In behavioral health, we often talk about the “alphabet soup”: LCSWs, CADCs, DBT, CBT, EMDR, and so on. Digital marketing has an alphabet soup, too.
Most business owners are familiar with SEO and PPC, but it’s the lesser-known acronyms like AEO and EAT — or rather, EEAT — that matter most in 2025.
We’ll deep dive next week on AEO. This week, EEAT is the #1 factor you need to know about when it comes to your SEO.
Leave No SEO Crumbs
The history of SEO is really the history of people trying to reverse-engineer Google search algorithms. By design, Google keeps the details of its proprietary algorithm tightly under wraps. Over the years, SEO experts have identified many different loopholes through code (which Google then promptly shuts down through an update). Things like keyword stuffing, microsites, and spammy backlinks are all relics of those cycles of experimentation and update. One trick that has stood the test of time, though, is EAT.
EAT stands for Expertise, Authority (or Authoritativeness), and Trustworthiness (or Trust) — long held as the three factors Google is looking for when it ranks sites. The algorithm uses different markers to gauge these qualities, which SEO-ers have jumped on in their efforts to rank. Expertise, for example, used to be achieved by using your keywords as many times as humanly possible. The algorithm evolved, and the approach became more nuanced. The era of 5,000-word Wikipedia-style blog posts was another attempt to meet that qualifier. Authority and Trust, for example, are closely tied to backlinks.
From EAT to EEAT in SEO
In recent years, however, the supremacy of EAT has been challenged by the sheer volume of content online. Some estimate that there are almost 5 billion pieces of content published each day, and more than 90% of all the pages online get zero traffic from Google. We are drowning in content that is dense, wordy, and generic — all in an attempt to appear authoritative.
Google doesn’t want to serve users 10 versions of the same article, all written for the algorithm rather than a human. That’s why in recent months algorithm updates have begun to focus on another E: Experience. Unique human experience is the one factor that AI and content farms in the Phillippines can’t replicate. What’s more, it’s the factor that humans actually trust above all.
How to Rank with Content
EEAT has fundamentally changed how we do content. Today, a 400-word blog post based on a first-person testimonial will outperform yet another 700-word article on “How to know you need rehab.” In order to rank, we need to get creative, get real, and approach content creation like journalism more than like a blog factory.
At BuzzFactory, we have always said that our approach to content is “human-first.” Later this month, we’ll continue to explain why Team Human is still outperforming Team Robot — at least for now.
Reviews & Local SEO
The easiest way to showcase your experience is through reviews. In fact, businesses with many positive reviews can actually rank higher than #1, by being placed prominently in the Google Maps widget, or as an inset Google Business profile. This impacts your organic ranking in regular search results as well.
Having a robust review strategy, then, is a mandatory aspect of any successful SEO plan. If your reviews do not reflect your past clients’ positive experiences with you, you will struggle to find new ones online.
That’s why all incoming Buzz clients are offered a comprehensive review generation pipeline and management strategy. Let’s work together to make sure you EEAT — and leave no crumbs.
