With EEAT, Google uses all the signals at its disposal to determine whether you are known as a contact point for your topics. In this post, we’ll look at using LLMs to learn more about your EEAT and, better yet, get inspiration on how to improve it.
When it comes to being recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, or in many cases in AI reviews, EEAT seems important. (I say “seems to be” because some sites recommended in AI reviews don’t seem to have EEAT yet. I think that will change as the system continues to learn.) LLM tools like to recommend brands or people who are known as are go-to source as well as official sources of information.
Back in 2018, Google’s Gary Illyes confirmed that EAT was based primarily on links and mentions on authoritative websites.
Links are important! However, it is unlikely that you can build EEAT by creating your own links. Rather, you need to find ways to get the online world to really talk about you and recommend your company and the content you produce. That’s not an easy task…unless you actually create things that people have a right to recommend.
Building EEAT is synonymous with building a good reputation for your topics.
Here is something I would recommend. Browse the Guidelines for quality assessors for the expression “reputation for the topic”. You will see examples of websites that are considered high quality because they are known for their themes.
It is likely that creating your own links will not convince Google, Gemini, or ChatGPT that you are a go-to source for meningitis information. Rather, if you want to be known as a go-to source on this topic, you need to litter the Internet with evidence that you actually ARE a source that people actually recommend…which would obviously be impossible for the topic of meningitis. But there are probably topics for which you could be considered a contact point.
Let’s think a little about how you can be recognized as a contact point for your topics.
Use Gemini and ChatGPT to find out what you are known for
Try this prompt in both LLMs:
What is (your name, your company name or your brand name) known for? List 5 topics.
If you have a common name, you may need to say something like “Marie Haynes, the SEO.” If the tools don’t recognize you, you still have work to do to get noticed!
If recognized, do the topics listed align with what you or your client want to be known for? If not, I’m about to share some ideas on how to change this.
Use Gemini in AI Studio to analyze your anchor text
This is a pretty cool exercise. I’ve found it works much better with Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental model AI Studio instead of ChatGPT for that. The use of this model is free. It’s that good!
You’ll need access to a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush that allows you to export your links along with their anchor text. Also, this really only works if you have legitimate mentions and not links that you have intentionally created and dictated the anchor text for. As a reminder: Creating links with the primary purpose of manipulating rankings is classified as spam by Google.
Why pay attention to anchor text? The original PageRank paper tells us that “anchors often provide more accurate descriptions of web pages than the pages themselves.” This is what Google told us PageRank has evolved a lot since its original use So we don’t know if they still use anchor text to mark how other pages describe. I think it’s still pretty important. The Rater Guidelines go into detail about the importance of what others, especially experts, have to say about a site.
While I think we can learn a lot from our anchor text, there are a variety of signals in today’s search systems that Google takes into account that go beyond PageRank. However, the anchors of links pointing to our website can give us an indication of what terms people use when talking about our company and recommending our website.
Upload your link table to Gemini and try this prompt:
Prompt: Here is a table with links to my website. Based on the anchor text of the links, can you help me figure out what topics the site is best known for?
You should really notice that brand mentions are at the top of the list. If you haven’t already Read this patent In terms of quality values (although now outdated), it shows the importance of having a brand that people search for and associate with your topics.
Here is part of Gemini’s analysis of what the anchor text of links pointing to me shows.
And so Gemini summarized what the words used in the anchor text of the links pointing to my website say about me.
I think that’s pretty accurate. I am known for understanding (E)EAT and Google algorithm updates. I have a well-known newsletter, Podcast and courses. And my company is recognized as an authority. Good stuff!
Howeverthere is more I want to be known for. Which leads me to my final point…
What if we wanted to be known for other topics?
It’s cool that I’m known for these topics, but if you’ve been following my work lately, you know my focus is shifting. I can’t stop talking about the use of AI. I’m incredibly excited to see how the use of agents will be adopted by companies and change the way we communicate with each other. (In case you haven’t read it Google’s white paper on agentsI would highly recommend it!) And I’m obsessed with thinking about how the future will change with AI.
The problem, however, is that most of my posts on this topic are included in my paid version of my newsletter, Marie’s Notes, which means it’s not available on the public internet.
If I want to become known for these topics, my goal should be to build a reputation for them. This includes publishing content that others find helpful and linking to, and more, becoming publicly known as someone who speaks about these topics. This could mean speaking about AI at conferences or participating in podcasts that specifically cover these topics. This will provide more evidence in the online world that my name is associated with these issues.
You can also try asking Gemini:
I also want to be known for my understanding of AI, particularly the use of LLMs. How can I improve my EEAT in this area?
You’ll get lots of ideas.
Oh, and I should write more blog posts about using AI… helpful posts that people mention and link to… like this one. 😛
This post started as an entry in Marie’s notes. If you enjoyed this story, you’ll find great value in my notes where I examine all the latest developments important to search and AI.