Using keywords to drive your careers website up the search engine results pages (SERPs) is a great idea. But you can't just stuff keywords into your site and expect that to improve your search engine optimisation (SEO)—it won't. Google employs teams of reviewers to read and assess content for Expertise, Authority and Trust (E-A-T), the results of which are used to train the search algorithm. So, simply put, the more content is deemed to exhibit these three qualities, the higher it will rank. That’s why high-quality content is more important than ever for your SEO strategy: to drive candidates organically towards your careers site.

What is E-A-T?

Expertise

Google takes author expertise into consideration when benchmarking your employer marketing content. (An author can be a named individual or a company.) Manual reviews will look into the validity, rationality and sourcing of a piece of attraction content to ensure it genuinely shows expertise. They’re looking for high-quality backlinks that evidence knowledge and facts that can't be disproven by better evidenced content elsewhere online. The more evidence of expertise that a piece of content demonstrates, the more likely it is to be considered high-quality.

Authority 

Your talent attraction content is deemed to have authority when it is written by an individual or brand that is held in high regard by its audience. Google will also look at whether main content (MC) on a page is relevant to the wider website—the more interrelated pages there are, the higher you can expect to be rated for authority. Quality backlinks also play a part in authority—if your candidate attraction content largely falls in-line with consensus opinion elsewhere online, this will be deemed as a measure of authoritativeness. Finally, if an employer or individual author is cited elsewhere in high quality publications in relation to the same subject, this will also help to indicate authoritativeness to the search engines.

Trust

Trust is established by employers when their careers site becomes the go-to place for people looking for information on subjects related to their line of work. Google will look for repeat visits to websites from the same users to the same pages, how long users stay on pages and, conversely, how often they leave after just one visit (bounce rate). Content length, internal links and originality all factor into the equation. If users consistently visit your site, stay to read long articles and then click through to other linked articles on the same site, Google will reward you—because that only happens when you’re a trusted source publishing important original content.

Authenticity is also important to trust. An About Us page and Privacy Policy will show that you are a genuine, respected entity and are not misrepresenting yourself. Links to candidate and employee reviews (on the likes of Glassdoor) can also add legitimacy. This is where Trust overlaps with Reputation Management.

Why is it essential that your careers site demonstrates E-A-T?

E-A-T is an increasingly important factor in determining search engine ranking of all websites but particularly those that contain what Google calls YMYL (Your Money and Your Life) content, i.e., that which relates to major decisions in life and money, such as a careers page or website.

Why is E-A-T important in YMYL content? Because, by making it easy to find the best quality information on subjects that really matter, like what are the best companies to work for, Google enables better decision making, which helps establish it as a search engine that can be trusted. In, short It boosts Google’s own E-A-T.

How do you rank for E-A-T?

The question should, rather be, can you rank for E-A-T? It's not completely clear whether E-A-T has a direct affect on ranking. However, there's little doubt that it has an influence on the way the algorithm operates. As such, you should still be looking to imbue your content with E-A-T.  Here are some ways you can go about that.

‍Start a company blog. Blogs are a great way to publish content that delivers valuable information in a form that your audience will be able to search and find. Research longtail keywords to find out what candidates are talking about and base your content around those subjects. Include keywords in your blog to help your audience find your content. Posting blog content in a consistent, strategic way will maximise internal link-building potential and boost E-A-T.

 Write guest articles to demonstrate authority within your field. You could write about the impact that changes like a new employer brand or of ATS have had on your organisation. There are plenty of authoritative sources within the industry who are interested in publishing guest content of that nature and the backlinks it’ll bring will really benefit your SEO.

 Make content shareable and post in places where it will catch the eye of other people within your industry (on Linked In, for example). When your content is shared by an authoritative source, it’ll validate you as a fellow authority in the eyes of Google. Also, the more of your content there is being shared about, the more you’ll establish yourself as a consistent presence within your content sphere, which will benefit all aspects of E-A-T.

Publish original content. Think about your industry and the challenges it faces. Have you seen something in the news that could impact recruitment within your industry? Try to be the first to write about it. Truly valuable original content identifies knowledge gaps for your audience. Conducting your own research in support of your content will take the originality of your content to the next level and attract the attention of other content creators in your field who may link to your content and boost its E-A-T.

‍Do things in real life as well as online. Real life events like recruitment fairs or industry events are great opportunities for generating original content and for building industry connections that can lead to guest article writing that strengthens SEO. You could even get creative with a collaborative podcast and establish yourself within a platform that isn’t (yet) overrun with careers-related content.

‍Develop a content calendar. This will help you publish the kind of cohesive and structured content that Google deems authoritative. It’ll also present you with multiple opportunities for internal link building that will demonstrate depth of content and boost your E-A-T. 

Building E-A-T with quality content is essential if you want your careers site to be as visible as possible to candidates, but it takes time and, yes, expertise. Here at Jupiter, we specialise in content marketing campaigns that boost E-A-T and make your careers site as visible as possible to candidates looking for a great employer. Drop us a line or email to find out more.

Looking for something else to read? Check our 5 tips to improve employer branding.

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