What does E-E-A-T mean?
Google has its search results evaluated by people around the world, known as search quality raters. How they go about it is set out in the Search Quality Rater Guidelines, currently in the version of 11 September 2025. A central yardstick in them is E-E-A-T.
The raters’ assessments do not move any individual page up or down. Google uses them to measure whether its own systems deliver good results. Even so, the guidelines are worth reading: they show very concretely what Google means by high-quality content.
Until December 2022, the concept was called E-A-T. At that point Google added the first E for experience, meaning first-hand, practical experience of the topic.
The four components
- Experience: does the person who created the content have first-hand experience of the topic? The guidelines ask, for example: whom would you trust more for a product review, someone who has used the product themselves or someone who has never held it?
- Expertise: does the person have the necessary knowledge or skill? For advice on electrical wiring, an electrician is more credible than someone who is simply enthusiastic about old houses.
- Authoritativeness: is the website or person known as a go-to source for the topic? Where a topic has an official source, it is often particularly reliable. For a shop’s current offers, that might be the shop’s own social media profile.
- Trust: is the content accurate, honest, safe and reliable? According to the guidelines, trust is the most important member: an untrustworthy page has low E-E-A-T, no matter how experienced or expert it seems.
Experience, expertise and authoritativeness therefore support trust. Content does not have to show all three equally. A personal account of living with an illness, for instance, can be trustworthy without a medical qualification, whereas dosage advice requires medical expertise.
Is E-E-A-T a ranking factor?
Not directly. In its guide to helpful content, Google states that E-E-A-T itself is not a specific ranking factor. However, its systems use a mix of factors to identify content with good E-E-A-T. Google does not disclose which ones. You will find an overview of the known signals under ranking factors.
E-E-A-T carries particular weight for topics that affect people’s health, finances or safety. What defines these topics and which requirements apply is explained in our article on YMYL.
How raters assess E-E-A-T
The guidelines name three sources that inform the assessment:
- What the website or author says about themselves: for example the “About us” page, the legal notice or an author profile.
- What others say: independent reviews, press coverage, awards or mentions in specialist sources. Reputation counts here, not self-promotion.
- What is visible on the page itself: the content, its care and accuracy, and for some pages also user comments and reviews.
Demonstrating E-E-A-T on your own website
In its guide, Google recommends asking three questions about every piece of content: who created it, how was it created and why does it exist? This leads to concrete measures:
- Name the authors: where readers expect it, for example in guides and specialist articles, include a byline with a short profile. Google explicitly describes invented authors or AI-generated headshots as deception.
- Make experience visible: your own photos, measurements, project examples and results instead of general statements that could appear on any other page. See unique content for more.
- Provide evidence: back up figures and statements with sources, preferably primary sources.
- Be transparent: a complete legal notice, contact details that work and a meaningful page about the company.
- Keep content current: correct outdated information and state the date of the revision.
- Check AI texts: according to Google, anyone creating content with AI should check all facts by hand before publishing. Typical sources of error are described in the article on AI hallucinations.
Would you like to know how your content measures up in terms of E-E-A-T? Then get in touch with us or read more about our SEO audit!
