How to Outrank AI-Generated Content With Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness You can leverage Google EAT and other tactics to outrank AI-generated content, spammers and your competition.
By Dennis Consorte Edited by Chelsea Brown
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ChatGPT, an AI-powered content creation tool, has gained widespread popularity. GPT stands for Generative Pre-training Transformer. It is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that can generate human-like content by analyzing language patterns and a knowledge database. Marketers are using it to produce massive quantities of high-quality content, but it lacks credibility without a recognized author. That's where you can leverage Google EAT and other tactics to outrank GPT spammers and your competition.
What is Google EAT?
EAT — or Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness — is a ranking signal in Google's algorithm. Real people called "quality raters" use it to determine the quality and relevance of search results based on Search Quality Rater Guidelines. This feedback helps train Google's algorithm to deliver better results to users.
Expertise is the author's depth of knowledge on the topic. You can demonstrate expertise through educational credentials, professional experience and published works.
Authority is the author's reputation within an industry or community. You can demonstrate authority through media mentions, industry awards and speaking engagements.
Trustworthiness is the credibility and reliability of the content and its source. You can demonstrate trustworthiness through references and citations, transparent author bios and clear contact information.
In general, websites with high EAT are more likely to appear higher on Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) compared to other content where all other factors are equal. EAT is especially important for websites in industries where accurate and reliable information is critical, such as healthcare, finance and legal.
Related: 7 Best SEO Tools to Help You Rank Higher in Google
Why Google EAT matters during an explosion of machine-generated content
As ChatGPT and other automated content creation tools become more popular, we can expect a surge in search engine spam. These tools can produce content quickly and inexpensively. Consequently, Google must adjust its algorithm to prioritize credible writers. A viable solution is to give more weight to the EAT ranking signal. They'll continue to prioritize articles associated with trusted authors and fine-tune their algorithm to detect the legitimacy and quality of content attributed to them. Google must also score content according to the value of the information contained and stylistic attributes such as engagement and readability.
I recently described how human writers have some advantages over AI on a podcast. People have imagination and can generate original data with surveys and experiments. We can then use data storytelling to make our content stand out in SERPs. We can also grow our audience on social media and drive traffic to our pages. This "social signal" can increase the legitimacy of our content.
Related: Top 5 Ways AI Can Enhance Your Content-Creation Process
What to do when you can't demonstrate EAT on your own
If you have a limited amount of influence, you can leverage the Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness of established authors and influencers to grow your brand. Here's how:
Pay top influencers in your industry to write articles, record videos and create other content they agree not to publish elsewhere until after Google indexes your pages. Be sure to disclose payments when legally required to do so.
Identify, quote and write about well-respected people in your industry. Then, contact them, or tag them in social posts that point back to your content. Some of these people will share your content with their audiences.
Build genuine relationships with famous people in your industry. You can network with influencers at events, on LinkedIn and on other social platforms. Transform those relationships into mutually beneficial collaborations to grow your authority.
Related: How Influencer Marketing Took Power, and What the Future Holds
Machine-generated content will improve, and platforms will use it to deliver personalized content. Authors can use it for ideation, outlines and summaries. However, spammers will use it for gaming search engines. To future-proof yourself as a content creator, optimize for Google EAT, and create unique articles that only humans can initiate.
