2017, the Intrusive Interstitial Penalty affects mobile search results only.

Google penalizes sites that show an intrusive ad, popup, or standalone interstitial to a mobile user immediately after clicking a mobile search result.

In general, Google demotes web pages that block searchers from easily seeing the content. Certain types of interstitials aren’t penalized, such as login forms and legally necessary gates (for age verification or other).

This image shows three examples (provided by Google) of intrusive interstitials that would cause a penalty:

How to Avoid an Interstitial Penalty: Give mobile searchers a good user experience. Avoid ads and popups that block too much of the screen right after a searcher arrives.

Payday Loan Penalty

Google updated its algorithm in June 2013 specifically to address the quality of results for heavily spammed queries such as “payday loans,” “viagra” and pornography-related keywords.

How to Avoid a Payday Loan Penalty: Sites penalized by the Payday Loan update tend to be heavily involved in link schemes, web spam, and often illegal activities. Steer clear of these, or you risk losing your organic search engine rankings.

This list covers Google’s major algorithmic penalties to this point. For a complete list of all the known updates, see Moz’s Google Algo Change History.

Manual Actions

Besides all of the algorithmic penalties, it’s also possible for a search engine employee to manually cause your website to go either up or down in the rankings. Google’s webspam team members can manually review websites and levy penalties or even kick a site out of the index.

What triggers a manual review? The search engine may be taking a closer look because of suspected foul play. (Did you know a majority of spam is reported by competitors?) Or, Google’s team may be re-evaluating a website that has requested “reconsideration” after cleaning up its penalty issues.

How to Check for Any Manual Actions: If your site receives a manual action notice, Google courteously tells you so. In fact, Google sent over 9 million webspam notifications to webmasters in one year alone.

Here’s how to see if any messages (good or bad) exist for your site:

1. Log in to your account in Google Search Console.*
2. Open the Manual Actions report.
3. Read any messages to find out the specific reasons for the manual action and what parts of your site are affected by the penalty.

How to Avoid a Manual Action Penalty: Manual actions can result from anything that directly violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. They often relate to thin content (see Panda Penalty section), unnatural links (see Penguin Penalty), pure web spam (see Payday Loan Penalty), or other noncompliance issues.

If your site gets a manual penalty, resolve the issue(s) causing the manual action sooner rather than later.

Once you clean up your site, submit a reconsideration request. Google will examine your site again and, if it looks good, lift the penalty.

SEO GUIDE BONUS VIDEO

Google’s Gary Illyes explains how the Penguin algorithm works now that it’s a real-time component of the core ranking algorithm.

SEO GUIDE BONUS VIDEO #2

“How can you prepare for the future of SEO?” Bruce Clay addressed this question at a search conference, and his response was fortunately captured on video.

His advice — In the short term, monitor and get rid of “junk links.” Long term, reinforce your subject relevance through proper site structure. These strategies help you avoid Google Penguin penalties and other “disasters.”

Watch this brief interview to hear Bruce’s full answer.

Building on the important topic of avoiding Google penalties, the next step in the SEO guide shows you how to monitor your backlinks and remove unwanted links that could sink your SEO ship if a ​link penalty occurs.

Next Lesson

Related blog posts and articles:

• What is a Google Penalty and How Can I Avoid It
• What a Website Can Do about Thin Content — 4 Common Scenarios and Solutions
• Manual Penalty Actions Reported in Google Webmaster Tools
• Google’s Outbound Link Penalties: How to React Without Overreacting
• 9 Tips for Getting Your Manual Link Penalty Overturned
• 3 Ways to Keep Google Panda Fed and Happy

Do you think you’ve been hit with Google penalties? We can help. Read about our SEO Penalty Audit and optional link pruning services that can help businesses identify and recover from Google penalties.

FAQ: How can I prevent Google penalties to maintain my website’s SEO visibility?

Modern businesses must maintain an effective online presence through search engine optimization (SEO). Unfortunately, Google’s constantly shifting algorithms present businesses with numerous challenges when optimizing for search. Here are key strategies to safeguard your website from Google penalties while preserving your SEO visibility.

Understanding Google Penalties

Google penalties can cripple your website’s ranking and visibility, reducing organic traffic. These penalties are often triggered by violations of Google’s guidelines, such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, or spammy backlink practices. To safeguard your site, prioritize a holistic approach to SEO that prioritizes user experience, valuable content, and ethical link-building.

Quality Content is Paramount

Google recognizes and rewards relevant, high-quality content that meets user needs. Create engaging and thorough pieces that resonate well with your audience. Incorporate well-researched keywords naturally, avoiding over-optimization. Regularly update your content to reflect industry trends, ensuring your site remains a valuable resource.

Ethical Link-building Strategies

Backlinks play a pivotal role in SEO, but the quality of these links matters more than quantity. Engage in ethical link-building by collaborating with reputable websites in your niche. Avoid buying links or participating in link schemes, as these can trigger penalties. Focus on building relationships with influencers and thought leaders for genuine link opportunities.

Technical SEO and Website Performance

A well-optimized website structure and swift loading speeds are crucial for user satisfaction and SEO success. Regularly audit your website for broken links, crawl errors, and mobile responsiveness. A technically sound website enhances user experience and reduces the risk of penalties.

Monitoring and Adaptation

Staying informed about Google’s algorithm updates is essential. Continuously monitor your website’s performance using tools like Google Search Console. Regularly assess your SEO strategies and adapt them to align with the latest guidelines and best practices. Flexibility and a willingness to evolve are key to preventing penalties and maintaining visibility.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Preventing Google Penalties and Ensuring SEO Visibility

1. Familiarize yourself with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
2. Conduct an audit of your website to identify existing SEO issues.
3. Optimize on-page elements, including title tags, meta descriptions, and headers.
4. Create a content strategy that emphasizes high-quality, relevant content creation.
5. Use keyword research tools to identify valuable and appropriate keywords for your niche.
6. Integrate keywords naturally into your content, avoiding keyword stuffing.
7. Prioritize user experience by ensuring easy navigation and mobile responsiveness.
8. Regularly monitor your website’s backlink profile and disavow spammy or irrelevant links.
9. Build relationships with authoritative websites for potential backlink opportunities.
10. Stay updated on Google algorithm changes and SEO trends.
11. Use tools like Google Search Console to identify and address technical issues.
12. Implement proper redirects for any removed or changed pages.
13. Monitor your website’s loading speed and optimize images and scripts as needed.
14. Ensure your website’s original content is not duplicated across multiple pages.
15. Avoid engaging in link schemes or purchasing backlinks.
16. Regularly update and refresh your content to reflect industry changes.
17. Employ social media to engage your target audience and promote your content.
18. Analyze metrics like bounce rates, organic traffic volume, and conversion rate to make decisions.
19. Adapt your SEO strategies based on performance data and algorithm updates.
20. Consider seeking guidance from reputable SEO experts or agencies for specialized advice.

By following these comprehensive steps, you’ll be equipped to navigate the dynamic realm of SEO, effectively preventing Google penalties and maintaining strong online visibility for your website.

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