Role of Subject matter expert is important in creating content. Particularly when the topic is on any YMYL areas the E-A-T of the author or the web site is important. We will understand how our content creating process is going to be affected by these two concepts ( YMYL and E-A-T )
As per google recent changes in algorithms, one of the key requirements for ranking higher in search result is expertise on the topic. Here expertise requires establishing that the content is produced by an expert on the subject or published on highly authorities site so the role of the subject matter expert became crucial for the content. A famous saying goes like this.
Who is saying is more important than what he is saying.
This is more applicable for the topics where expertise on the subject is required. Let us think about an topic where how to prepare tea is explained and another topic on self diagnosis of depression is explained. In case of health related topics, we can’t ask a content writer to create one blog on 1000 words by just doing a research on the subject without any expertise on the subject. So we need to understand the area of the Topic and then decide on how to to create the content.
Area of the topics
Required expertise on the subject is equally true for all types of topics? Do we need always one subject matter expert to create topics?
The answer lies in recently published Google search quality rater guidelines. As Google is more serious about YMYL ( Your Money or Your Life ) topics, it requires higher E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to get a good rank for these topics.
YMYL ( Your money or your Life ) topics
Let us understand what is YMYL topics. The classification lies through a spectrum of topics so the topic can fall in a range than any absolute value. Higher the YMYL content more the E-A-T requirement. Let us see some examples given by Google. This is part of the Search rater’s guidelines ( Page -12 )
If you are planning for a topic that falls under Clear YMYL areas then your content writer must be a Subject Matter expert with high level of expertise on the topic . Let us understand one more question.
What role a SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ) expert can play in such Clear YMYL topics which requires higher E-A-T ?
Imagine the prescription written by a Doctor which a medicine shop can only understand, whereas a diagnostic report can make more sense to the patient and the general audience. Similarly, the SEO team can make the expert content into more search engine friendly by working with the subject matter expert.
Level of Expertise
We may need little expertise ( more of interest ) on the topic Dog food near Noida. But the same time asking for information on emergency care for heart attacks requires a higher level of EAT. The content writer must have the required level of expertise and Authoritativeness on the topic while presenting. As the topic goes more towards YMYL the level of expertise required increases. Content from a reputed site on medical subject can be trusted so it is more likely that search result will return pages from these sites.
What to avoid
Google algorithm is more focused towards E-A-T ( based on topic ) and it is moving towards to became a semantic search engine. So stuffing with keywords or buying keyword reach backlinks will give little help.
There are many freelancing keyword writers charging on per word basis. Before evaluating the cost on per word basis, evaluate the expertise of the author on the subject. Just producing content with variation of keywords ( a list can easily be produced from several SEO tools available ) wont help in long run.
Your SEO team may able to decide on Topic but they can’t produce topic which requires expertise and Authoritativeness focusing on a niche. Moreover it should be aimed at your overall content strategy to support your journey towards your main seed keyword.
As per Search Advocate John Mueller.
It’s really hard to call a site authoritative after 30 articles
So if you are buying any content by paying per word cost and decided for the lowest rate to produce more content then read this line by Juhn Mueller.
Making your site “just as good / bad as others” is not compelling — you should really aim significantly higher, and not just with regards to the text on your pages, but in regards to everything across your site, and its embedding within the rest of the world / web.
Your content writer without any expertise on the subject may produce several pages as per the list given by your SEO team. But at the end of the day how they are different than the other pages available on the web.
Signals of a high quality content
It is the indications or better know as signals which tells google about the quality of the content. Just having back links is not a indicator of high quality content. It is also difficult for search engine to assign quality mark which is highly subjective. Quality for a human reader can be different for a search engine to understand. As per google .
Source : Page No 6 https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/hsw-sqrg.pdf
What are the quality signals for the content to indicate its high E-A-T.
One of the key requirement is who is the Author or responsible for creation of the content. Is the content is published by a new or little known site ? How much is the engagement of the content what are the signals from established sites about the content. That is the reason we often we see established sites always rank higher than a new site with better quality content.
Before delivering the content to the search results three step checking is done.
- How well the page achieves its purpose.
- Assess if the page is harmful.
- Determine the rating
The third point favors more E-A-T than so measuring quality in traditional way won’t help.
Conclusion
Instead of buying content on per word basis, think of building the expertise in your team or hire an export to work with your SEO team to produce compelling content by providing exclusive or higher value to the users.
Building expertise on the subject is more important than adding more words to the topic or more pages to the site. Building site Authoritativeness on the subject area is more important than adding content with more words.
It is the your SEO team who can transfer one doctor’s prescription to a diagnostic report which is easily understood by patients and others. Next time when you try to create content think on the topic first ( think of YMYL content ) and then ask your SEO team to work on the content.