E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
E-E-A-T is the framework in Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines used to assess content quality across Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is not a direct ranking factor but describes the qualities Google's systems aim to reward, especially for topics that affect health, finance, or safety.
Why It Matters
AI answer engines and Google both lean toward sources that signal real expertise and trust. Strong E-E-A-T improves the odds of ranking and of being cited in AI Overviews, particularly for sensitive topics where credibility is scrutinized.
Common Mistake
Treating E-E-A-T as a checklist of author bios and badges. It reflects genuine signals like first-hand experience, credible authorship, citations, and site reputation, which cannot be faked with surface-level markup.