There were times when you needed to read between the lines to understand where Google was going with its search updates. Not so much anymore. Case in point, the SMX Advanced conference keynote interview with Elizabeth Tucker, Director of Product Management for Google Search.
The keyword variations Ms. Tucker used over and over again at the outset of the interview were “satisfying,” “helpful,” and “experience.” For example, she referenced Google’s North Star was getting people to “satisfying and helpful results.” Then, she said SEOers should create content that is “helpful, satisfying, and has good experiences” to align with that North Star to gain rankings recognition. The redundancy of these core keywords in the span of just a few minutes couldn’t be a clearer signal of where Google Search is going. Unless, of course, they decide to expand the search quality rating model from E-E-A-T to S-H-E-E-A T to make it stand for Satisfying – Helpful – Experience – Expertise – Authority – Trust.
Speaking of the Search Quality Rating, here’s a link to Google’s 170-page pdf with the guidelines provided to Search Quality Raters that cover examples of Low-Quality Pages, Medium-Quality Pages, and High-Quality Pages as seen through E-E-A-T eyes. While Ms. Tucker said “trust” was the most important factor in E-E-A-T, “trust” is built by using content that demonstrates “experience, expertise, and authority.”
And, message received, high-quality content should also provide satisfying and helpful user experiences.
