What is E-E-A-T?
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google's framework for assessing content quality.
Deep Dive
Formerly E-A-T, Google added 'Experience' to emphasize that creators should have first-hand knowledge of their topic. This is a critical factor for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics like health and finance.
Improving E-E-A-T involves showcasing author credentials, earning high-quality backlinks, and ensuring content is accurate and regularly updated.
Key Takeaways
- Not a direct ranking factor, but affects how algorithms weigh content.
- Crucial for medical, legal, and financial sites.
- Author bios and 'About Us' pages are important.
- Trust is the most important component.
Why This Matters Now
E-E-A-T is Google's answer to the 'Fake News' and 'AI Spam' era. It is not an algorithm, but a guideline used by human Quality Raters to train the algorithm.
The new 'E' (Experience) is the game changer. It means you can't just research a topic; you have to prove you've lived it. A review of a car is better if you include a selfie of you driving it.
Common Myths & Misconceptions
It's a ranking score like Domain Authority.
Reality:No. There is no 'E-E-A-T Score' in Google's database. It's a conceptual framework that informs many different ranking signals (like links and authors).
It only matters for health sites.
Reality:While critical for YMYL, Google applies these standards to reviews, hobbies, and even ecommerce. Everyone needs Trust.
Real-World Use Cases
Author Bios: Linking your blog author's name to their LinkedIn and citing their degree to prove Expertise.
User Reviews: Adding verified purchase badges to reviews to prove Experience.
Citations: Linking to scientific journals in a health article to build Authoritativeness.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does AI affect E-E-A-T?
AI has no 'Experience'. It has never used a product or felt pain. Highlighting human experience is your best defense against AI content flooding.
Can I fake E-E-A-T?
It's getting harder. Google maps 'Knowledge Graphs' of real entities. Faking an expert persona is risky and likely to fail long-term.
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