Show expertise and trustworthiness through high-quality content

Valentina says: “Focus on EEAT and high-quality content.

Also, use traditional SEO, as we always have.”

Is EEAT just as relevant for newer, AI search engines as it is for more traditional search engines?

“We have been talking a lot about GEO as opposed to SEO. After reading a few studies about it, I think that what we have been using for SEO is also applicable for GEO and optimization for these LLM systems.

I've been looking at the actions we have to take to optimize for LLM systems. Obviously, there is a big focus on domain authority and branding, which is something that has always been suggested. There have also been quite a few studies showing that there are particular actions related to EEAT and showing trustworthiness and expertise in your content, as opposed to being keyword-focussed and other things that we usually use.

Before GEO came into the world, we used to focus on EEAT because we wanted search engines to rank our content and, within the ranking factors, what we had to write for the users and demonstrate was our expertise. This is something that you also have to do for GEO.

You have to add statistics, you have to show expertise, you have to cite sources, and you have to make the content fluent, because the new way of searching is with a full-on question rather than a query keyword.

Obviously, there is the whole element of structured data, which is also very important because you want the bots to read your content more easily. Again, this has also been important over the last few years because of featured snippets and all the structured content that was appearing on search engines.

That’s why I say that this is a very similar trend; we’re just talking about it in a different way.”

Within EEAT, are there specific aspects or metrics that you try to incorporate in your content to ensure that these are understood by search engines?

“Definitely trust and expertise.

Various studies have shown that, by including more statistics and otherwise trustworthy content within your copy, it will push AI models to then show your content.

Then, there is the trust element, where when a domain shows more trust and has a higher domain authority, it is more likely to be picked up by the models.”

You recommend understanding your users' behaviour throughout the funnel, so how do you apply EEAT at different stages?

“It depends on the user, your industry, and what you're dealing with. EEAT is important in any part of the funnel because, right now, informational content is much less frequently searched for on search engines than it is on AI models.

Therefore, it's very important to apply that EEAT to the information that you provide to your users. You need to show your expertise, and you need to show that the user and the models can trust you in order for that content to be shown on the AI models.

When you then go from information and top-of-funnel awareness down towards the commercial and conversion part of the funnel, where your actual product gets shown or your category pages get shown, structured data becomes a bit more important.

Trustworthiness is also important there, because the products and the more conversion-driven pages that are going to be shown will fundamentally be based on trust as well.”

How has user behaviour changed, and where do they spend their time now?

“User behaviour has changed, but also the user journey is now being shared with different platforms. Many users now start their research on social media, for instance, and then move to a search engine, or they start with AI models and move to a search engine when they are more sure about what they want to buy.

Search engines are losing some of their share of the first steps of the user journey. When users are starting the research phase and beginning to look for information, that informational side is now more on social media or AI models. People don't have the patience to look for information on search engines anymore; they want things brought to them.

There are two elements in there. The first one is that brands should be showing to the user before the user shows to them, particularly on the social media side. As a brand, you should also work on brand authority and the trustworthiness of your site, so that you appear to the user before they come and look for you.

When they go and search for information on AI models, you want to be the one appearing there – which is very similar to the way it was on search engines until a few years ago. This time, however, it’s more based on domain authority and the fluency and trustworthiness of your content, to be shown on the AI models.

The structure of the content and the actual content itself also have to be taken into consideration. You have to structure it so that it is clear, it talks directly, and it explains the information straight away – rather than basing it on keywords. It's more about the context and the fluency, and giving the answer straight away.

Again, that's something that we started to do for featured snippets because we wanted our content to be there, and be read by the bot straight away, so that it was clear.”

If the discovery phase of the user journey is often done on social media nowadays, is it an SEO's job to manage the content published there?

“I think it has also become an SEO job. Cross-channel is becoming more and more important, and SEOs also have to be experts on social media now, for this exact reason.

Social media is starting to rank on search engines, and because of that, it automatically becomes our job to look at the social media strategy. That doesn't mean that we have to create that strategy, but we should collaborate with the social media team to optimize the content on social media, as well as the content on the site.

Also, they can support each other. You can push social media on your site, and you can push your site through social media – and you can help increase the traffic to your site by pushing social media the right way.

For some top-of-funnel queries, social media is what’s being ranked, not websites anymore. Therefore, you have to understand how it works, how to optimize it, and how to synchronise it with your website.”

Can you attribute value to social media and AI search engine interactions, and the impact that might have on future search and sales?

“It’s very hard. Data analysis is becoming harder and harder as the years go by, especially with attribution, because social media is not that easy to track – and neither is SEO sometimes.

A lot of the time, people will see your site, and then they will leave. Maybe they see it through a sponsored ad, and then you don't know whether they have gone away and then come into SEO. Have they discovered the organic side and then clicked on an ad because they already knew the brand?

Attribution is very challenging, but there are ways to understand where your users are coming from. Obviously, with GA4, you can attribute the traffic to the referral site (where you will have AI models as well), and you have social media. Then, it's up to the marketer to properly track that content and understand the metrics, so that you know whether it’s working, whether it’s converting, and whether it’s sending people to your site.

However, there is always going to be a question mark there, and a black box, where you don't know exactly where the users went to and from, and where they started the journey toward the site and the conversion.

We can minimise the error, though, that's for sure.”

A lot of SEOs talk about the value of building a brand nowadays, but how do you incorporate brand into content that may be consumed elsewhere?

“Brand association is very important, but one of the ways to build your brand nowadays is to show up for the user by understanding their needs and publishing content that fulfils those needs.

When you start answering these questions before they get asked, that's when the brand starts to be recognised. The build-up of the brand comes from the website as well, but it mostly comes from social media. When you start building it, it also comes from a bunch of referral elements that you have around it.

Once people start to get to know the brand for the quality of your content, the quality of your information, the quality of what you're providing, and the innovation that you bring, that's when the brand starts being successful.

Often, it's also about innovation and presenting whatever you are selling or showing from a different perspective that’s more original, and perhaps incorporates elements that other people aren’t tapping into.”

In order to show up for the user, do you need to interact on social media and answer questions as soon as people ask them?

“Not necessarily. User research is becoming more and more important because there is so much competition, and there are so many instances where users can find information and not even look at where they are getting that information from.

It’s about user research and understanding in advance, by looking at social media and understanding what questions they're asking.

Then, once you understand the user trends, the way that they behave, and what they ask, you don't only have to answer a question, you can provide the questions before they ask them – which is very hard, but it’s made possible by studying your users.”

Valentina, what's the key takeaway from the tip you shared today?

“Show expertise and trustworthiness. EEAT is becoming more and more important with every day that goes by.

Also, get to know your user.”

Valentina Stragliotto is an SEO Expert and Digital Marketing Strategist. Find out more over on LinkedIn.