The AI Content Revolution: Integrating E-E-A-T Principles into AI-Generated Content

E-E-A-T has a broad impact on how search results are presented and ranked, emphasising the importance of quality and credibility in the search experience. Incorporating those principles into your content strategy is essential to thrive in the AI content revolution.

In our previous article (link) we discussed why you should ensure that your content is of high quality, but what should you do to integrate E-E-A-T practices into AI-generated content?

To harness the full potential of E-E-A-T, consider the following best practices for implementing and evaluating your AI use in content creation:

Implementing E-E-A-T in AI Content Creation

ChatGPT and other AI tools have revolutionised the way people create content. Is important to take into consideration that user-generated content should always be a priority, and AI prompts should only be used as a way to assist content creation and with creative ideas:

• AI-generated content can be used as a writing assistant for developing cost-efficient draft articles, overcoming writer's block, and sparking creative ideas.
• It is essential not to overly rely on AI tools for content generation. Instead, use them for content suggestions, paraphrasing, grammar and spelling checks, and research support.
• Before drafting content, conduct research to understand what content users are looking for, and ensure that the content satisfies the reader.
• Always proofread, edit, and humanise the content to maintain its quality and authenticity.

Evaluating Trustworthiness in AI-Generated Content

AI-generated content can be used to automate content creation, but it’s important to evaluate its trustworthiness before using it. This can be done through content analysis, fact-checking, and user testing. Generated content can be a useful tool for creating content quickly and accurately.

However, it is important to ensure that it’s trustworthy and reliable since Google's quality raters look for trust when assessing Experience, Expertise, and Authoritativeness, so demonstrate first-hand experience to maintain that trust. This can be done by testing the AI-generated content for accuracy and consistency, and by verifying its sources and reliability in the following way:

Demonstrating Experience:

To establish expertise in content, and provide evidence of personal experience with the subject matter, especially in product reviews. Visuals, audio, or other links of your own experience with the product can reinforce the authenticity of your review.

Explaining Content Creation:

Explain how your content was created to demonstrate firsthand experience. This can be done at the beginning of the content to establish trustworthiness. And especially, fact-check and perform error correction before any piece of content is released, and/or if the information changes, make sure to update your content.

Dedicated Page for Experience:

Consider creating a dedicated "about" page to explain your personal experience with the subject. Linking to social media profiles can provide additional evidence of expertise.

Reputation Matters:

Quality raters may look for external sources of credible information about the website or content creators. Independent reviews, references, and news articles can support your expertise.

Inviting Guest Authors:

If you lack personal experience, you can still demonstrate expertise by inviting guest authors or speakers who have the necessary experience on the topic. This can enhance the credibility of your content. Is important to address biases in AI Content, that’s why different perspectives with guest authors can help create a neutral perspective on information that makes your content much more useful.

Experience and Expertise: Becoming a Thought Leader in AI-Generated Content

In order to fully understand the concept of expertise and experience that AI-generated content offers, we must understand one important thing that it does not. AI-generated platforms, such as ChatGPT, use probability to create the content they produce. The way that they are programmed to use search engines is to browse the web, and by watching other content, they will copy and paste said content that matches the keywords that you have provided.

What is bad about this? Well, because of this, AI-generated content tends to just be recycled content. Not only is this an idea and a concept that has been already created by someone else, but it tends to lack critical thinking and can result in a more biased comprehension of an idea. This means that the tone that humans could make on a more neutral stand can be seen as more one-sided and its reach could be less, or even seen as too commercial and not show too much value for users.

It’s because of this that it’s imperative to establish and demonstrate experience and expertise, and it’s at this point that E-E-A-T comes into play. AI tools can reduce in a large capacity the time that it takes to create content. They are a great assistant in providing ideas and structures for articles that could reduce creative blocks and assist with the fluency of the article overall.

These tools can also help you proofread your content, and even translate it if you need to, but be aware that the translation feature (as with many other translation tools) is not 100% accurate, because context can be lost since certain ideas on different languages can be written differently (and can get lost in translation, literally).

Ultimately, you must create content that is clear, comprehensive and unique, that generates an authoritative presence of your experts and your business in your industry.

To assist you, here are a few steps we recommend to follow to ensure expertise and experience are well embedded into your content:

Conduct Thorough Keyword Research

Begin by conducting thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords within your niche. Utilise free tools like Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest to pinpoint high-traffic keywords with manageable competition. When optimising your content, ensure a natural and valuable flow of information.

Create Comprehensive and Authoritative Content

Craft content that goes beyond surface-level information and delves into intricate details. Aim to become the go-to resource for your target audience by covering topics comprehensively. Back up your claims with reliable sources and cite reputable studies and research.

Establish Eminent Authors

Assign authorship to recognised experts within your organisation or niche. Google's Authorship markup can boost the visibility of authors and their contributions. Prominent authors increase the perceived authority of your content.

Leverage User-Generated Content

Encourage user-generated content, such as reviews, testimonials, and discussions. This not only enhances trustworthiness but also fosters a sense of community around your brand.

Implement Structured Data Markup

Utilise schema markup to provide search engines with additional context about your content. This can lead to rich snippets in search results, improving visibility and click-through rates.

Optimise for Mobile

Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly to cater to the increasing number of users accessing content on mobile devices. Mobile optimisation is a crucial aspect of user experience and search engine rankings.

Authoritativeness: Establishing Trust in Automated Content

We know by this point that Google loves content that helps users from the foundation of experience and authority, but how can a website earn the trust that Google likes in its content?

According to Google's search quality rated guidelines, a low rating is given to pages lacking appropriate E-E-A-T for their purpose. No positive reputation or website type can compensate for a lack of E-E-A-T related to the page's topic or purpose.

For example, the 2018 Google "Medic" update affected many health and nutrition websites. Websites that suffered had issues like missing About pages, poor online reputation, promoting non-scientific medical treatments, lack of credible authors, absence of reliable external links, and excessive affiliate links and sales content.

In contrast, websites that saw increased visibility after the update had labelled authors with relevant expertise highlighted in their bios, showed authoritativeness, exhibited transparency with users, included links to reliable external sources, and provided clear information where needed.

Having a solid technical foundation and a highly optimised website is not enough; lacking E-E-A-T signals can still lead to a loss in rankings. Because of this, AI tools should not be completely ignored, but it is essential to watch out for their risks and use them in conjunction with human efforts to enhance marketing strategies. The key is to leverage human capabilities, such as gaining real-life experiences, sharing expertise with those seeking guidance, and collaborating with others to provide authoritative insights on topics we may not fully know about.

By prioritising E-E-A-T and combining human efforts with AI tools, websites can become more credible and trustworthy sources of information, ultimately enhancing their performance in search rankings and online visibility.

The Role of Trustworthiness in AI-Generated Content

When you approach a search engine and type a question you want to know, as a user, you expect the most accurate and simple answer to your query, without having to move to the second page of results. Because of this, Google takes E-E-A-T as one of the most important parameters to rank a site that can provide the aforementioned information.

Take into consideration that E-E-A-T applies to three areas: the website as a whole, the content on the page, and the author or entity behind the content. These areas are the ones that you should apply the concepts above to to improve your site and optimise it for the user.

Trustworthiness: The Pillar of Reliable Content

Trustworthiness is the most crucial component of E-E-A-T. Think of it this way; you wouldn’t go to a dentist or to a hair salon that hasn’t been vouched or recommended by someone, right?

Quality content that has experts creating the content is also important for user experience, as it helps users find what they are looking for quickly and easily, and it is more likely to create a good reputation from part of the user. Poor quality content can lead to frustrated users, which can hurt the website's search rankings.

Content should have one goal, and that is to be of service and help to the user. If the content is of high quality, it is more likely to be ranked higher by Google. Therefore, it is important to create content that is useful, relevant, and user-friendly, to get the best results.

In summary The AI content revolution and E-E-A-T have ushered in a new era of content marketing. To remain ahead of the competition and flourish in the digital landscape, prioritise expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness in your content strategy. E-E-A-T significantly influences SEO and search rankings as search engines, especially Google, prioritise content that demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Pages with high E-E-A-T are more likely to rank higher in search results.

Trustworthiness is crucial in AI content, as it ensures that the information presented is accurate, unbiased, and reliable. Addressing ethical concerns and providing transparent sourcing enhances the trustworthiness of AI-generated content.

Always remember that the journey to optimising E-E-A-T is continuous; while AI can be a valuable assistant in the writing process, human involvement, research, and careful content review remain crucial for producing high-quality and relevant content.

To establish expertise, focus on creating content that showcases in-depth knowledge, research, and analysis of relevant topics. Regularly producing high-quality, informative content can position you as a thought leader in AI-generated content.

E-E-A-T Principles are essential in AI-Generated Content

Trustworthiness is crucial in AI content, as it ensures that the information presented is accurate, unbiased, and reliable. Addressing ethical concerns and providing transparent sourcing enhances the trustworthiness of AI-generated content.

Always remember that the journey to optimising E-E-A-T is continuous; while AI can be a valuable assistant in the writing process, human involvement, research, and careful content review remain crucial for producing high-quality and relevant content.

To establish expertise, focus on creating content that showcases in-depth knowledge, research, and analysis of relevant topics. Regularly producing high-quality, informative content can position you as a thought leader in AI-generated content.