SimilarWeb is a popular website monitor with a freemium product. The problem with SimilarWeb is that they've changed their algorithms multiple times between 2016 – 2021, resulting in drastic changes in traffic results each time.
As a result, SimilarWeb's data can't be fully trusted. Just like how a job seeker with three jobs in one year on his resume can't be fully trusted to be hired.
Too Many SimilarWeb Algo Changes
The last straw was SimilarWeb's September 8, 2019 algorithm update where they explain in a long post why they changed their metrics again. Then in March 2020 they made yet another algorithm change for categories.
The only thing you can trust about SimilarWeb is the direction of traffic growth and perhaps the month over month change.
But as all webmasters know, it is the year over year traffic change that counts the most. SW does not offer this statistic, at least not in its free version.
The best website analyzer you can trust is Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
SEO Optimization Is Overrated
Just focus on good content.
Based on the growth of sites who publish content not based on much expertise or experience, I’m pretty sure Google doesn’t really care about E-A-T.
They are like the Federal Reserve, using moral suasion to try and persuade people to write from experience and authority. But in reality, Google has no way of telling whether the author has an expertise or authority.
Google is an algorithm, albeit with human reviewers. There are billions of sites online now. Therefore, there is no way Google can analyze them all for E-A-T.
One of the reasons why there is a massive SEO industry is because Google search rankings can get manipulated. I personally get hundreds of requests a month from random link builders trying to build E-A-T for their site.
Out of a scale of 1-10 regarding Google’s ability to measure Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness, I give Google a 4. Yes, Google can check on the site and author’s link profile, HTTPS status, engagement, and content quality. But Google can’t gauge true E-A-T well enough.
If Google could truly measure E-A-T, then hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of sites wouldn’t exist. Because why bother writing content or hiring people to write content if your site doesn’t get organic search traffic?
Obviously millions of sites without E-A-T continue to get search traffic, which proves how terrible Google is in measuring E-A-T.
SimilarWeb is a good free tool. But don't obsess over your competition and SEO. Just write good content.
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