E-E-A-T Guide: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust
The E-E-A-T signals Google and AI engines actually evaluate — with a checklist to strengthen every one on your site.
What E-E-A-T Really Is
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust. It comes from Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines — the manual human raters use to evaluate SERP quality.
Google explicitly says E-E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor, but the algorithm is trained on rater judgments — so signals raters use correlate with rankings.
Experience: First-Hand Use
Added in December 2022. Google prefers content from someone who has actually used the product, visited the place, or lived the situation.
Signal it with: original photos, screenshots, personal anecdotes, dated timelines, before/after data.
Expertise: Domain Knowledge
Depth beyond the query. Use precise terminology, cover edge cases, cite primary sources.
Author bio with credentials, publications, and links to profiles (LinkedIn, GitHub, ORCID, academic pages).
E-E-A-T signal checklist
| Signal | Where to ship it | YMYL priority |
|---|---|---|
| Author byline + credentials | Every article | Critical |
| Author profile page | /authors/{name} | Critical |
| Editorial policy | Site-wide page | High |
| Original media | Reviews, tutorials | High |
| Cited primary sources | YMYL articles | Critical |
| Contact + physical address | Footer + About | High |
Trust: The Foundation
Site security (HTTPS), clear contact info, privacy policy, terms.
Transparent authorship (real names, real photos), accurate content (correct facts, updated dates), and disclosure of affiliations.
Google says Trust is the most important of the four.
YMYL Content: The Bar Is Higher
Your Money or Your Life topics (health, finance, legal, safety, civic info) get the strictest E-E-A-T scrutiny.
For YMYL, require expert authors, medical/legal reviewer sign-off, and citations to primary sources (peer-reviewed studies, government publications).
On-Page E-E-A-T Checklist
Author byline with photo and short credential line.
Author page with full bio, credentials, and sameAs schema.
Published date + last-updated date, visible on the article.
Editorial policy, fact-checking policy, and correction policy pages.
About page with team, mission, contact, and physical address.
External citations to authoritative sources.
Original data, screenshots, or photos where relevant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is E-E-A-T a ranking factor?+
Not directly. But Google's algorithms are trained to approximate what quality raters (guided by E-E-A-T) would judge as high-quality, so the signals correlate strongly with rankings.
Does E-E-A-T matter for non-YMYL topics?+
Yes but less strictly. Even a hobby blog benefits from clear authorship, real experience, and citation of sources.
What's the fastest E-E-A-T win?+
Add real author bylines with linked author profile pages containing credentials and sameAs to LinkedIn/Twitter. Ship an About page. These are one-day wins with lasting impact.
Do AI Overviews use E-E-A-T?+
Google has said AI Overviews rely on the same core ranking systems. Trust and authoritativeness signals help you get cited.
Should I add reviewer bylines to health content?+
Yes — 'Medically reviewed by [Doctor Name, MD]' with a linked profile is one of the strongest YMYL trust signals.