In this article
Google uses an internal framework called E-E-A-T to assess whether content deserves to rank high. The framework isn't an algorithm, but it guides how Google's quality raters teach the algorithm what good content looks like. If you understand E-E-A-T, you'll understand why Google favours some pages over others.
What is E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T stands for:
- Experience — First-hand experience with the topic. Has the author actually used the product, visited the place, or tried the method?
- Expertise — Professional competence. Does the author have education, certification, or documented experience in the topic?
- Authoritativeness — Authority. Is the author/website cited by other authorities in the industry?
- Trustworthiness — Trust. Can the user trust that the content is accurate, up-to-date, and honest?
The last one, Trust, is the core of it all. Google describes the other three as "supporting pillars" around Trust.
Where does E-E-A-T come from?
The framework comes from Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines—a 170+ page document Google gives to its 16,000+ human quality raters. These people manually evaluate whether Google search provides good results, and the learnings from them train the algorithm.
So: E-E-A-T is not a factor Google measures directly in milliseconds. But the signals that support E-E-A-T (authoritative links, consistent authorship, source references, HTTPS, updated content) are exactly what the algorithm is looking for.
In other words: you don't optimise for E-E-A-T, you build E-E-A-T, and the signals will follow.
Experience: The extra 'E' from 2022
In December 2022, Google added "Experience" before the other three. The reason was the explosive growth in AI-generated content: pages filled with technically correct but completely synthetic text with no real experience behind it.
Experience means:
- Has the author actually used the product before reviewing it?
- Has the consultant actually worked on the problem before writing the guide?
- Has the travel blogger actually stayed at the hotel?
First-person experience is reflected in the content in concrete ways: original photos (not stock photos), specific details (not generalised language), your own mistakes and learning points, and numbers and observations that no one else has.
Expertise: Professional competence
Expertise is formal and professional competence in the topic. How important it is depends on what you're writing about.
- YMYL topics (medicine, law, finance): high Expertise is critical. Without qualifications, you strictly shouldn't be writing content people base decisions on.
- Non-YMYL (recipes, hobbies, travel): Expertise is weighted less heavily. A skilled hobby baker can beat a nutritionist on cupcake recipes.
Signals that show Expertise:
- Author byline with a relevant title/background
- About the author box at the bottom of the article
- Dedicated author page showing all articles + CV/experience
- Structured data (
sameAs,jobTitle,worksFor) on the author page - Consistency—the same author writes about the same topic area over time
Authoritativeness: Authority
Authority is about what others say about you. You can shout from the rooftops that you're an expert, but what matters is whether other authorities say it.
Signals that build authority:
- Links from respected sources in your industry (newspaper articles, research, trade associations, other well-known experts)
- Mentions without a link (called 'brand mentions')
- Guest posts on authoritative sites
- Talks, podcast appearances, media coverage
- Publications in professional journals or peer-reviewed journals (especially for YMYL)
Building authority is slow work. It's about being seen by the right people over time, and there are no shortcuts.
Trustworthiness: The core of it all
Trust is the most important of the four. Without trust, you can have endless experience, expertise, and authority, and still not rank.
Trust is built through a multitude of small things:
- HTTPS everywhere—just the basics, but necessary
- Real contact information—address, phone number, email, not just a contact form
- Clear About Us page—who is behind the site, where are you based, what's the story?
- Clear ownership information—Companies House number for UK businesses, privacy policy, clear accountability
- Sources for claims—especially for numbers and facts
- Honest reviews—both positive and negative
- Updated content—'last updated' date, recent examples
- No deceptive practices—no hidden affiliate links, no fake 'discounts', no undisclosed paid reviews
- Good return policy and customer service—especially for e-commerce
YMYL: Where the rules are strictest
YMYL stands for "Your Money or Your Life". It's content that can affect:
- Physical health (medicine, medication, symptoms, treatment)
- Mental health
- Finances (investing, loans, pensions, tax)
- Law (rights, contracts, disputes)
- Safety (childcare, fire prevention, transport)
- Society and elections (political information)
For YMYL content, Google requires clearly documented Expertise and Authoritativeness. If you write about paracetamol and its potential side effects without being a pharmacist, doctor, or nurse, you're not going to rank. And that's probably for the best.
In practice: If you don't have the qualifications yourself, collaborate with someone who does. Get a doctor or lawyer to professionally approve the content, quote them, and be explicit that the content has been professionally approved by a named, credible person.
How to build E-E-A-T in practice
1. Author profiles for all contributors
- A dedicated page (
/forfattere/anabel-nordhaug/or similar) - Photo, short CV, areas of expertise
- Links to LinkedIn, social media, personal publications
- A list of all articles the author has written
- Add schema (
PersonwithsameAs,jobTitle,worksFor)
2. Byline and 'about the author' on every article
- Name and expertise at the top of the article
- A short 'about the author' box at the bottom with a photo and a link to the author page
- 'Last updated' date visible
3. Sources and references
- Link to first-class sources (official bodies, research, leading industry publications)
- Don't just link to Wikipedia
- Be explicit about where numbers come from
4. Real experience, not synthetic content
- Take your own photos, especially for product, place, and process content
- Share concrete numbers from your own projects (anonymised where necessary)
- Show mistakes you've made and what you learned
- Don't just repeat what everyone else is writing
5. Foundational trust in the footer and infrastructure
- HTTPS
- Privacy policy
- Real contact info (address, phone, company number)
- An 'About Us' page that tells the story and shows the team
- Clear ownership
What I often see go wrong
- All articles "By Admin". This is the default setting in many CMSs and is catastrophic for E-E-A-T. Set up named authors.
- The About Us page is a cliché. "We are passionate about x and have worked since 2015 to deliver..." Write about real people, a real history, a real office.
- No 'last updated' date. The reader has no idea if the article is from 2016 or 2024.
- Using stock photos for "team photos". Five smiling people in shirts in front of a glass wall, with no names. This is an immediate red flag.
- Automatically translated content without proofreading. It signals that no human was actually behind it.
- Overuse of "the UK's leading" or "industry's best" without proof. Show, don't tell. Concrete case studies and numbers beat superlatives every day.
Case Study: An E-E-A-T overhaul in 60 days
A client ran a blog about personal finance (a typical YMYL topic). The articles were solid and well-written, but rankings gradually fell throughout 2024.
Diagnosis: All articles were attributed to "The Editor", with no author profiles, no sources for figures, and no About Us page beyond a generic section.
The action: We created author profiles for the three actual writers (with photos, CVs, and LinkedIn profiles), added bylines and "about the author" boxes to all articles, added Person schema, updated the About Us page with the real team and history, and added source references to the Financial Conduct Authority, Barclays, and the Bank of England in all articles that used figures.
The result: Traffic was stable for 3 weeks, then saw a gradual increase of 40% over 60 days. No new content was produced during this period. The Google update in August of that year gave a further boost, while several competitors who hadn't done the same work, dropped.
Your Action Plan: Step-by-Step
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Check who is listed as the author on your site's most important articles. Is it "Admin" or "Editor"? Fix it. |
| 2 | Create author profiles for the real contributors. Photo, CV, expertise, social media. |
| 3 | Add a byline to the top of each article and an "about the author" box at the bottom. |
| 4 | Add a 'last updated' date to all pages. |
| 5 | Rewrite your "About Us" page. Who are you really? What's your story? Where are you based? |
| 6 | Review your YMYL content. Do you have the qualifications? If not, get it professionally approved and show it. |
| 7 | Add Person schema for authors and Organization schema for the website. |
| 8 | Check that your HTTPS, privacy policy, contact info, and company number exist and are correct. |
| 9 | Replace stock photos with real photos where possible. |
| 10 | Set up a simple routine for updating old articles (date + any revisions). |
In Summary: My take on E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T isn't a shortcut; it's a framework that describes why some websites rank better than others. It's also Google's defence against AI-generated, mass-produced content: building real E-E-A-T is expensive in terms of time and attention, and therefore a competitive advantage.
Start with Trust: is the infrastructure in place? Then Experience: are you showing that the content comes from real practice? Then Expertise and Authoritativeness, which mature over time.
In short: write about what you actually know, show who you are, and back up claims with sources. It's no more complicated than that, it just takes time.
