Contents:
What is EEAT?
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It’s a huge focus in Google’s search quality rater guidelines.
Google uses these concepts to make sure quality sits at the centre of content success. In other words, content that’s easily readable, clear and logical, factually accurate, includes natural links from reputable sources and is authored by a subject matter expert with verifiable credentials will score highest for SEO.
We’ve written about EEAT (aka Double-EAT) extensively in our blog on How B2B companies get EAT right, so if you’re suffering from a lack of EEAT, head over there. And if you want to know how you can use LinkedIn to support your EEAT (and B2B SEO efforts) read on.
Why authorship’s so important
Google is focused on making sure the results it returns in search queries not only answer users’ questions, but that the content it returns is factually correct and doesn’t include misinformation or misrepresentation. It should be helpful, reliable, people-first content.
Google wants more than just facts – anyone can research those. It’s looking for content that conveys a real understanding of the topic. And it highly values pieces authored by genuine subject matter experts with informed experience. That means getting real people, with real experience, to write it (or put their name to it).
It also means that the author should have plenty of evidence of their experience and expertise online. LinkedIn is a great place to concentrate this – but more on that shortly.
Beyond search benefits, remember that people buy from people (and more importantly, from people they trust – it’s a vital part of the sales mix). So, it’s in your interests to have content authored by an individual rather than a brand.
And get this – 73% of global business executives say an organisation’s thought leadership content provides a more reliable method for evaluating its abilities and competencies than traditional marketing materials and product descriptions. Additionally, 70% have a higher opinion of businesses that consistently deliver high-quality thought leadership.
Added to that, over half (52%) of B2B decision-makers and 54% of C-level executives spend at least one hour per week engaging with thought leadership content. All of which spells out: it’s worth investing the time to get it right.
So, when you’re planning and creating content to demonstrate EEAT, make sure:
- It’s written or reviewed by subject matter experts
- To include clear author biographies with credentials for authors, especially in YMYL (your money or your life) categories (topics or pages that could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability or safety if presented inaccurately)
- You maintain robust About, Contact, and Editorial Policy pages on your site
- You have proper website security measures in place
- To seek endorsements, citations, and links from authoritative peers and organisations in the field
And take a look at the EEAT Q&A checklist we expanded upon here for more direction.
Why LinkedIn for EEAT?
Besides your website, there are other places you can – and should – ask your authors to publish content to support EEAT signals.
It’s important to generate positive brand mentions in contextually relevant and credible publications, assigning by lines and comments to key spokespeople within your business, to present them as authorities on their area of expertise. Google has said to its quality raters: High quality news articles and informational articles may be good sources of information for both companies / organisations /entities and content creators. Search for such articles.
And in 2021, Google’s John Mueller advised to: “Link to a common or central place – could be a social network profile page.”
This helps Google understand your authors’ credentials, supporting those all-important EEAT signals for success.
For a B2B brand, there’s no better place to do this than LinkedIn because:
- It’s not behind a login page – profiles are public by default and Google’s spiders can crawl profile pages and pick up EEAT signals
- It’s easy to generate EEAT signals on a LinkedIn profile page. There are literally sections dedicated to ‘Experience’, ‘Education’, ‘Licenses & certifications’, ‘Skills’ and ‘Recommendations’ – all clear EEAT indicators, some of which can be awarded by third parties on LinkedIn who themselves may have strong EEAT signals associated with their profiles
- LinkedIn profiles include historical EEAT signals – as a B2B brand I want to benefit from EEAT generated from my experts’ careers. It’s unlikely all of their EEAT signals will come from their tenure at just your company
- Regular use of LinkedIn – posting and networking with a focus on sharing insights and knowledge – generates sustained EEAT signals to help Google understand your content author over the longer term
It’s crucial your employees list your company as their current workplace on LinkedIn. And that and that their profiles are up to date with their latest qualifications and expertise.
For your key spokespeople (your regular content authors), go one better. Make sure they’re using LinkedIn regularly – that means networking and posting frequently.
Talk to our social media team to discuss a B2B LinkedIn strategy for your business.
How to use LinkedIn to support EEAT
You should make use of all the features available to you on LinkedIn for greatest effect. That means putting time into:
- Refining your profile page
- Creating (and sharing content)
- Networking
- Staying active and consistent
Refining your profile page
Within LinkedIn itself, there’s a big opportunity to make sure your profile is visible in search results by setting it up well and keeping it up to date.
The basics mean you should:
- Have a professional headshot
- Opt for a professional cover photo
- Add your company’s website as a button right up top
- Customise your LinkedIn profile URL
- Add relevant contact information and keep it up to date
And for extra clout:
Use your headline to capture attention
Your LinkedIn headline is your first chance to make an impression. And you’ve only got 220 characters to grab attention. Make every word count. Define your professional identity and value proposition.
This isn’t just about making a splash – this is pivotal for visibility in recruiter and client searches. Choose your words strategically to optimise your profile’s search potential and impact.
Make your summary section stand out
LinkedIn might craft a default summary from your profile details, but you should treat it as a starting block, not the finish line. Remember EEAT – communicate your experience and expertise with real examples. Highlight your specialism and key accomplishments.
Use this space to show your personality too. People buy people, so let yours shine through to make your summary memorable.
Add multimedia including videos, slideshows or PDFs in your ‘Summary’ section
Showing, not just telling, is key to building trust and demonstrating real-world experience. Literally pointing to previous work examples demonstrates you have real life understanding.
On top of this, rich media like videos can help to convey complex messaging more easily and make content more digestible – people respond well to it.
Ensure your work history is up to date
And use it to show potential clients, customers and Google – where your experience came from and where your expertise lies.
Make sure you have skills added to your profile and each role.
Creating (and sharing content)
The content you post – whether it’s your own or shared from others – should benefit your network and deepen connections. Actively engage with comments on both your posts and others’.
Think about:
- Who you want to talk to – who’s your target audience(s)
- What’s important to them?
- What problems do they face?
- What expertise, opinions, experience can you share to offer value?
When curating your LinkedIn content, focus on authenticity and trust. Make sure every post offers knowledge, value and insight to strengthen your personal brand and position you as a trusted expert.
LinkedIn’s suggestions are to:
- Analyse industry trends, recent developments, or case studies
- Break down complex information into digestible, engaging content
- Provide clear takeaways that your audience can easily understand and apply
- Share actionable tips, strategies, and best practices
- Focus on advice that your audience can immediately implement in their own work
- Help your network solve common problems or improve their skills
- Use real-world examples to make your content relatable
- Highlight specific achievements or lessons learned from your own career
- Show how your experiences can provide valuable insights to others
Let your personality shine through – keep it professional and relevant but don’t shy away from your unique voice. This personal touch helps keep your network engaged.
Experiment with formats to drive engagement – videos, memes, photos, graphics and even longer posts with no image can all work well on LinkedIn. If you’re sharing an external link – that’s fine – but don’t assume your audience is going to navigate away from LinkedIn and read the piece. You’re best-off summarising the key points and adding your expert view or opinion to make sure it lands well.
Check out our social media content creation guide for more tips.
Networking
On LinkedIn, your network impacts how your profile appears in search results. The more connections and followers you have, the more likely your profile will be recommended and rank higher.
Remember, this is social media, so your posts and contributions shouldn’t be a broadcast alone – they need to add value. Part of that comes from being involved in discussions around nuanced and sometimes complex topics. You can generate that conversation in your own comment section as well as contributing to others’.
This helps to boost your visibility – the more likes, comments and shares you get, the higher your newsfeed rankings and exposure to both existing and new connections.
Cultivate a vibrant online community by actively engaging with your network. Respond to comments, interact with peers’ posts, answer DMs and invite feedback to keep the dialogue flowing and your connections strong.
Remember, every share, comment or like should add value or strengthen bonds within your network. Whether you’re promoting your own insights or amplifying others’, focus on building meaningful interactions.
Staying active and consistent
It’s easy to deprioritise managing your LinkedIn profile. We get it – it can seem like there’s always something more important to do and distractions arise.
But if you make it part of your daily routine, it becomes natural. Spending even a few minutes a day, a few times a week, scrolling and searching for posts to interact with is all it takes. Creating your own posts will take a bit more time, but that’ll result in a bigger reward for you and your brand channels.
If you do stay active and consistent over the long term, you’ll see results, and you’ll generate greater EEAT signals on an ongoing basis.
Aim to do this weekly:
- Proactively post something on your page
- Spend 15 mins liking, commenting and sharing other content
- Repost something from your company page, another company spokesperson or industry expert – adding your own insight
Make LinkedIn part of your everyday:
- Use meeting breaks to scroll: If you find yourself with a short 5-10 minute break between meetings and don’t have enough time to start a new task, but also don’t want to simply wait around, make use of the opportunity to scroll through LinkedIn instead.
- Brainstorm post ideas on drink breaks: Make use of your idle moments, like waiting for the kettle to boil or taking a quick five-minute break outside, to brainstorm some post ideas or think about what you’ve read this week that’s thought provoking, that you have an expert opinion on.
- Seek out discussions during commutes: Take advantage of your commuting time to actively seek out discussions on LinkedIn that you can be a part of.
Take a look at our essential guide for more tips on how to build your B2B strategy for LinkedIn.
Call on the experts
In today’s world, executive profile and personal brands are becoming pivotal in driving sales and marketing success, often outpacing traditional company brands. But building a presence that gets you tangible business results can be overwhelming. For this, you might want to bring in expert support.
If your executive profile needs a boost, get in touch. Our SEO, content and social media specialists are well versed in building and managing online profiles, crafting impactful content, and providing coaching to position you as a top-tier industry expert.
Check our dedicated leadership branding programme – – designed for high-calibre business leaders, entrepreneurs, and directors, to craft and amplify your personal brand to meet your professional objectives. While Brand You stands strong on its own, it seamlessly integrates with our B2B social media services for a comprehensive branding solution.
Written by: Lou Watson-Dowell, Head of Digital PR and Social Media at Definition