E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
What is E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T is a Google framework for evaluating content quality based on four criteria: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is not a ranking factor in the traditional sense, but a set of guidelines for quality raters that influence how Google trains and evaluates its algorithms.
In the era of GEO, E-E-A-T takes on additional importance — AI models prefer to cite sources that can demonstrate their expertise.
Why does it matter?
- Content quality — Google rewards content from people with real-world experience
- YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) — for health, finance, and legal topics, E-E-A-T is critical
- GEO — AI cites sources with strong E-E-A-T signals
- Resilience to updates — sites with strong E-E-A-T suffer less during algorithm changes
- User trust — E-E-A-T signals build brand credibility
The four pillars of E-E-A-T
Experience
The author/company has direct experience with the subject. A product review written by a user > a review written by a bot.
Expertise
Specialized knowledge and qualifications. An article about SEO from a practicing SEO specialist > an article from a generalist.
Authoritativeness
Recognition as an industry leader. Media citations, backlinks from industry portals, presence in the Knowledge Graph.
Trustworthiness
The most important pillar. Transparent company data (tax ID, address), privacy policy, secure site (HTTPS), consistency of information.
Best practices
- Author with a face — every article with the author's name, surname, bio, and links
- Person schema — structured data linking content to experts
- Case studies — proof of real experience and results
- Transparency — full company details in the footer, on the contact page, and in Schema.org
- External citations — build a profile of mentions in credible sources
- Update content — regularly add new data and remove outdated information
More on building expertise in the SEO basics guide.
Related terms
- Entity SEO — building entity identity
- Topical authority — thematic authority
- Knowledge Graph — Google's knowledge base
- GEO — optimization for AI
- Schema.org — structured data