Improving E-E-A-T signals
E-E-A-T signals are fundamental to the way Google ranks the quality of the content on the web. It stands for Experience – Expertise – Authoritativeness – Trustworthiness. When producing content, it’s important to keep these things in mind if you want the best chance at visibility in the search results.
When it comes to marketing for accountants, many practices are already on the back foot with E-E-A-T. That’s because Google doesn’t automatically trust brands in typically untrusted verticals, such as finance, health, legal, e-commerce and recruitment. That said, there are ways in which PR for accountancy firms can improve E-E-A-T signals, helping them build trust and credibility and thus achieve greater visibility in the search engine results pages.
Let’s take a look at some of the tactics that can be used.
- Using thought leadership
Two of the signals that Google uses to rank content are experience and expertise. These can be demonstrated by accountancy practices with properly considered content that showcases their ability to be thought leaders. Thought leaders are recognised by customers and peers as industry experts who offer unique insights and original ideas.
There are likely people within your practice who have extensive experience with particular aspects of accounting. Identify these staff members and create PR stories around the things they are passionate about, whether it’s helping people reduce their Inheritance Tax liability or making acquisitions go smoothly for businesses. This approach attracts journalists from relevant publications who are looking to add credibility to their own stories, which in turn results in backlinks from news sites.
- Generating backlinks
And speaking of generating backlinks, one of the oldest tricks in the book if you want to increase your authority is by obtaining links from reputable third parties to your website. This doesn’t have to mean links from the Financial Times or the BBC. Citations from smaller but relevant publications or websites are equally beneficial, so create a wishlist and work towards getting links from these.
- Using data-led campaigns
Carrying out your own research and creating PR stories around it can help to demonstrate the trustworthiness of your brand. Whether you choose to use anonymised customer data or broader surveys, original research indicates quality by providing evidence-based stories.
This content often attracts relevant, high quality backlinks, which in turn helps to increase brand awareness and leads. Of course, there are considerations. Brand-owned data should be verifiable by any journalists who want to use it, and the methodology of sourcing the information must be sound.
If you’re looking to improve your digital PR efforts, get in touch with Whitefish Marketing today. As a dedicated marketing agency for accountants, we provide a range of services including SEO, PPC, content and PR to help your practice succeed.
