How to Build E-A-T for Local SEO

Author: Paulina Piaskowska, Content Writer

Introduction

E-A-T is essential to understand and consider when optimizing for local SEO. After all, Google itself pays a lot of attention to the Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness of businesses’ online presence and how they enhance the user’s experience. We know this from Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. 

Publishing quality content is the best way to gain traffic. This rule also applies to local SEO, where the search intent is to find products or businesses that operate in the searcher’s proximity. 

From this article, you will learn how to build E-A-T for local SEO and why exactly it is worth the effort.

How Does Google Rank Local Websites?

The three main ranking factors that Google uses for local SEO are relevance, distance, and prominence.

Relevance

Relevance is simply matching the searcher’s query with the best results by providing the searcher the most accurate answer to their question. This is why you should attach great importance to providing Google with all the relevant information about your local business.

Content that you include on the site will be used to evaluate whether you appear high in the search results.

Distance

This factor obviously has a big significance when it comes to local searches. When showing results, Google considers the proximity to the location specified in the searcher’s query.

In instances when the location is not specified by the searcher, Google, using its tools and searcher’s location history, will calculate the distance. Query searches from mobile devices are calculated from the geographical coordinates, so they generate even more accurate results.

Prominence

Your local business’s reputation is also something Google takes into account. Some brands and companies have a well-established position in the collective consciousness; some businesses have more positive reviews and are frequently visited. They are more prominent, and this factor often works in their favour when it comes to Google searches.

Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness all influence local business’s position in search results. Here is how you can ensure you have an E-A-T-friendly page for your local business.

7 Tips on Building E-A-T for Your Local Business

1) Google My Business

No Local SEO campaign is complete without a Google My Business listing. This is a tool designed to help local business owners their online presence by providing useful information such as contact information, opening times, reviews and much more.

Here’s an example of a GMB listing:

Creating a GMB listing helps build E-A-T because it allows you to display information about your business to users such as:

• Business Name
• Business Locations – your address(es)
• Categories and Sub-categories – the services that you offer, you can choose one primary category and additional categories that are relevant to your business
• Website URL and Phone Number
• Business Description – additional information that explains what you do
• Operating Hours
• Photos – adding relevant photos of your business/office/locations helps build E-A-T as it allows users to virtually “visit” your business.

Click here to create your GMB listing.

2) Homepage

The homepage is often the first place of contact with potential customers. It’s your best chance to present your local business and the key aspects that make it stand out, so use it well. 

The homepage should include all the information that is absolutely essential for potential clients to know about your brand. It should answer the questions about what services you provide and what makes your business the best choice. 

It is good to remember that the homepage should be dynamic but not overloaded with information. You want to present your brand as trustworthy, but remember that many people looking for services only scan the page to find the most relevant information.

The homepage should be a navigational panel for visitors to easily access all useful pages, like category pages, contact information, etc. This all impacts the customers’ experience.

3) About Us

The About Us page creates an excellent opportunity to tell a story about your brand, its origins, and biggest accomplishments. This is where you want to showcase your expertise within your niche and show that there are real people behind your business. 

About Us pages can help you significantly build your Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness, so do not shy away from giving your potential customers all the reasons they should consider you for their needs. 

Here’s an example of an About Us page that achieves this:

4) NAP (name, address, phone number)

It is safe to assume that the majority of the people visiting your website will head to the NAP or Contact Us page. This is where important information, like your address, maps, driving directions, phone number, hours of operation, and payment methods, should be displayed.

When crawling your website, Google will also pay great attention to the NAP page, where it can learn a lot about your business. It is worth mentioning that all the information on the Contact Us page should be consistent with the information on your Google My Business profile. This will increase your Trustworthiness and prevent Google from showing your clients false information.

5) FAQ

Add a Frequently Asked Questions section to your website. This where you can gather all the customers’ concerns and questions and respond to them.

It is not only useful for your clients, but it shows Google you care about customer service. It is the perfect opportunity to present yourself as an expert in your field, which is beneficial for the E-A-T.

6) Reviews & Testimonials

Including Reviews and Testimonials on your local business website is incredibly beneficial for a few reasons. First and foremost, you are giving the visitors the ability to find out more about the quality of your products and services. This in itself can impact your sales as customers are more likely to purchase a product or use a service that is already loved by others. Here you are giving your clients reasons to trust you.

Apart from that, as stated in the Search Quality Rater Guidelines, “customer reviews can be helpful for assessing the reputation of a store or business.” This means Google’s Raters are using reviews and testimonials to assess your business’s Trustworthiness and credibility.

7) Stores Locations Page

Locations page can be particularly useful for chains of stores and restaurants. If your business has more than one location, you should include a Stores Locations page, where you can publish the contact information, addresses, and additional information about your other locations.

On each location page, you can include some local-specific content that showcases your involvement in the local community or introduces the staff. By including the right keywords, you can boost your position in the searches for these locations.

8) Blog (Author box/bio, bylines, etc.)

Another important E-A-T signal is the level of expertise of the authors that write content on our website. Google wants to push sites that are trustworthy, and Google Raters are looking for confirmation about the author’s knowledge and expertise in a given field. We can read in Google’s Guide that:

“Knowing more about the reputation of a website and content creator can also help you understand what a website is best known for, and as a result how well it accomplishes its purpose.”

Adding an author box below articles on your blog that includes the author’s (who is an expert or has required experience in the subject) short bio and social media can help increase your E-A-T rating and, therefore, your position on Google.

Summary

E-A-T is an important component of SEO for any website, but with this article, I’ve shown you how to specifically build E-A-T signals through the lens of a local website. Creating E-A-T-friendly content is crucial if you want to ensure your clients have all the reasons to choose your services over your competitors.

If you have more questions about how to improve your website’s E-A-T signals, or you wish to find out more about how SUSO can be your SEO partner, reach out to us! We’ll be glad to help you with all your SEO needs.