E-E-A-T Explained: Show Experience and Trust on Your Site

E-E-A-T is Google's short name for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. It describes the qualities Google wants to see in helpful content. This guide explains what each part means, what the extra E for experience added in December 2022, and the plain steps to show it on your site.

1. What E-E-A-T stands for

   The letters stand for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Google uses them to judge whether its search results give people helpful, reliable information.

   The idea began as E-A-T. On 15 December 2022, Google added a second E for experience in its search quality rater guidelines. Google said these were not fundamentally new ideas. It said the change better captures how people look for information.

   E-E-A-T is not a single score and not a switch you turn on. Google says E-E-A-T itself is not a specific ranking factor. Its systems use a mix of signals that point to content with good E-E-A-T.

   Sources: Google Search Central Blog, E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience (15 December 2022); Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

2. What the extra E for experience adds

   Experience asks a simple question. Was this content made by someone who has done the thing? Google gives examples: actually using a product, having visited a place, or sharing what a person lived through.

   Google also explains that the right source depends on the need. For help filling out a tax return, you probably want an accounting expert. For a review of tax software, you may prefer people who have used the different services. Both can be useful.

   For a business site, this means first-hand detail counts. A page about a service you run should read like it was written by people who run it.

   Sources: Google Search Central Blog, E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience (15 December 2022)

3. Which of the four matters most

   Google is direct about this. Of the four aspects, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust. Content does not need to show all four to be helpful. Some pages help because of the experience they show, and others because of the expertise they share.

   Google also says its systems give extra weight to strong E-E-A-T on topics that could affect health, financial stability or safety, or the well-being of society. Google calls these Your Money or Your Life topics, or YMYL. If your business writes about money, safety or health, the bar is higher.

   Sources: Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

4. What raters do, and what they do not

   Search quality raters are people who review search results and say whether Google's systems seem to work well. Google compares them to diners filling in feedback cards at a restaurant.

   Raters have no control over how any page ranks. Their data is not used directly in the ranking systems. The guidelines they follow can still help you. Google says reading them may help you check your own content from an E-E-A-T angle.

   Sources: Google Search Central Blog, E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience (15 December 2022); Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

5. Plain steps to show experience and trust on your site

   Google suggests asking three questions about your content: who made it, how it was made, and why it exists. Here is how to turn those into actions.

   • Show who wrote it. Add a byline where readers would expect one. Link the byline to a short author page that gives background on the person and the topics they cover.
   • Show how it was made. Say what you tested, used or visited. Google notes that for product reviews, readers trust content more when they see how many products were tested, the results and how the tests were run, along with evidence such as photographs.
   • Show why it exists. Write for people who already use or would use your site, not mainly to catch search traffic.
   • Make trust easy to check. Give clear sourcing. Add an About page that tells readers who runs the site.
   • Fix plain errors. Google asks whether content has easily verified factual errors. Check names, dates and figures before you publish.

   None of this needs special code. It is good editing, applied page by page.

   Sources: Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

6. A quick self-check before you publish

   Google lists questions that point to people-first content. Use them as a short checklist.

   • Would your audience find this useful if they came straight to your site?
   • Does it show first-hand expertise and depth, such as real use of a product or service?
   • Will a reader leave feeling they learned enough to reach their goal?
   • Is it clear who wrote it, and can a reader learn about that person?

   Google also warns about content made mainly to attract visits from search engines, or content that mostly summarizes what others say without adding value. If a page fits that description, add your own experience or leave it out.

   This guide describes what Google published as of September 2023. Google can change its guidance, so check the source pages for updates.

   Sources: Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

7. Sources

   1. Google Search Central Blog, E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience (15 December 2022)
   2. Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

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