E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Google uses E-E-A-T in the guidelines for its quality raters and says itself that it is not a specific ranking factor. You show E-E-A-T through real authors, well-supported information, first-hand experience and clear details about your business.
Where does E-E-A-T come from?
Google asks people, known as search quality raters, to assess whether its search results are good. They work from an extensive handbook: the Search Quality Rater Guidelines. The version currently online is dated 11 September 2025.
For a long time, those guidelines used E-A-T. In December 2022, Google added an extra E, for experience. In the announcement, Google explains why: sometimes you want information from someone who has been through something themselves, such as actually using a product or actually visiting a place.
Is E-E-A-T a ranking factor?
No, not as a factor on its own. In its guidance on helpful content, Google writes that E-E-A-T itself isn’t a specific ranking factor. Its systems do use a mix of signals that can identify content with good E-E-A-T.
The raters don’t decide rankings either. Google compares their work to feedback cards in a restaurant: their ratings show whether the systems are working well, but aren’t used directly in the ranking algorithms. Reading the guidelines gives you a picture of what Google regards as good content, not a list of dials to turn.
For topics that could affect someone’s health, finances or safety, Google gives more weight to signals of trustworthiness. Google calls these YMYL topics, short for “Your Money or Your Life”.
What do the four letters mean?
According to the guidelines, trust is the most important element. The other three contribute to it. A piece of content doesn’t need to show all of them: a personal experience with a product can be enough, even if the writer is not a recognised expert. See also the glossary entry E-E-A-T.
The four letters of E-E-A-T
| The rater’s question | Example for a business owner | |
|---|---|---|
| Experience | Has the author done or lived through this themselves? | A roofer describes what he finds when old roofs start leaking |
| Expertise | Does the author have the knowledge or skill for this topic? | An accountant explains how the Dutch small business VAT scheme (KOR) works |
| Authoritativeness | Is the author or website a known source for this topic? | A brand’s official page about its own products |
| Trust | Is the page accurate, honest, safe and reliable? | An online shop with clear return terms and a customer service team you can reach |
How do you show experience and expertise?
You can’t “add” E-E-A-T with a plugin. It lives in what you publish and how open you are about who is behind it. These signals help a reader, and therefore a rater too:
- A name on the content. Put the author on articles and advice, linking to a short profile page: who they are, what they do, where their knowledge comes from.
- A real about page. According to the guidelines, raters start with what a website says about itself. Explain who the business is, who works there and what you do.
- Contact details and customer service. For online shops, the guidelines explicitly ask about contact details and the policies for payment, exchanges and returns.
- Your own material. Photos of your own work, measurements you took yourself, examples from your practice. For reviews, Google recommends evidence of first-hand experience, such as photos.
- Sources. Link to the original source when you mention someone else’s figure or rule.
- An explanation of how content was made. Who wrote it, who checked it, and whether tools such as AI were used, where a reader would want to know.
- What others say about you. The guidelines also have raters look for independent reviews and articles about a business. You can’t write those yourself, but you can earn them.
Below you can see what that means for a piece of text. Anyone could have written the first version. The second shows who is writing and where the knowledge comes from.
Advice from a roofer, before and after
VoorA leaking roof can have many causes. It is wise to call in a specialist. Feel free to contact us for more information.
NaWritten by the owner of De Nok Roofing, a roofer in Deventer. On flat roofs built before 1990, we first look for a leak at the seams around dormers and drains. The photos below show what such a seam looks like when it comes loose, and what you can check yourself before you call.
Also make sure your business details are the same everywhere. How to go about that is explained in consistent business information for search engines and AI.
Which three questions does Google ask of every page?
In the same guidance on helpful content, Google poses three questions you can run through for every page. They make a useful check before you publish anything.
Who, how and why
- WhoWho created this? Is that clear to the visitor, with a name and a place to read more about the author?
- HowHow was it created? Is that visible where a reader might wonder, for example with a test or where AI was involved?
- WhyWhy was it created? Mainly to help people, or mainly to attract visitors from search engines?
If you can’t answer the first question for a page, that is usually the easiest thing to improve: add a name and a short profile page.
What should you avoid?
Google is clear about deception. It calls fabricated author profiles, such as AI-generated portrait photos, invented names or false qualifications, deceptive. According to Google, that makes a page untrustworthy for users and for its quality systems.
Conflicts of interest count too. The guidelines treat “reviews” written by the manufacturer itself or by a paid influencer as less trustworthy than experiences from real users. If you write about your own products, be open that it is your own offer. What Google says about content made with AI is covered in AI content and Google.
How Outseen approaches this
At Outseen, a writer creates content from your briefing and sources, a reviewer checks it and you give feedback before publication. Your knowledge and experience are the starting point; we only use AI as a working aid. Read writing content AI can cite as well, or see how we work on our about page. How we handle sources and checks is set out in our editorial policy.
What does this mean for your business?
You don’t need to be a well-known expert to show E-E-A-T. Start with the pages where customers look for advice: add a real name, say where the knowledge comes from and show your own photos or examples from your work. Then check your about page and your contact details, because that is where a rater looks first.
If you work in a field where mistakes affect money, health or safety, such as financial advice or installation work, care matters even more. Name your sources, keep information up to date and state when a page was last checked.