The document discusses Google algorithm updates in 2020 and the role of E-A-T (expertise, authority, trustworthiness). It notes several Google algorithm updates throughout 2020 related to the coronavirus pandemic. It emphasizes that E-A-T is increasingly important and discusses how official health organizations saw increased search visibility after updates favoring authoritative sources on health topics. The document also provides recommendations for keyword research, content strategy, and leveraging Google features in response to the pandemic.

1. Winning with E-A-T and Algorithm
Updates in the Age of Coronavirus
August 4, 2020

2. @lilyraynyc

3. What you will see today:
• Google algorithm updates in 2020
• What role does E-A-T play
• The June 22 update
• Ripple effects in SEO
• 2020 keyword research and content creation
strategies
• Algorithm updates
• COVID content pivots
• Google My Business recommendations
Agenda
@lilyraynyc

4. Google Updates in 2020:
What has happened on Google in
2020? A brief synopsis:
• January 13: core update
• January 22: Featured Snippet
update
• Feb 7: unconfirmed Google update
• All of March: coronavirus
• May 4-17: core update
• June 22: "wear a mask" update*
(*my unofficial name for it)
• July 5: another unconfirmed update
mariehaynes.com/algo
SEO visibility changes in Aprilduring coronavirus
@lilyraynyc

5. Timeline of
Google’s
Responses
to COVID-
19
Date Article
3/4/2020 Google I/O Cancelled Over Coronavirus Concerns
3/9/2020 Google Asking Businesses To Update Business Hours & Details For COVID-19
3/10/2020 Google Search Relations Team Grounded During Coronavirus
3/13/2020 Googlers Taking Work Stations Home During Coronavirus
3/13/2020 Google My Business Asking Is The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Affecting Your Business?
3/16/2020 Should Google Halt Search Algorithm Updates During COVID-19 Outbreak
3/17/2020 60% Of SEOs Would Like To Pause Google Algorithm Updates During COVID-19 Outbreak
3/23/2020 Google Stops Accepting Local Reviews & Q&A During Coronavirus Outbreak
3/25/2020 Google Advice On E-Commerce Sites Closing Due To COVID-19
3/25/2020 Google My Business Not Functioning Properly During Coronavirus Outbreak
3/26/2020 Most SEOs Claiming Organic Search Traffic Declines Due To COVID-19
3/26/2020 Google Ads Offers Advertising Advice During COVID-19
4/1/2020 Google Ads New Policy Prevents Profiting Off Sensitive Events, Like COVID-19
4/1/2020 Google COVID-19 Announcements Beta Structured Data
4/2/2020 Google Posts With COVID-19 Updates
4/2/2020 April 2020 Google Webmaster Report: COVID-19, Algorithm Updates, Mobile First Indexing & More
4/3/2020 Google Search Console COVID-19 Announcement Feature
4/3/2020 Google Doodle - Stay Home. Save Lives. Leads To Coronavirus Tips Results
4/3/2020 Google Says They Are Not Filtering Out Sites For Coronavirus Searches
4/6/2020 Google Logo Says Thank You Coronavirus Helpers
4/7/2020 Google Summarizes Its Search Changes For COVID-19 In Tweets
4/7/2020 Google Search COVID Announcements Feature To Be Live Soon
4/14/2020 Google Throttling Crawling Of Sites During The Coronavirus Outbreak?
4/17/2020 Google Now Supports Government Benefits Schema For COVID-19 Announcements
4/21/2020 Google Local Services Ads Enables COVID-19 Highlights
4/22/2020 Google Testing Questions Box In Search Results In US For COVID-19 Queries
4/23/2020 Google Offers Free COVID-19 Posters For Your Business
5/1/2020 Google Question Hub - What Is Your Question Is Wider Than COVID-19 Searches
5/4/2020 Google Has Not Slowed Crawling Your Site Because Of COVID-19
5/5/2020 Nooglers First Day As A Google Employee During COVID-19
5/5/2020 AMP Not Required For COVID-19 Related News In Google Top Stories Carousel
5/7/2020 Google My Business Adds COVID-19 Responder Policy For Hotels
5/7/2020 May 2020 Google Webmaster Report: Core Update, Google Shopping, LinkedIn & COVID-19
5/7/2020 Google Adds COVID Testing Center Details To Local Panel
5/12/2020 Google Posts Prioritizing COVID-19 Posts Over Other Google Posts
5/18/2020 Google AdSense Unable To Review Some Sites Due To COVID-19
5/26/2020 Google Asks SEOs How COVID-19 Changed SEO Work
6/19/2020 Google Ads Begins Issuing COVID-19 Credits
6/22/2020 Google Internship During COVID-10 Pandemic
7/20/2020 Google Ads To Ban Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dangerous Ads
7/24/2020 Google Search Showing Flight & Hotel COVID-19 Impact@lilyraynyc

6. Google’s
SERP for
“Coronavirus”
thre
@lilyraynyc

7. That’s Not
All...
@lilyraynyc

8. There's still
more where
that came
from...
@lilyraynyc

9. The White House Encourages Schema
The WhiteHouse and key
Federal agencies are working
alongside Schema.org to help
ensurethese critical resources
surface across online search
engine results.
- Whitehouse.gov
@lilyraynyc

10. You may notice a
trend…
@lilyraynyc

11. E-A-T was already
important…
@lilyraynyc

12. …but it just got even more
important.
@lilyraynyc

13. Wait, What is E-A-T Again?
@lilyraynyc

14. "How Google Fights Disinformation"

15. Look Who’s
Gaining SEO
Visibility:
@lilyraynyc

16. Official Health Sites
June 22 Update:
120% 153% 72%
92% 144% 117% 92%
44%
@lilyraynyc

17. Two of the Biggest Winners on June 22
The Center for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration were two of the biggest
winners of the "wear a mask" update.
@lilyraynyc

18. • CDC and FDA outrank the controversial Henry Ford article, which supports hydrochloroquinefor COVID
@lilyraynyc

19. • FDA moves to position 1 and 3 for “hand sanitizer” after not ranking in top 20
• Amazon gets pushed down, Walmart drops off entirely
@lilyraynyc

20. • FDA moves up 12 positions to #1
@lilyraynyc

21. These changes
have a ripple
effect. It’s not
only health
sites who are
affected.
@lilyraynyc

22. • The query doesn’t contain “coronavirus,” but Google ranks the FDA and CDC in positions 1 and 2
@lilyraynyc

23. • The query doesn’t contain “coronavirus,” but Google ranks the FDA and CDC in positions 1 and 2
@lilyraynyc

24. • The FDA moved into position 2 (after PAA) out of nowhere about drug interactions with grapefruit juice
@lilyraynyc

25. • "Earn degree" and other education terms have largely shifted to an online format
@lilyraynyc

26. These are only a few
examples.
Imagine the impact
these changes have
on a large scale,
across trillions of
keywords.
@lilyraynyc

27. SEO is getting increasingly competitive,
and E-A-T is more important than ever.
You can’t fake E-A-T, but you can identify where your site
is a true expert and authority, and focus your efforts there.

28. Ask yourself:
on which topics
is your brand
an *actual*
authority?
@lilyraynyc

29. How Does Google Actually Determine Authority?
BILLSLAWSKI
A 2017 article by Bill
Slawski expounds on a
Google Patent that may
be used to determine
how authoritative a
website is for a given
keyword.
@lilyraynyc

30. Use SEMRush “Referring Domains” and “Authority Score”
A quick and dirty,
oversimplified
approach:
Analyze your backlink
profile – especially the
“high authority” domains
that link to you.
• What pages or site
sections do they point to?
• What is the anchor text?
• What themes emerge from
this analysis?
@lilyraynyc

31. Highly Oversimplified Approach:
Publish “breaking” content
related to these topics
1.
2.
Export your inbound
links’ anchor text
Remove branded
keywords
3.
Create word cloud or
phrase cloud
4.
@lilyraynyc

32. When it comes to your
keyword research and
content strategies, 2020 is
a different animal than
2019.
...Have you updated
your process
accordingly?
@lilyraynyc

33. Example Exercise:
Let's create
content for a
childhood
education blog.
@lilyraynyc

34. Google Trends is Your Friend
Start with a
generic term
on which your
website is an
authority
Drill down to related topics and queries:
@lilyraynyc

35. Export Google Trends – Focus on Rising Trends
TOP RISING
homeschool 100 coronavirus homeschooling Breakout
online homeschooling 42 homeschooling during coronavirus Breakout
homeschooling curriculum 39 homeschooling memes coronavirus Breakout
free homeschooling 35 woke homeschooling Breakout
homeschooling programs 33 harvard magazine homeschooling Breakout
homeschooling kids 29 the risks of homeschooling Breakout
homeschooling texas 23 freedom homeschooling virtual field trips Breakout
home school 19 homeschooling schedule ideas Breakout
coronavirus homeschooling 18 black lady praying about homeschooling Breakout
what is homeschooling 18 homeschooling for dummies Breakout
homeschooling high school 18 how do you start homeschooling your child Breakout
homeschool curriculum 17 woman praying about homeschooling Breakout
homeschooling in texas 15 harvard anti homeschooling summit 4550%
how to homeschool 15 homeschooling memes 1850%
homeschooling kindergarten 14 homeschooling meme 1450%
home schooling 14 harvard homeschooling 600%
how to start homeschooling 14 homeschooling in nebraska 400%
homeschooling florida 13 homeschooling tips 350%
homeschooling requirements 13 homeschooling schedule 300%
homeschooling near me 13 resources for homeschooling 250%
homeschooling memes 13 homeschooling 4 year old 250%
homeschooling resources 11 homeschooling resources 250%
christian homeschooling 11 how to start homeschooling in texas 200%
homeschooling cost 11 free homeschooling resources 200%
homeschooling schedule 10 homeschooling options 180%@lilyraynyc

36. SEMRush Keyword Magic Tool
Pro tip:
Focus as much
on “trend” as
you do on
search volume.
@lilyraynyc

37. Indicate the Content is Relevant Now
Sure, there are already
articles that rank for this topic.
But there is no indication that
they were written or updated
to reflect our unique
circumstances in 2020.
@lilyraynyc

38. SEMRush Keyword Magic Tool
Look for common
patterns and
themes – this could
serve as a source
of inspiration for a
“content hub.”
@lilyraynyc

39. Assess the Competition
These results are ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Even the Featured Snippet doesn’t say
“California.” Neither does the 1st organic result.
This is an easy opportunity!
@lilyraynyc

40. BuzzSumo
You can use tools like
Buzzsumo to evaluate
what content is trending
on social media within the
past day, week, or month,
and to ideate accordingly.
Recent social media
engagement metrics may
be more illuminating
than monthly search
volume.
@lilyraynyc

41. Sometimes even Google gets
confused about E-A-T
(as made evident by recent
core updates).
@lilyraynyc

42. Fluctuations from Google's Recent Core Updates
Sometimes it feels like
even Google doesn't
know what it's doing
with core updates.
@lilyraynyc

43. Epoch Times
@lilyraynyc

44. @lilyraynyc
If you came here
for E-A-T tips, just
Google:
"Lily Ray" E-A-T

45. @lilyraynyc

46. With core updates, there’s never one smoking
gun, there’s typically a battery of them
May 2020 Core Update
- Glenn Gabe
@lilyraynyc

47. Content
relevance
Content
quality
Technical
issuesE-A-T
Backlink
profile
Recovering
from Google's
core updates
requires
addressing
all of these.
@lilyraynyc

48. Something
Else To
Consider…
@lilyraynyc

49. Pop Quiz!
@lilyraynyc

50. What do all these keywords have in common?
Ketogenic diet school closings hemorrhoids endometriosis Strep throat chiropractor
dermatologist tramadol lucid dreaming sports Shiba Inu
Roman
numerals
dinosaur Xanax veterinarian pansexual Dolly Parton anxiety
bed bug bites
Michelle
Obama
San Diego groceries Microsoft Word Pearl Harbor
@lilyraynyc

51. What do all these keywords have in common?
Ketogenic diet school closings hemorrhoids endometriosis Strep throat chiropractor
dermatologist tramadol lucid dreaming sports Shiba Inu
Roman
numerals
dinosaur Xanax veterinarian pansexual Dolly Parton anxiety
bed bug bites
Michelle
Obama
San Diego groceries Microsoft Word Pearl Harbor
If you guessed that they all have a monthly search volume of over 250,000, and that
Google’s “PeopleAlso Ask” box ranks #1 for all of them on mobile, you’d be correct!
@lilyraynyc

52. Desktop vs. Mobile: PAAs in Position 1
On mobile, the Featured Snippet disappears,
the Symptom Card moves to the top, and the
PAA takes the #1 spot.
@lilyraynyc

53. They’re not the most sophisticated search results…
@lilyraynyc

54. If you can’t beat , join them.
@lilyraynyc

55. AlsoAsked.com
@lilyraynyc

56. Examples of
Amazing
Content
Pivots
@lilyraynyc

57. The Points Guy
Writing about
travel doesn't
have to come to
a halt in 2020.
This publication talks all
about travel deals, but in
2020, has shifted to focus
almost entirely on travel
updates related to
coronavirus.
@lilyraynyc

58. Fundera Coronavirus Hub
Fundera built a "coronavirus" hub into its main navigation and
curated a list of brand new and older, relevant articles.
@lilyraynyc

59. Jackson Hewitt Tax Service
The U.S.
experienced
unprecedented
updates to its tax
filing laws in 2020.
Jackson Hewitt
adapted by quickly
providing insights and
advice about tax
updates, further
solidifying its expertise
in this category.
@lilyraynyc

60. Hiscox
This small business
insurance provider
identifies breakout
trends in the industry
to address on its blog.
• The blog doesn't directly
address coronavirus, but it
looks at peripheral
trends resulting from the
pandemic that affect its
customers.
@lilyraynyc

61. Zoom
...And sometimes, you just get lucky.
@lilyraynyc

62. Google My Business
GMB has been working hard to provide
new features during COVID-19. Are you
using all of them?
@lilyraynyc

63. GMB Posts at Scale: Postamatic
Have a ton of GMB locations?
Use the new free tool 'Postamatic'
@lilyraynyc
(by Two Octobers and AgencyAutomators)

64. @lilyraynyc
• SERP Features and rankings are likely experiencing
wild fluctuations in your niche
• Use tools to measure and report on how the SERPs
are changing for your targeted keywords
• Pivot your content strategy to address users'
constantly changing needs in 2020
• Don't just focus on monthly search volume, analyze
trends and breakout topics
Monitor Search Trends
Stay On Your Toes
• Use all tools available at your disposal to inform
your customers about updates related to COVID-19
Leverage Google's
New COVID Features
To Summarize:

65. Thank You
@lilyraynyc