January 16, 2025
E.E.A.T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is an element of Google’s search quality rater guidelines. It was first introduced in 2014 as E.A.T, but an extra E for ‘experience’ was added several years later.
Here’s a breakdown of each element of E.E.A.T and what each element means:
Experience was added to the guidelines in 2022. Since personal experience is what separates AI-generated and human content, there’s probably no coincidence that this element was added during the year that ChatGPT launched.
Experience refers to real-life participation regarding the subject. For example, someone writing a restaurant review needs to have visited that restaurant and tried the food.
Expertise pertains to the author of the content. Google wants to know that whoever is writing about the subject has an appropriate level of knowledge to be doing so. Whether that be through experience, qualifications, or achievements. For example, if a blog is offering medical advice, Google would like that blog to be written by a trained doctor. For this reason, it’s important that the author of the blog is tagged and their qualifications are shown.
A site will hold different levels of authority within their niche and the higher the authority of a site, the more likely it is to rank. Not only does having authority in your field prove to Google that your content is relevant and that you understand the needs of your audience, but also that others recognise you as an expert.
Trust is the most important aspect of E.E.A.T since Google puts the most weight on this. Trust comes in several forms, from positive user feedback to necessities such as cookie policies and terms and condition pages.
Trust varies from page to page. For example, pages that exist purely for entertainment, a baking blog for example, don’t require as much trust as ‘Your Money or Your Life’ (YMYL) pages that include information on topics relating to financial, health, or safety subjects.
E.E.A.T isn’t a direct ranking factor. However, it’s still a vital part of your content marketing strategy. Google is constantly trying to improve search results for its users by ensuring people are presented with helpful, relevant, and high-quality content. Google uses E.E.A.T guidelines to help determine the quality of your content and aid in ranking it appropriately in the search results.
Google puts a lot of emphasis on trustworthy content and each element of the E.E.A.T guidelines contributes to that. You don’t necessarily need to demonstrate every single element of E.E.A.T in all of your content, but having content that aligns with the principles of E.E.A.T will help your performance in the search results.
Quality over quantity is always the rule when it comes to content. Your content should not only add value to your audience, but also be well-written, interesting, and easy to read.
Make sure your content covers a broad range of topics within your niche, particularly where there are gaps of information online. ‘How-to’ guides and step-by-step articles are a great way to illustrate that you have a comprehensive understanding of the subjects within your field.
Outdated content often includes irrelevant or incorrect information, so it’s a good idea to update existing content at least once or twice a year. Presenting your audience with information that is relevant and accurate will build trust for your brand.
Having bios for each author in your team helps to demonstrate your expertise. Note any credentials, experience, or achievements that qualifies them to write about the subject and reinforces their proficiency.
Backlinks improve the authority of your site by showing Google your site is relevant and you are an authority in your niche. If another site uses you as a resource, it implies your content is helpful to your industry’s audience.
If you make a claim, whether it be a fact or static, ensure you back that claim up with supporting evidence. Use information from credible sites and include links to the original source. If it’s your own research, make that clear.
Allow users to provide feedback wherever possible. Positive feedback assists in building trust for your brand. It's also important to interact with your users to improve customer satisfaction and better your overall brand reputation. If you have a positive review, take the time to thank them. Likewise, if you have a negative review, respond politely and offer a solution to their problem, complaint, or concern.
Following E.E.A.T guidelines not only boosts your performance in the search results but also improves your content offering. If you’d like expert help refining your on site content, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
