Google E-E-A-T: creating content that puts people first
What’s E-E-A-T got to do with it?
If you work in marketing, you’ve probably come across Google’s E-E-A-T by now. It stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust—and it’s fast becoming a must-have if you want to stay visible and credible online. It’s no longer a question of whether you meet the standard, but how well you do that.
And it’s not just Google that cares. AI models like ChatGPT also favour helpful, trustworthy, human-focused content. Oh, and your actual website visitors? Same story.
At the heart of it all is your audience. E-E-A-T is about creating content that truly speaks to them. It’s a shift away from keyword stuffing and box-ticking, and towards delivering real value—content that answers the needs behind the search. These days, it’s not just about showing up in search results. It’s about being relevant, reliable and worth the click.
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From E-A-T to E-E-A-T: what’s changed?
E-E-A-T might sound like the latest buzzword, but it has actually been part of Google’s playbook since 2013. Back then, it was just E-A-T—Experience hadn’t been invited to the party yet. Even though Google had been using the framework behind the scenes for years, most of us only really heard about it when the Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines were leaked in 2017.
Since then, Google’s been far more open about how E-E-A-T works, publishing detailed documentation to help content creators get to grips with it.
Fast forward to 2023, and “Experience” was officially added to the mix—turning E-A-T into E-E-A-T. And Google hasn’t stopped there. In January 2025, the Search Quality Rater Guidelines got yet another update, now clocking in at a hefty 181 pages.
Is Google E-E-A-T a ranking factor?
In short: it’s not. E-E-A-T is a framework Google uses to train its algorithms—not a checklist you can simply optimise your content for. So while you can’t “rank for E-E-A-T” in the traditional sense, you can apply its principles to your content and platform to improve your visibility in search.
That might sound a bit abstract. After all, E-E-A-T provides guidance, not guarantees. It's about quality and trust—concepts that are, by nature, subjective. And because you can’t boil that down to a good score, it’s not something Google can use as a strict ranking signal.
But don’t let that fool you into thinking it doesn’t make a difference. If your content and website show clear signs of experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness, you’ll likely see your rankings benefit from that. Fail to hit the mark, though, and you risk slowly sliding down the search results—until you're simply not found at all. And let’s be honest: that’s not what you’re looking for.
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What does E-E-A-T stand for?
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It’s a framework outlined in Google’s official Search Quality Rater Guidelines, used to assess the overall quality of content.
Here’s a closer look at each pillar of E-E-A-T.:
Experience: First-hand knowledge or practical experience the creator has with the topic (not to be confused with page or site UX).
Expertise: The creator’s knowledge and skillset related to the subject matter.
Authoritativeness: The reputation and recognition of the creator or website within their field.
Trustworthiness: The accuracy, transparency, safety and reliability of both the content and the site it's published on.
Of all these, trustworthiness is the most crucial. Even if a website shows strong experience, expertise or authority, if it lacks trust, it will still score poorly on E-E-A-T. Reliability isn’t just one factor—it’s the foundation everything else is built on.
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Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines exist for one main reason: to ensure users get the best possible experience online. The framework focuses on three key areas:
Content quality and intent – Does the content provide a clear, complete and helpful answer to the search query?
E-E-A-T – How much experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness do the content and its creators demonstrate?
Overall website experience – Do the design and structure of the site contribute to a smooth, user-friendly experience?
By applying these standards, Google makes sure that only the most relevant, high-quality content earns top positions in the search results—especially for sensitive topics like health, finance and safety. These are known as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics, where the stakes are highest and trust matters most.
Why E-E-A-T matters most for YMYL
YMYL stands for Your Money or Your Life—a label Google gives to pages that could impact someone’s health, safety, financial stability or overall wellbeing. Naturally, the stakes are higher here, which means the bar for quality is too. For this type of content, demonstrating strong E-E-A-T isn’t just important—it’s essential.
Google applies stricter standards to content in areas like:
News and current events – Think politics, science, international affairs and more.
Civics, government and law – From voting info to legal advice and public services.
Finance – Topics like banking, investments, taxes and retirement planning.
E-commerce – Especially where purchases involve trust, like online shopping.
Health and safety – Medical advice, emergency preparedness, pharmaceuticals…
People and identity – Info about groups defined by age, ability, ethnicity, gender, etc.
Other sensitive topics – Including fitness, nutrition, housing, education and careers.
That said, E-E-A-T matters for every site, even if your business doesn’t fall into one of the categories above. With each algorithm update, Google’s getting smarter at assessing experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness—across all industries. So if you’re not working on E-E-A-T yet, now’s the right time to start.
How is content assessed for E-E-A-T?
To apply E-E-A-T effectively, it’s crucial to understand how Google evaluates content based on these pillars. First things first: E-E-A-T itself is not a direct ranking factor. Google’s algorithm doesn’t use it as a standalone metric but rather as a guideline to interpret overall content quality.
E-E-A-T is part of the Search Quality Rater Guidelines—a set of rules used by human evaluators called Search Quality Raters. These raters assess web pages based on these guidelines and help Google check if its algorithm is picking up the right signals. Their feedback helps Google fine-tune its systems to deliver better search results.
The Search Quality Rater Guidelines provide detailed instructions on how web pages are evaluated.
A page consists of different types of content:
Main content: The primary material that fulfils the page’s purpose.
Supplementary content: Extra info that improves user experience but isn’t the main focus.
Advertisements: Content or links intended to generate revenue.
E-E-A-T mostly applies to the main content—the unique content on the page. Human raters evaluate this content on several aspects:
The page’s purpose
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T)
Quality and amount of the main content
Information about who is responsible for the main content
The reputation of the website and content creators
On the other hand, pages can get a low rating if they show one or more of the following issues:
Insufficient Experience, Expertise, Authority or Trustworthiness
Poor quality main content
Too little main content for the page’s purpose
Overhyped or shocking headlines
Ads or supplementary content distracting from the main content
Little or no info about the website or content creator
Negative reputation of the site or content creator
What does this mean for your site?
No need to panic over sudden penalties or ranking drops if your content isn’t yet fully E-E-A-T compliant. Manual actions are rare and usually reserved for spam or misleading content.
That said, a lack of E-E-A-T—especially in YMYL sectors—can cause your site to be rated lower by the algorithm, leading to less visibility. On the flip side, outperforming competitors on E-E-A-T can give you a solid edge. You’ll make your content future-proof, meet your audience’s search intent better, and offer real value—the stuff that builds trust in your expertise.
Because if you don’t do it … you bet your competitors will.
Why is Google E-E-A-T important?
Meeting Google’s E-E-A-T criteria isn’t just important now – it’s crucial for the long term. These quality guidelines are expected to become even more important in future updates, including for your website. By taking action today, you ensure your brand stays competitive within your industry.
Benefits of optimising for E-E-A-T:
Improved visibility in search engines: Websites with strong E-E-A-T-scores tend to rank better on Google and AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT.
Competitive edge: As E-E-A-T requirements evolve, early adopters are more likely to gain market share.
Consumer trust: Users are more likely to engage and convert on websites they perceive as trustworthy.
Algorithm resilience: E-E-A-T-optimisation makes your website more resistant to algorithm updates.
Does structured data affect E-E-A-T?
No, structured data (schema.org) has no direct impact on E-E-A-T or your rankings in Google. This is a common misconception. Jarno van Driel explains this clearly in his article on the relationship between E-E-A-T and structured data. Structured data serves a different purpose: it helps search engines better understand what your page is about. It can also increase your chances of gaining rich results in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
The link between structured data and E-E-A-T is indirect. Google mainly assesses E-E-A-T by analysing your content, and through external mentions and citations of your site or authors across the web. Structured data can help clarify who wrote the content and when it was published.
One key detail: this information must already be present in your content. Without transparency, that added value quickly disappears.
E-E-A-T and AI-generated content
A common question: what impact does AI-generated content have on E-E-A-T? And is it bad for E-E-A-T if you write content with the help of AI? It’s easy to see how meeting E-E-A-T criteria such as “first-hand experience of the author” becomes more difficult when content is written by an AI tool. After all, AI can’t test a product or have personal experiences. Google clearly advises against publishing fully AI-generated content without human review or editing.
The company has clarified that using AI is not against its guidelines, but your focus should be on producing original, high-quality, people-first content that demonstrates the principles of E-E-A-T.
In other words: AI can play a role in the content creation process (e.g. for research or drafting briefings), but content should never be entirely AI-written.
Checklist: how to optimise for E-E-A-T
There’s no such thing as a fixed E-E-A-T checklist. E-E-A-T is a framework used to assess the quality of content. What’s more, the specific criteria can vary depending on the market or industry. A financial institution will need to establish trust in different ways than, say, an e-commerce or medical website.
Still, here are some general guidelines your brand can act on. These won’t just improve your E-E-A-T score – they’ll significantly enhance the overall user experience too.
The Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines make it clear: aligning with search intent is essential. Alongside E-E-A-T, this is one of the key evaluation criteria in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Google uses the “Needs Met” scale to determine whether a search result satisfies the user’s intent.
For example, if someone searches for a weather forecast – does your content actually provide clear information about the expected weather? Does it fully answer the query? If you can say “yes” to these questions, you’re on the right track.
The key is making sure your content helps the user accomplish their goal.
And remember: it’s not just about the copy. Your page template (e.g. product page, category page, how-to guide) and any supporting elements also need to be aligned with what the user is looking for.
At the start of this article, I mentioned Google’s guidelines around “helpful” content. If you want to rank, your content needs to be more than just accurate – it should be convincing: unique, people-first and genuinely useful for your audience.
This is not content that simply repeats what’s already widely available online, or that’s been generated by AI without added value. Helpful content is original content, written by an expert or someone with real-life experience, offering the reader new insights. Think personal stories from the author or findings based on research or analysis.
To check if your content is truly helpful, you can use Google's own helpful content checklist.
A strong (online) reputation matters – both for your brand/domain and the author of the content. Reputation is shaped by external signals such as reviews, online citations or mentions. Even social media follower count can play a role.
The Search Quality Rater Guidelines explain how to find information about an author’s or brand’s/domain’s reputation. This is likely similar to the methods Google uses to gather such information.
Use these search operators to check for reputation insights:
[iodigital.com]: a search for iO, excluding pages from iodigital.com
["iodigital.com" -iodigital.com]: a search for iO, excluding pages from iodigital.com
[iodigital reviews - iodigital.com]: a search for reviews of iO, excluding pages from iodigital.com
["iodigital.com" reviews - iodigital.com]: a search for reviews of iO, excluding pages from iodigital.com
Replace “iO” or “iodigital.com” with your own brand name or the name of an author to check for reputation signals. This way, you’ll instantly see where your brand is being mentioned or cited online.
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Since authority is crucial for E-E-A-T, it’s important to actively build it. There are several ways to improve the reputation of your domain or brand:
Positive reviews
Social media followers
Link building
(Digital) PR
A Wikipedia entry
A Knowledge panel
An author or expert can strengthen their personal reputation by:
Publishing on external platforms (e.g. academic research, podcasts, webinars, blogs)
Growing their social media following
Being featured on Wikipedia
A golden tip? Collaborate with experts or people with lived experience when creating your content. These can be employees within your company or external specialists. You might have the content written entirely by an expert, or simply reviewed by one to ensure its accuracy and credibility.
It’s especially valuable to work with authors or specialists who already have an established reputation.
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Make sure the author or expert is clearly visible on your website, so both users and Google know who created the content. Here are some guidelines to follow:
Include an author or expert byline with the content, along with a link to their dedicated author page.
Create individual author or expert pages that highlight the person’s experience and credibility. Include a description of their work history, and list relevant licences and certifications.
Link to relevant social media profiles. For academics or professionals, a private Instagram account isn’t the most suitable option.
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Trustworthiness is the most important factor within E-E-A-T – and perhaps the hardest to prove. So how do you show that your brand is trustworthy? One way is by displaying E-E-A-T elements on your website, such as quality labels, certifications or payment options for an e-commerce platform.
Examples of E-E-A-T elements:
Payment methods
Certifications
Security certifications (e.g. SSL certificate)
Awards and recognitions
Quality seals
Sustainability labels
Reviews
Delivery times
Return policy
Make sure key trust signals like accepted payment methods are visible on every page of your site – for example, in the footer. Keep in mind that E-E-A-T elements may vary depending on your market or industry. An e-commerce site requires different trust elements than a financial service provider or a medical platform. These elements don’t just contribute to E-E-A-T – they also help improve your conversion rate.
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Truly trustworthy content is up-to-date and to the point. Or as the Search Quality Rater Guidelines put it:
“High E‑A-T financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, etc., should come from trustworthy sources and be maintained and updated regularly.”
So make sure to update your content regularly, and clearly display the publication date and the last updated version of the article.
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Always use reliable sources for your information – and reference them explicitly in your content. Add citations wherever possible. This shows that you’ve done your research and that your content is based on trustworthy information. Reliable sources include things like scientific studies, medical guidelines, government data (e.g. the CBS) or established news outlets.
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The “About us” page is key to showing who owns the website. It’s also an opportunity to highlight your brand’s expertise and trustworthiness. Make sure your “About us” and/or “Contact” page includes all relevant information about your brand.
Information to include:
Company history (when it was founded, key milestones)
Mission or purpose
Team members
Contact details (e.g. email address, phone number)
Physical address
Social media profiles
Certifications, labels, and awards
It’s also essential that your customer service is in order – especially for financial services and e-commerce websites. A website with no contact details or support options quickly raises suspicion. Customers need to be able to ask questions.
While this doesn’t directly impact E-E-A-T, it does help Google’s algorithm better understand your content. Depending on your website, the following structured data types may be relevant to add:
Organisation – for company information such as name, logo, and contact details.
Article with the author and datePublished properties – clarifies who wrote the article and when it was published.
MedicalWebPage with the verifiedBy property – essential for demonstrating the reliability of medical content.
Person – use this for author information, including qualifications, role, and optionally social media profiles (via sameAs).
WebPage with the reviewedBy property – useful for content that has been reviewed by an expert, such as legal or medical articles.
FAQPage – demonstrates expertise by providing structured answers to frequently asked questions.
Review or AggregateRating – relevant if you display ratings or reviews, as this helps build reader trust.
Course – for educational content or training materials, helping to demonstrate expertise and authority.
HowTo – useful for instructional content, showing that you know what you’re talking about.
This structured data is linked to your brand, author or sources, and can provide Google with important E-E-A-T signals. Ultimately, what matters most is that the information on the page is accurate. Make sure your content is genuinely written by the stated author – or at the very least reviewed by an expert.
And make sure that’s clearly stated on the page. Structured data helps organise and surface this information.
Research your own market
As mentioned earlier, E-E-A-T varies by industry. Simply following a generic checklist won’t cut it. It’s essential to carry out an E-E-A-T audit tailored to your specific market to identify what really matters.
Which websites saw gains after a Google update? Could that be related to E-E-A-T? Which E-E-A-T elements carry the most weight in your niche? These are the kinds of questions an audit can help answer.
After that, it’s crucial to test before making large-scale changes.
Our experts at iO are happy to conduct an E-E-A-T audit for your brand, identify areas for improvement, and ensure everything is properly implemented on your site.
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