This is the third in a four-part series taking a close-up look at each element of Google’s Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT) framework. If you’re just joining us, start with the overview post, then read Part 1: Experience and Part 2: Expertise first.
Of the four components in Google’s EEAT framework, Authoritativeness probably feels the most out of your hands and it takes the longest to build. The two we’ve talked about in prior blogs, Experience and Expertise, are directly related to your work: Experience from doing it, Expertise from a deep understanding of it. You can demonstrate both through the content you publish. But Authority is different. It comes from what other people say about you, and you can’t fake or directly create it.
That said, you can absolutely work toward building it, and understanding how it works makes the way to do that a lot clearer.
What Does “Authoritative” Mean to Google?
Authority in Google’s framework is essentially your reputation on a large scale. It’s how much your business is recognized as a credible and reliable source by others in your industry and your community. Experience and Expertise are about the work you’ve accomplished and what you know. Authority is about whether the right people have both noticed and acknowledged it.
The signals Google use to evaluate Authority are largely external from you. They include other websites linking to your content, mentions of your business in publications and industry resources, listings in professional directories and associations, and the footprint your business has built beyond your website. A contractor who is quoted in a local news article, is listed with their trade association, and has earned links from other credible sites looks authoritative to Google.
The reason Authority takes the longest to build is that you must accumulate signals from outside your control, and that accumulation is gradual by nature.
How Is Authority Different from Expertise?
They’re related and they reinforce each other, but the distinction between the two matters. Expertise lives on your site, and Authority is everywhere else.
A dentist can demonstrate Expertise by publishing accurate and useful content about dental procedures, preventive care, and questions a patient might have, and it’s something they can control. Authority develops when a local newspaper quotes the dentist as a source, when a dental school includes their blog on their site, or when other health-based sites link to their content. Expertise is the foundation, and Authority is what happens when that foundation gets recognized by others.
For small businesses, this means you can start building Expertise signals right away by publishing specific and knowledgeable content about your work. Building Authority depends on relationships, community presence, and a track record that others can point to.
What Builds Authority for a Small Business?
The good news is that the things that build Authority for a small business are pretty much the same things that make for a good local reputation. They just need to happen where Google can see them.
Local press coverage is one of the best Authority signals a small business can ask for. When a local newspaper, neighborhood blog, or regional publication mentions your business by name and links to your site, Google looks at it as a credibility signal from a source it already trusts. This does not need to be national coverage. A feature in a local Evergreen newspaper or a mention on a neighborhood website carries real weight for a locally focused business’s Authority.
Professional associations and directories provide another layer of signaling. Being listed with a trade association, maintaining a profile on industry directories, and holding relevant certifications that appear on credible third-party sites all tell Google that your business holds legitimate professional recognition.
Community involvement contributes more than most businesses realize. Sponsoring a local event, volunteering with a community organization, or being listed as a partner or supporter on another organization’s website creates a pattern of external mentions that gets better over time. While none of these individual mentions are huge in and of themselves, together they show a business with real roots in its community.
The most technically significant Authority signal are links from other credible sites. When another site links to yours, this is seen as a vote of confidence by Google. In this case, the quality of the site linking to you is more important than the volume of links. One link from a local news outlet or a professional association is more valuable than a bunch of links from low-quality directories or tangentially related sites.
What Doesn’t Build Authority
A few common tactics have no effect or can even actively cause harm.
A paid link scheme is one where businesses pay other sites to link to them, and they have been on Google’s radar for years. Google’s algorithm is very good at identifying unnatural patterns of links, and getting caught doing this can result in penalties that are much worse than just having no external links at all.
Adding your link to comment sections, forums, or low-quality directories used to carry some weight but now really doesn’t as Google has devalued these types of signals significantly. They’re not really harmful in small amounts but they’re not meaningful either.
Social media follows and likes are often misunderstood as Authority signals. They’re not significant in the way Google measures Authority. A business with 50,000 Instagram followers but no external website links, press mentions, or professional listings may have a built-in audience, but that does not equal Authority.
Common Mistakes
It’s a mistake to wait for Authority to happen on its own when you can work on creating the conditions for it. Authority builds when you’re active in your industry and community, when you publish valuable content, and when you have relationships with other businesses and organizations that create opportunities for mentions and links.
A business that publishes nothing, participates in nothing, and has no mentions anywhere other than its own site is not giving the signals Google is looking for, regardless of how great their website is.
Another common mistake is chasing links instead of earning them the right way. A link that comes from a publication featuring your business because you did something newsworthy is worth far more than one from a directory you paid to be in.
What Do Strong Authority Signals Look Like?
Some strong Authority signals are:
- External mentions that come from credible sources.
- Your business name appears consistently and accurately across external sources, reinforcing its legitimacy.
- There’s a pattern showing your business has been consistently present and active in its community and industry.
- Content that is linked to is specific, useful, accurate, and written by someone who has expertise.
How Does Authority Connect to Trustworthiness?
Authority and Trustworthiness are very closely related components of EEAT. A business that has genuine Authority acquired through legitimate methods will by its nature have signals that indicate Trustworthiness to Google: an accurate and consistent online presence, positive reviews, transparent business information, and a track record can be verified by others.
In the final installment of this series, we’ll look at Trustworthiness, what it means in Google’s framework, the technical and human signals that contribute to it, and why it’s seen as the most foundational of the four EEAT components.
Up Next: Trustworthiness
At Wild Iris Marketing, we help businesses build the kind of digital presence that earns Authority over time rather than chasing shortcuts that don’t work and don’t last. If you’d like to talk through what that looks like for your business, let’s have a conversation.
