Thought Leaders, organizations or individuals, focused on promoting the value of their expertise, products or services, here is something you need to know.
Google has created a new algorithm and they’ve named it E-A-T. This stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. Google, and other search engines following their lead, believe that after two years of the pandemic, their users are more concerned than ever before about getting trustworthy information.
This approach is nothing less than heaven-sent for organizations that want to be thought leaders in their respective industries. This is because the E-A-T algorithm specifically prioritizes relevant, credible, and accurate content. And the results speak for themselves. According to Agility PR, a media monitoring organization, “producing consistent, up-to-day educational content [and posting it on your website] can lead to an increase in website traffic from five to well over 25 percent.”
So, how do we make the content we post on our websites, displayed on LinkedIn and social media platforms, and published in trade magazines—especially online magazines—meet the E-A-T formula parameters? Here are some tips for making E-A-T work for you:
- Use hyperlinks to credible sources that back up the message you want to convey in your content. Credible sources include major, non-political magazines, college and university publications, and of course, studies by recognized organizations and experts. The only time not to use links is when publishing “articles” on LinkedIn. LinkedIn frowns on this because it takes your readers off their site. (Posts, however, can have links.)
- Add quotes from experts to support your message. Even a 600-word blog should have at least one quote from another thought leader or an expert in their field. A 1,000-word blog can support about three.
- It may be more critical to know the pain points of your end customers or clients right now. Things are changing quickly. We’ve heard it repeatedly, COVID has changed everything. Discussing ways or how your products or services can help improve worker productivity, for instance, while still necessary, is not as important today as protecting workers’ health.
- Don’t hesitate to show some empathy with your readers and web visitors. It’s tough out there right now, and this applies to employers, workers, and end customers. Thought leadership content must show some understanding of the tough issues many people and organizations are currently experiencing. And, taking the next step, it should encourage them to find solutions that help make a positive difference in their lives.
- If you have hesitated making videos, it’s time to get over that. Thought leaders or company spokespeople that use video to talk directly to their customers and future customers may find these talks can improve their site’s search engine optimization dramatically. Attracting more visitors opens the door to the next possibility, more sales. A consulting firm I work with told me that the number of visitors to their website “jumped dramatically once we started doing videos. Now we try to do at least two or three per month.” Sidebar: If doing videos, consider mediums other than YouTube. Other platforms may give you more control of what your viewer see after your video has played.
Our goal here with all these suggestions is to help your potential end customers engage with your content and trust what you have to say. Remember, you and your organization are thought leaders and people want to hear from you.
However, this will require one more step. Never stop learning, and always be willing to make changes. Change is happening very quickly now. Remember what our friend Albert Einstein said: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
