E-E-A-T
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, Google's framework for evaluating content quality, codified in its Search Quality Rater Guidelines. The first 'E' (Experience) was added in December 2022 to specifically reward first-hand experience over second-hand summary.
In depth
Experience: first-hand demonstration that the author actually did or experienced the topic. Photos, screenshots, anecdotes, specific numbers from real engagements.
Expertise: relevant credentials, qualifications, or demonstrated knowledge depth. Named author with verifiable LinkedIn and field-specific knowledge.
Authoritativeness: third-party recognition. Citations FROM authoritative sources, mentions in industry publications, Wikipedia presence.
Trustworthiness: the most weighted factor for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics including finance, health, legal. Includes transparent sourcing, clear ownership, accurate information, secure site.
Common misconception
E-E-A-T isn't a ranking factor in the algorithmic sense; there's no E-E-A-T score in Google's index. It's a framework human raters use to evaluate sample SERPs, which feeds back into algorithm tuning. Pages that rank well on E-E-A-T heuristics indirectly rank better over time.
Source: Google: Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF)
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