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E-E-A-T

EEAT · expertise authoritativeness trust

Definition

E-E-A-T is Google’s rater shorthand: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust. It lives in Search Quality Rater Guidelines, not as a public ranking score you can pull. Raters use it to judge whether a page would be helpful. SEOs use it as a writing and sourcing checklist. It is not a schema type and not a Moz metric.

The extra E (experience) was added so first-hand use counts — a reviewer who used the product, a clinician who treated the patient — not only a credential on a masthead.

How it works

Show who wrote the page, what qualifies them, when it was updated, and which primary sources sit underneath the claims. Earn independent pages that name the same people and facts. YMYL topics (health, money, safety) get judged harder.

Worked example

A medical explainer signed by a named NP, reviewed by an MD, dated, with journal citations and no affiliate sludge, is an E-E-A-T document. The same text under “Staff” with a 2019 date is not, even if the keywords match.

How it differs

Topical authority is depth in a subject across a site. E-E-A-T is quality of a page and its authors as raters see it. Digital PR supplies off-site corroboration that raters and rankers can both notice.

Common errors

Stamping “E-E-A-T optimized” in the footer. Fake bylines. Buying fake reviews to “prove trust.”

Sources