Short answer: E-E-A-T means Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust. It comes from Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines, which human raters use to judge result quality. It is not one ranking factor you can switch on; it describes what Google's systems try to reward. Trust is the centre of it: an untrustworthy page has low E-E-A-T however expert it looks. You show E-E-A-T with visible, checkable signals, listed below. Check any page with the free E-E-A-T Signal Checker.
Experience (signals 1-5)
Has the author actually done, used or visited the thing?
- First-hand evidence: original photos, screenshots, test results, recordings.
- Specific details only a practitioner knows: settings that failed, edge cases, time taken.
- "How we tested" or methodology notes on reviews and comparisons.
- Case studies with real (permission-cleared) client situations and outcomes.
- Original data, even small: a survey of your customers, your own benchmark.
Expertise (signals 6-9)
- A named author on every article, not "Admin".
- An author page with role, qualifications, years in the field, other work and links to professional profiles.
- Expert review for health, finance and legal topics ("Reviewed by ..."), with the reviewer's credentials.
- Depth that matches the question: covers the steps, trade-offs, numbers and exceptions, not just definitions.
Authoritativeness (signals 10-13)
- Topical focus: many good pages on related topics, interlinked, rather than one-offs on everything.
- Mentions and links from respected sites in your field (press, associations, partners).
- Consistent entity information about your business across the web: name, address, founders, products.
- Organization and Person schema that connects authors to your business and to their profiles via
sameAs.
Trust (signals 14-20)
- Clear "who is behind this site": About page, real address, contact options.
- Accurate, dated content: published and updated dates, and real updates when facts change.
- Citations to primary sources for claims, statistics and rules.
- Secure site: HTTPS everywhere and sensible security headers. Check yours with the Website Security Audit.
- Honest disclosures: affiliate links, sponsorship, AI assistance. See our AI disclaimer guide.
- Policies: privacy, terms, refunds and editorial policy, linked in the footer.
- No fake signals: no invented reviews, ratings, awards or client logos. They damage trust far more than leaving them out.
Where E-E-A-T matters most
Google applies the highest standards to "Your Money or Your Life" (YMYL) topics: health, finance, safety, legal and civic information. If your site covers these, expert authorship, review and sourcing are essential, not optional.
A one-hour E-E-A-T upgrade for an existing article
| Add | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Author byline linking to a real bio | Under the title | 10 min |
| Updated date and a short changelog | Byline area | 5 min |
| One original photo, screenshot or data point | Main section | 20 min |
| Links to 3 primary sources | Next to key claims | 10 min |
| Article + Person schema | Head | 10 min |
| Short "about us" box with contact link | End of post | 5 min |
E-E-A-T and AI answers
The same signals help AI assistants decide which sources to quote. Clear authorship, dates and citations make a passage safer to cite. Our AI citation audit checklist covers the AI-specific checks.
Frequently asked questions
Is E-E-A-T a ranking factor?
Not a single one. Google uses many signals that align with E-E-A-T, and raters use E-E-A-T to evaluate whether those systems are working. Improving the underlying signals tends to help.
What did the extra "E" for Experience add?
Google added Experience in December 2022 to recognise first-hand use or involvement, for example a review by someone who actually used the product.
Can AI-written content have good E-E-A-T?
Google says it rewards helpful content however it is produced. In practice, AI drafts need human experience, verification and accountable authorship to show real E-E-A-T.
Do small businesses need author pages?
Yes, for any advice content. A short bio with the owner's or expert's real experience is one of the cheapest trust signals you can add.
Check your page
Run the E-E-A-T Signal Checker on a key article, then work through the gaps above. For broader content strategy, see our GEO guide.
