Google’s Recognition of Content Creators: A Paradigm Shift for E-E-A-T and SEO Professionals
Google’s Growing Focus on Content Creator Entities
Recent observations of Knowledge Panel subtitles, such as “Content Creator (Medicine)” and “Content Creator (Travel)”, reveal Google’s concerted effort to recognize content creators as authoritative sources. This significant development underscores Google’s intent to highlight individual expertise within specific fields. By providing visible accreditation, Google aims to bolster the credibility of authoritative content creators, enhancing their search result visibility and potential influence in SEO.
The Strategic Importance of Identifying Content Creators
Several key updates from Google in 2023 and 2024 underscore the significance of this focus:
- The Killer Whale Knowledge Graph update in July 2023.
- The March 2024 E-E-A-T update.
- A significant leak in May 2024, confirming Google’s association of people with their profile pages and authored articles.
These updates indicate Google’s broader strategy to refine the identification and relevance of person entities within the Knowledge Graph, with frequent minor recalibrations ensuring dynamic relevance.
E-E-A-T’s Enhanced Role in SEO
E-E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) becomes tangibly impactful when Google successfully identifies and links credible content creators to their respective content. Modern SEO now transcends traditional optimization techniques, necessitating optimization of both the content creator and the entity itself.
Optimization Strategies for Content Creators
Understandability
- Establish robust connections between the content creator and their reference pages like personal websites, employer’s “About” pages, social profiles, and trusted third-party sources.
Credibility
- Link the creator to relevant materials such as articles, videos, podcasts, interviews, and third-party articles.
Deliverability
- Expand the creator’s digital footprint by consistently creating and publishing new content, ensuring all information is clear, consistent, relevant, topical, and factually accurate.
Practical Steps for Verification
To check if Google recognizes an author, search for one of their articles and inspect the result using the three vertical dots in the SERPs. If the author’s name and description appear, it indicates an established connection between the author and their content.
Evolving Relationships Between Person Entities and URLs
Maintaining and expanding these relationships is essential due to constant data shifts. Significant updates, like the Killer Whale overhaul, can drastically alter the landscape, necessitating consistent monitoring and adjustments to preserve and enhance entity relationships.
Application in Search and Assistive Engines
Beyond Google, assistive engines like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Alexa, and Siri are incorporating similar strategies. These systems collect, optimize, and structure data to populate accurate Knowledge Graphs, reducing misinformation and enhancing user experience.
Immediate Actions for SEO Practitioners
Modern SEO experts should:
- Focus on building clear person-to-page relationships.
- Ensure content creators’ digital footprints are expansive and well-maintained.
- Apply these strategies across websites to improve ranking, enhance SERP visibility, and bolster knowledge-based results.
By prioritizing these elements, SEO professionals can significantly enhance their clients’ visibility and authority in the digital landscape.