Michael Martinez just sent me a link to Jennifer Slegg’s analysis of the new Google quality raters’ guidelines. These new guidelines emphasize E-A-T–“expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness”. For a lot of people on the Web, establishing yourself and your website as a trustworthy expert and an authority is a mystery.
Here are some concrete action steps you can take to establish yourself as an expert and a trusted authority.
Use a Byline
The first thing you should do, if you’re not already doing it, is include a byline with every article you write on your site. It doesn’t matter if it’s at the top of the article or at the bottom, but it needs to be there.
Anonymous content, by its nature, is the opposite of expert, authoritative content.
You’ll notice that a lot of pages on affiliate sites don’t use bylines. So do a lot of made-for-Adsense sites. Is the lack of a byline a factor in the Google algorithm? If it’s not, then it might be someday. Let’s face it. Google engineers prefer to bake as many factors into their algorithm as possible.
Have an “About” Page
Another page that’s often missing from affiliate and made-for-Adsense sites is a legitimate “about” page. An “about us” page should include details about the editors and the authors of the site. Your “about” page should be as detailed as possible. It should also establish the qualifications for the authors of the content on the site.
Information to include on an about us page includes:
- A photograph. This is optional, but it adds an element of trustworthiness to your site. If you have many authors, include a photograph for each of them. Depending on the nature of your site, it’s often a good idea to include your photograph on the homepage of the site, too. For example, Neil Patel blogs at Quicksprout.com. His photo and biography are featured in the sidebar of every post.
- A list of books you’ve written. The most important you can do to establish your expertise is to write and publish a book. When you do, you’ll want to mention it first on your “about” page.
- A list of any newsletters you publish or edit. Publishing an ongoing newsletter is almost as good as having written a book. Do both, and mention this on your about page as early as possible. Including the number of subscribers to your newsletter establishes credibility, too. (Assuming you have a respectable number of subscribers.)
- Your work experience. If your work experience relates to your site’s topic, mention it after the list of books and the list of newsletters. This won’t apply to some people, as not everyone who is an expert has worked in their niche.
- Your education. You might not have a degree in anything related to your website’s topic, but if you do, mention it on your about page.
- Links to what others have written about you. If you’ve been interviewed, link to the most relevant and notable sites who feature your interviews. For example, I own and operate a blog about horror books. (It’s a hobby of mine now.) I should link to the interview I did with NBC from there. You don’t have to link to all of them. This would include your Wikipedia article, if there is one.
Write a Book
Writing a book on the subject your website is related to is the #1 way to become a trustworthy expert and authority. Self-publishing is a more viable option now than ever. You can learn all about how to write, publish, and sell your own how-to book at John T. Reed’s website. (Reed’s website is an excellent example of how to establish yourself as an expert, by the way.)
Does writing a book sounds like an insurmountable task? Serious webmasters are usually already publishing at least 1000 words per day already. If you’re doing that five days a week (and you should be), then you’ll have 50,000 words written in 10 weeks. Edit and repackage those blog posts into a book, and sell it.
Imagine that. In less than 3 weeks, you could have a book of your own on the market. Don’t worry about how profitable the book itself is. Focus on creating a real book that offers real value to its readers. The resulting aura of expertise will translate into lots of Web traffic.
Michael has written two three books about Middle Earth and JRR Tolkien. Not everyone likes Michael. But no one argues that he isn’t an expert on the subject of Tolkien and Middle Earth. (The third book is a free e-book available here.)
John T. Reed makes an important point in his book How to Write, Publish, and Sell Your Own How-To Book. To write about a subject, you have to EARN the right to write about it. You do that via a combination of research and experience.
Publish a Newsletter
Publishing an actual paper newsletter with 2 to 4 pages of content is almost as good as writing a book. Publishing an email newsletter with subscribers works, too.
But nothing makes you more credible than publishing something on paper.
Want some examples?
- John T. Reed’s real estate investing newsletter
- Michael Martinez’s SEO Theory newsletter
- Eric Ward’s “LinkMoses Private”.
What all these newsletters have in common is that they cost money.
People don’t buy newsletters from non-experts.
Blog a Lot
The more blog posts and articles you’ve written for your website, the better. Focus on answering people’s questions and providing value. Be imaginative and unique.
If you don’t have a writing and blogging publishing schedule established, then set one up right away. Michael Martinez built a huge amount of traffic to SEO Theory by writing a blog post every day. 1500 words a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks adds up fast. Neil Patel writes 8 blog posts every week–3 of those posts go on his own site, and 5 of them are guest posts on other people’s sites. Eric Ward has a page where he showcases over 300 articles he’s written about linkbuilding over the years.
Different people will this content in different places. Writing blog posts for your own site is the path of least resistance. Writing guest posts for others’ blogs is a great attention-getting strategy, too. You’ll have to decide how much of the latter you’re going to do. I might address how to make that decision in a future blog post.
Speak a Little
When you’ve become an expert on a subject, then you’ll have opportunities to speak on that subject in public. This can be as simple as teaching a class somewhere. You might be able to speak at a conference or convention. If you’re nervous about speaking in front of a group, try creating YouTube videos or host a show on BlogTalkRadio.
Joining Toastmasters will improve your skills as a public speaker. It’s also an opportunity to network. The Dale Carnegie Course is another opportunity to improve your abilities as a public speaker.
Network as Much as You Can
No matter what you write about on your website, you’ll be able to find networking opportunities if you look for them. This might be as simple as participating in forums. (Michael has answered questions at the HighRankings.com forum for years.) It might be as involved as showing up at conferences and shaking people’s hands.
Social media is the networking tool of choice for many. Nothing wrong with that. Engage in conversations with other experts in your niche via Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Getting to know other experts and authorities is critical. Those people will say and/or write nice things about how smart you are. They might even link to your site. Google can see whether your name is mentioned on the Web in conjunction with other words related to your niche.
Do you want Google’s algorithm to recognize you as an expert?
Then BE an expert. (Or become one.)
It’s a lot easier than trying to fool the engine by faking it.
Read More about Search Engine Optimization
How Long Does It Take Google to Credit A Website with Links?
Natural Backlink Profile: Endless Ways to Build One
Website Not On Google? Why Some Internal Pages Aren't Indexed
RankBrain and Neural Matching: What Is the Difference?
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