What is E-E-A-T in SEO, how expertise, experience, and trustworthiness affect rankings in Google

What is E-E-A-T in SEO: How Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness Affect Google Rankings

In the world of SEO, a new golden rule emerged long ago — not just keywords or backlinks, but E-E-A-T. This acronym has become one of the most important factors Google uses to evaluate content quality, especially in topics related to health, finance, law, and other areas where an error can have serious consequences (YMYL — Your Money or Your Life).

But what exactly does E-E-A-T mean? How does it affect ranking? And how do you show Google that your site is an authoritative source? In this article, I will break down each letter of the acronym, provide practical examples from real projects, and show how to implement E-E-A-T on your site to increase trust, CTR, and search engine rankings.

Table of Contents:

• What is E-E-A-T: Deciphering the Acronym
• Experience: Why Author Experience Matters
• Expertise: How to Prove Expertise
• Authoritativeness: Site and Author Authority
• Trustworthiness: How to Build Trust
• E-E-A-T in YMYL Topics: Why It's Critical
• How Google Checks E-E-A-T
• My Experience: Real Cases of E-E-A-T Improvement
• How to Implement E-E-A-T on Your Site: Step-by-Step Checklist
• Common Mistakes When Implementing E-E-A-T
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Conclusions

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What is E-E-A-T: Deciphering the Acronym

E-E-A-T in SEO: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness

E-E-A-T is an acronym Google uses in its Search Quality Raters Guidelines. It helps determine how reliable a source of information is.

It's important to understand: E-E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor, but Google uses hundreds of signals (behavioral metrics, backlinks, branded queries, content structure) to evaluate these qualities.

Deciphering Each Letter

💡 Google doesn't always directly "see" E-E-A-T, but uses machine learning to analyze content, links, brand mentions, and user behavior to assess these qualities.

⚠️ Important: E-E-A-T is especially critical for YMYL topics (Your Money or Your Life), but since 2023, Google has been gradually applying these principles to all niches — from cooking recipes to technical reviews.

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Experience: Why Author Experience Matters

Personal Experience as the New Standard for Useful Content

In December 2022, Google officially added the first "E" to the acronym — Experience. This became a revolution in content marketing.

Now, it's not enough to just have theoretical knowledge or a diploma. Google wants to see that you have personally tried, used, and gone through it. This is a fight against AI-generated content without value.

Why is experience more important than theory?

👉 Examples:

• Medicine: An article "How I Survived Depression: My Path to Recovery" from someone with personal experience has higher value than a general article from a psychologist who has never faced depression.
• Technology: A review of the iPhone 15 from a blogger who used it for 3 months in real conditions is more valuable than text rewritten from the official Apple website.
• Business: "How I Made $10k with Dropshipping" with real profit screenshots is better than a theoretical article "10 Ways to Make Money Online."

⚡ Based on my observations: Google clearly ranks pages higher with phrases like "I tried," "My experience," "Personal recommendations," "I used for X months."

How to show experience on your site?

1. Write in the first person — "I," "My experience," "On my project"
2. Add evidence — "before/after" photos, process videos, result screenshots
3. Create an "My Experience" section — a separate section within articles
4. Specify timeframes — "I tested this for 6 months," "After 3 years of use"
5. Add details — specific numbers, dates, names, problems encountered

⚠️ Important: Fake experience is easy to expose. Users leave comments, ask questions. If you don't respond or your answers are superficial — that's a signal for Google.

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Expertise: How to Prove Expertise

Expertise in Content: Education, Qualifications, Work Experience

Expertise is not just a diploma. It's proven knowledge, skills, and reputation in a specific field. Google evaluates expertise through signals both on and off the site.

What is proof of expertise?

For professional services:

• Doctor — medical education, Ministry of Health license, membership in professional associations
• Lawyer — diploma, certificate of right to practice law
• Financial consultant — CFA, CFP certificates, experience working in a bank

For creative professions:

• Designer — portfolio on Behance, Dribbble with real projects
• SEO specialist — case studies with results (traffic screenshots, rankings)
• Programmer — GitHub with active projects, contributions

For content creators:

• Blogger — regular publications, audience, engagement
• Journalist — publications in authoritative media
• Expert — conference speeches, interviews, citations by others

How does Google check expertise?

Google looks for signals of expertise both on your site and off it:

• On the site: "About the Author" page with education, experience, certificates
• Off the site: LinkedIn, DOU, ResearchGate profiles; media mentions; citations
• Links: Backlinks from authoritative sources in your niche
• Co-authorship: Publications with recognized experts

⚡ For example: One of my clients — a nutritionist — added a Ministry of Health diploma, course certificates, links to publications in medical journals, and a profile on MedHub to their site. In 4 months, Google traffic increased by 180%, and YMYL query rankings rose from 15-20 to 3-7th place.

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Authoritativeness: Site and Author Authority

How a Site and Author Become Authoritative Sources

Authoritativeness is external recognition. It's when other experts, media, and organizations refer to you as a source of reliable information.

If expertise is "what you know," then authoritativeness is "who recognizes you."

Signals of Authoritativeness for Google

1. Backlinks

• Quantity and quality of links from authoritative sites
• Domain Authority (DA) > 50 according to Moz
• Links from .gov, .edu, .org domains
• Natural anchor text (not spam)

2. Brand Mentions

• Mentions in news, articles, blogs
• Citations without a direct link
• Discussions on forums, social media

3. Authorship and Expert Profiles

• Author profile on LinkedIn with recommendations
• Publications on Medium, DOU, Habr
• Conference speeches (videos on YouTube)
• Interviews in podcasts, media

4. Branded Traffic

• People search for your name or brand in Google
• Direct visits to the site (direct traffic)
• Searches for "Your brand + reviews," "Your brand + services"

Examples of Authoritativeness in Different Niches

⚡ For example: An article about tax reform, referenced by Liga.net, Delo.ua, and Rada.gov.ua, automatically gains high authoritativeness in Google's eyes.

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Trustworthiness: How to Build Trust

Site Reliability: Security, Transparency, Contact Information

Even the most expert and authoritative content won't help if users and Google don't trust your site. Trustworthiness is the most important element of E-E-A-T.

Technical Trust Factors

1. Site Security (HTTPS)

• SSL certificate is mandatory for all pages
• Absence of browser warnings about danger
• Regular updates of CMS and plugins

2. Information Transparency

• Contacts: real office address, phone, email, contact form
• About Us: company history, team photos, mission
• Privacy Policy and terms of use (mandatory for YMYL)
• Disclaimer: if providing advice (medical, legal, financial)

3. Social Proof

• Customer reviews with photos, names, dates
• Ratings on Google My Business, Trustpilot
• Case studies with real results
• Client logos (if B2B)

4. Content Quality

• Absence of grammatical errors
• Information relevance (update dates)
• Links to primary sources
• Absence of clickbait headlines

Red Flags That Reduce Trust

❌ What causes distrust:

• Lack of contact information or only a form
• Anonymous author without information about them
• Lots of ads, popup windows
• Outdated design (looks like a site from 2005)
• Spelling errors, machine translation
• Clickbait ("Doctors shocked by this method!")
• HTTP instead of HTTPS
• Negative reviews about the site/company online

⚡ For example: I analyzed a clinic's website without an address, without licenses, without photos of doctors. Even with ideal technical SEO, the site didn't make it into the TOP-10. After adding all the information, team photos, licenses, and patient reviews, rankings rose from 25+ to TOP-5 in 2 months.

💯 According to BrightLocal statistics, 87% of users read reviews before choosing a local business. Lack of reviews or negative reviews = loss of trust.

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E-E-A-T in YMYL Topics: Why It's Critical

Your Money or Your Life: Why Google is Stricter with YMYL

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) is a category of topics where unreliable or erroneous information can cause serious harm to a person's health, financial well-being, or safety.

What topics belong to YMYL?

1. Health and Medicine

• Treatment of diseases
• Medications and dosages
• Mental health
• Pregnancy and children

2. Finance

• Investments, loans, mortgages
• Taxes, pensions
• Insurance
• Cryptocurrencies

3. Legal Issues

• Legal advice
• Consumer rights
• Divorce, child custody

4. Safety

• Home safety
• Child safety
• Emergency situations

5. Important Life Decisions

• Choosing a university
• Adoption
• Buying real estate

Why is E-E-A-T critical for YMYL?

Google understands that incorrect advice in these topics can lead to:

• Worsening health or death (incorrect treatment)
• Financial losses (fraudulent investments)
• Legal problems (incorrect advice)
• Danger to life (incorrect actions in an emergency)

Therefore, for YMYL sites, Google requires:

1. Confirmed expertise — licenses, diplomas, certificates
2. Authorship — clearly stated who the author is (with biography)
3. Links to primary sources — scientific research, official documents
4. Medical/legal reviewer — someone who checks the information
5. Regular updates — information is current

⚠️ Important: Even a small error in YMYL content can lead to a sharp drop in rankings or complete removal from the Google index.

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How Google Checks E-E-A-T

Algorithms and Signals for Trust Evaluation

Google does not have a single "E-E-A-T Score" algorithm. Instead, it uses a combination of hundreds of signals to evaluate content reliability.

Main Methods for E-E-A-T Evaluation

1. Quality Raters

Google hires thousands of people worldwide who manually evaluate sites against E-E-A-T criteria according to official guidelines (170+ pages of instructions).

They do not directly influence rankings, but their evaluations help train machine learning.

2. Machine Learning (ML)

Algorithms analyze:

• Content structure (presence of author, sources, dates)
• User behavior (time on page, return to search)
• Link profile (quality and relevance of backlinks)
• Brand mentions online
• Sentiment analysis (positive or negative mentions)

3. Behavioral Signals

• Pogo-sticking — user returns to search in seconds (bad signal)
• Dwell time — time spent on the page (the longer, the better)
• CTR — click-through rate in search results (high CTR = trust)
• Branded queries — people search for your name (strong signal)

4. Link Analysis

• Quantity and quality of backlinks
• Authority of donors (DA, PageRank)
• Niche relevance
• Anchor text

5. Technical Factors

• HTTPS (mandatory)
• Loading speed (Core Web Vitals)
• Mobile-friendly
• Structured data (schema.org markup)

⚡ Interesting fact: Google Patents show that algorithms can analyze an author's reputation even off-site — through LinkedIn, Wikipedia, media publications.

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My Experience: Real Cases of E-E-A-T Improvement

Case 1: Medical Clinic — Traffic Growth by 240%

Client: Private dental clinic in Kyiv. Problem: The site did not rank in the TOP-10 even for branded queries, traffic — 200 visits/month.

⚡ What was wrong:

• No information about doctors (anonymous articles)
• Missing licenses and certificates
• No photos of the clinic and team
• Missing contact information (only a form)
• Articles without sources and publication dates

⚡ What I did:

1. Created pages for each doctor with photos, education, experience, certificates
2. Added a "Licenses" section with scanned copies of documents
3. Added a 3D tour of the clinic and photos of equipment
4. Provided full address, phone numbers, email, working hours
5. Updated articles: added authorship, dates, links to the Ministry of Health and scientific research
6. Connected Google My Business with patient reviews
7. Added Schema.org markup for Medical Organization and Doctor

⚡ Results in 5 months:

• Organic traffic: 200 → 680 visits/month (+240%)
• YMYL query rankings: from 25+ to TOP-7
• Branded queries: "Clinic Name" search increased by 180%
• Calls from the site: +150%
• Google rating: from 3.8 to 4.7 stars

Case 2: E-commerce with Reviews — Conversion +35%

Client: Online sports nutrition store. Task: increase trust and conversion.

⚡ E-E-A-T Implementation:

1. Added reviews with customer photos (before/after)
2. Created an "Our Experts" section — sports nutritionists
3. Each product received a detailed description from an expert
4. Added product quality certificates
5. Connected Trustpilot for collecting reviews
6. Created a YouTube channel with reviews and tips

⚡ Results in 4 months:

• Conversion: 1.8% → 2.4% (+35%)
• Average check: +18%
• Customer retention: +27%
• Organic traffic: +120%

💡 My main lesson: E-E-A-T is not a one-time task. It's a continuous process of building reputation, trust, and authority. Results are not instantaneous, but stable and long-term.

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How to Implement E-E-A-T on Your Site: Step-by-Step Checklist

Practical Plan for E-E-A-T Implementation

Step 1: Audit Current Status

• Check for author information
• Evaluate content quality and relevance
• Analyze link profile (backlinks)
• Review online reviews
• Check technical factors (HTTPS, speed)

Step 2: Create "About Us" and "About the Author" Pages

• Detailed biography of each author
• Photos, education, work experience
• Certificates, awards, achievements
• Links to social media and professional profiles
• Contact information

Step 3: Update Existing Content

• Add authorship to all articles
• Indicate publication and update dates
• Add links to primary sources
• Rewrite in the first person (if appropriate)
• Add personal experience, examples, case studies

Step 4: Add Technical Trust Elements

• HTTPS on all pages
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Full contact details (address, phone, email)
• Logos of partners, clients, certificates

Step 5: Implement Schema.org Markup

{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Author Name",
"url": "https://yoursite.com/author/name"
},
"datePublished": "2025-01-15",
"dateModified": "2025-10-09"
}

Step 6: Collect and Display Reviews

• Google My Business
• Trustpilot or similar
• On-site reviews with photos and details
• Case studies with client results
• Video testimonials

Step 7: Build Off-Site Authority

• Publish guest articles on authoritative sites
• Participate in interviews, podcasts
• Speak at conferences
• Create profiles on LinkedIn, Medium, DOU
• Get mentions and links from media

Step 8: Monitor and Improve

• Track search rankings
• Analyze behavioral metrics (time, bounce rate)
• Read new reviews and respond
• Regularly update content
• Monitor brand mentions

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Common Mistakes When Implementing E-E-A-T

What Not to Do

❌ Mistake 1: Fake Experience and Expertise

Inventing diplomas, experience, results — the worst idea. Users check, ask questions, search for information. Fakes are always exposed.

❌ Mistake 2: Anonymous Content

Articles without an author look suspicious, especially in YMYL topics. Google wants to know who is responsible for the information.

❌ Mistake 3: Buying Fake Reviews

Google and users easily recognize manipulated reviews. This will not only not help but can also lead to penalties.

❌ Mistake 4: Ignoring Technical Factors

E-E-A-T is not just about content. HTTP instead of HTTPS, lack of contacts, slow site — all reduce trust.

❌ Mistake 5: Copying Content

Even with source attribution. Unique content based on personal experience is always more valuable.

❌ Mistake 6: Outdated Content Without Updates

A 2018 article about SEO without updates loses trust. Regularly update dates and information.

❌ Mistake 7: Lack of Sources

Especially critical for YMYL. Every statement must be supported by a link to an authoritative source.

⚡ My experience: A client bought 100 reviews on Fiverr for $50. Google My Business blocked the profile for spam. Recovery took 4 months and cost much more.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is E-E-A-T needed for all websites?

Yes, but the level of importance differs. For YMYL topics (medicine, finance, law), E-E-A-T is critical, and without it, it's impossible to rank in the TOP. For entertainment or informational topics (movies, music, recipes), the requirements are softer, but E-E-A-T still helps improve rankings and trust.

Can AI content have high E-E-A-T?

Only if it is edited by an expert with personal experience. Pure AI text without fact-checking, without authorship, and without personal insights does not meet the Experience and Expertise criteria. Google easily recognizes general AI phrases without real experience.

How does Google check E-E-A-T?

Google does not have a direct "E-E-A-T Score," but uses hundreds of indirect signals: backlinks, branded search queries, behavioral metrics (time on site, bounce rate), online mentions, content structure (presence of author, sources, dates), reviews, and ratings.

Is a diploma mandatory for Expertise?

Not always. Experience, portfolio, and industry recognition can be stronger signals. For example, for an SEO specialist, case studies with results are more important than a marketing diploma. But for medicine, law, and finance, official qualifications are mandatory.

How long does it take to improve E-E-A-T?

It depends on the initial state and niche. Technical changes (HTTPS, contacts, structure) work quickly — 2-4 weeks. Building authority (backlinks, media mentions) takes 3-6 months. For YMYL topics, expect 4-8 months for significant results.

Does E-E-A-T affect local SEO?

Yes, very much! Google My Business, reviews, photos, contact information — all are part of E-E-A-T for local businesses. Local companies with high E-E-A-T gain an advantage in the Local Pack (top 3 on maps).

What if a competitor has more backlinks?

Focus on quality, not quantity. One backlink from an authoritative media outlet is more valuable than 100 links from spammy sites. Also, work on other aspects of E-E-A-T: experience, reviews, content, technical optimization.

Can E-E-A-T be improved quickly?

Partially — yes (technical changes, adding authorship, contacts). But true authority and trust are built over years. There are no "quick hacks" for E-E-A-T. It's a marathon, not a sprint. But every step brings you closer to the goal.

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Conclusions

E-E-A-T is not a trendy buzzword or a temporary algorithm change. It is a new philosophy of search engine optimization, centered on trust, expertise, and real value for the user.

🎯 Key Takeaways:

• Experience is more important than theory — Google wants to see that you have personally tried, used, and gone through what you are writing about.
• Expertise needs to be proven — education, certificates, portfolio, case studies with results.
• Authoritativeness is built over years — backlinks, media mentions, industry recognition.
• Trust is the foundation — without HTTPS, contacts, reviews, and transparency, even the best content won't work.
• YMYL topics require maximum E-E-A-T — an error can cost users their health or money.
• E-E-A-T is a continuous process — not a one-time task, but a long-term strategy.

💯 In my experience, sites with high E-E-A-T not only rank better but also have higher conversion rates (by 20-40%), longer time on site (by 50-100%), and lower bounce rates. Users trust such sites and return again.

The best SEO tool in 2025 is not a plugin or AI, but your reputation. Invest in it, and Google will reward you with stable top rankings.

What to do next?

1. Conduct an audit — evaluate the current E-E-A-T status of your site
2. Create a plan — prioritize (what is most important for your niche)
3. Start with the basics — add contacts, authorship, HTTPS
4. Work on content — update existing articles, add personal experience
5. Build authority — publications, speeches, media mentions
6. Monitor results — track rankings, traffic, conversion

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📚 Recommended reading:

How to distinguish a bot from a real user: a complete guide with log examples

Bot farms: how fake reviews and click fraud kill honest business

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Thank you for your attention! Build E-E-A-T and get stable rankings in Google. 🚀

This article was prepared by the founder and leader of the company with 8 years of experience in web development — Vadym Kharovyuk.