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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