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Encouraging content credibility

Boost Your Content Credibility with Expert Interviews

Amplify expert interviews for content credibility 

An industry or subject matter expert is someone with expert education, experience, and expertise about specialised topics. They have first hand knowledge that can benefit an audience. Using an expert as a primary source builds content credibility, encouraging the audience to explore and trust a website’s information and resources.

Audiences rely on online material for swift answers to their questions, or evidence for their decisions. Establishing content credibility improves a website’s ranking and reputation, leading to increased audience engagement in the field. The aim of creating content is to offer leafing information, services and products for prospective clients and target audiences. In any leadership role, trust is essential, and thought leadership is no different.

Using SEO to establish content credibility

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) can be used to boost a page’s ranking on Google. SEO is an organic (and therefore more cost-effective) mode of increasing website awareness. Optimising a website is a multi-pronged process: 

A functional, clean design also improves a page’s ranking, and website optimisation should be an important part of any SEO strategy.  Enhance website speed by compressing files prior to upload and minimises site errors. These actions will improve user experience and impress Google’s bots.

Content creation is central to SEO. The site’s digital assets, such as blog posts, must cater to keyword searcheswithout compromising readability. Consistency is key, as this teaches Google to anticipate when and how your content will be released.

When it comes to creating Google-friendly content credibility, expert interviews are an excellent choice, fulfilling EAT criteria.

EAT and trust

Websites looking to increase organic website traffic need to focus on EAT. 

EAT stands for expertise, authoritativeness and trust, the criteria Google’s search algorithms use when assessing the quality of a page. Google rewards online content it perceives as beneficial and credible for itsusers with improved search rankings, and demotes less credible websites.

How to find an industry expert

Planning and implementing an expert interview is a crucial task in creating suitable online content. An expert intervieweemust have recognised authority in the area you are exploring. Finding such industry experts can be time consuming. Here are the best places to find the experts: 

  1. Journal articles (see authors that are used to be interviewed often and create new, reliable content)
  2.  University faculty (these researchers often are keen to have their scientific or medical findings disseminated)
  3. Social Media (follow leading experts on social media or their blogs to stay up to date on any emerging research and activity). 

How to conduct the perfect expert interview

A well-run interview is essential to encourage trust within an audience. Thorough preparation, an awareness of your goals and an open approach will help you get the best responses from your subject.

Start by researching the interview techniques of other content creators. Watch and take notes on existingexpert interviews to generate ideas for new topics and angles, good questions to ask, and tips for interacting with an interviewee. Email your questions to the expert prior to interview so they have time to prepare considered answers. 

Throughout the interview, be courteous and patient with your interviewee, to earn their trust and allow them to present their ideas clearly. Give them time to elaborate on their answers and do not cut them off. 

After the interview, follow up in a timely manner, sending an email to thank the interviewee for their time. Fostering a good relationship with your subject will leave the door open for future interviews. Find out how to conduct reliable interviews here.

Increasing content credibility

An interview with an industry expert is itself a credible source, but it still needs to be framed in a clear, objective manner.

The interview should be concise and organised, and should focus on the topic at hand. Keep your backgroundinformation simple and jargon-free to build trust and aid understanding within a lay audience. Where appropriate, use visuals like infographics or animationto explain complex ideas to visual learners. 

 Conclusions on creating credible content

Expert interviews can really boost your content and brand. Establish your credentials and reliability with trusted high-quality, evidence-based content and you will improve your search rankings on Google. Your content must be compelling as well as accurate to attract consumers and increase traffic. To learn more about increasing audience engagement, click here

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