If you’re creating content for your business, you’ve probably heard about Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines. No, it’s not a typo. E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. And if you want your content to rank well in search results, you need to take these factors seriously.
Let’s break it down and see how you can apply E-E-A-T principles to your website’s content.
What is E-E-A-T ?
Google uses E-E-A-T to assess the quality of web content. While it’s not a direct ranking factor, it plays a crucial role in how Google determines whether your site is worth showing to users.
Here’s what each element means:
- Experience – Does the content creator have first-hand experience with the topic? (Think of a travel blogger writing about destinations they’ve actually visited.)
- Expertise – Is the content creator knowledgeable about the subject? (This is especially important for technical, medical, or financial content.)
- Authoritativeness – Does the website (or the writer) have a reputation for being a go-to source in the field?
- Trustworthiness – Can users trust the information? (This involves things like accuracy, transparency, and secure website practices.)
But the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is provide value to the user.
How to Improve Your E-E-A-T Score
If you want to build content that performs well, here’s how to strengthen your E-E-A-T profile.
1. Show First-Hand Experience
Google values content from people who have actually used a product, visited a place, or worked in a field. If you’re writing about a topic, include real-world examples, personal insights, and practical takeaways.
Example: When I write travel blogs, I show I’ve been there – how I felt, what I could or couldn’t do due to building works or strike, where I ate… all of this shows I didn’t just pick the internet’s brain for facts.
2. Establish Expertise
Make it clear that you (or your writers) know what they’re talking about.
- Add author bios with credentials and relevant experience.
- Cite reliable sources to back up claims.
- Keep content up to date with industry changes.
If you’re dealing with YMYL topics (Your Money or Your Life), such as finance, health and legal, demonstrating expertise is vital.
3. Build Authority
Authority is earned over time. Here’s how you can boost it:
- Get mentioned or linked to by authoritative sites in your industry.
- Publish high-quality, in-depth content that others want to reference.
- Encourage customer reviews and testimonials to reinforce credibility.
The first two particularly refer to backlinks – if another authoritative site references you or shares your content. Customer feedback is worth its weight in gold when genuine, and your responses to that is just as important.
4. Prioritise Trustworthiness
Trust is key, especially for businesses handling sensitive information, and it’s the foundation on which the E,E, and A sit.
- Make sure your site has an SSL certificate (HTTPS).
- Clearly state sources for medical, financial, or legal claims.
- Have an easy-to-find privacy policy and contact details.
Good reviews from clients also adds to the trustworthiness – there is overlap between the four elements.
Why E-E-A-T Matters in 2025
AI is churning out millions of blogs every minute, which makes E-E-A-T even more critical. Google and the other search engines know this and are becoming very sophisticated at separating the wheat from the chaff: the original from the factory-process. And so are readers!
Whilst AI can generate a passable blog, it misses out on the experience, expertise and authoritativeness that a human contributor brings to the table. By ensuring your content contains this, you’re going to score more highly with Google and potential customers.
What should you do to meet E-E-A-T?
SEO, and E-E-A-T as a consequence, never sleeps. It means your content should be regularly updated, and these are some ways in which to do that:
Create high-quality content
Research, the key to high-quality content. Don’t simply rehash other work, try and find your own angle. Not always easy, granted, but this is where your first-hand experience and knowledge comes to the fire. Go into detail, but don’t drown your readers with information they don’t need to know.
Demonstrate expertise
If you’re an expert show your readers how. Is it through accreditation or years of experience in the field? For YMYL this is doubly important.
Get those backlinks
Get backlinks from authoritative sites. No-one is going to say this is overly easy, but it boosts your rating in the search engines’ eyes.
Be transparent
Contact details, names, authors, info on your company – all help build trust.
Keep your content up-to-date
It’s all well and good having quality content but if it’s 3 years out of date, it’s worthless; especially for YMYL subjects. For example, taxes change every year, your content should reflect that.
Carry out SEO audits regularly
Identify and fix issues that could impact E-E-A-T, such as broken links and slow page speed, lack of author bios and out of date content.
The Bottom Line
Google wants to rank content that helps users, not just content that’s optimised for algorithms. If you focus on real experience, proven expertise, recognised authority, and strong trust signals, your content is more likely to rank well, and more importantly, keep your audience engaged.
Want to make sure your website content meets E-E-A-T standards?
Brand Wise Content can help. Get in touch today!