E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It is the framework Google uses to assess content quality and decide which pages deserve prominent positions in the results.
In practice, to demonstrate E-E-A-T you need to:
- Experience: show that the author has hands-on experience with the topic. Real cases, first-hand examples and lived accounts all count.
- Expertise: the author must have credentials or demonstrable knowledge of the subject.
- Authoritativeness: the site and the author need to be recognized as references in the industry. Backlinks, press mentions and citations from other sources count.
- Trustworthiness: the site needs clear contact information, a privacy policy, HTTPS and factually accurate content.
E-E-A-T is especially critical for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) content, which includes health, finance and safety topics. But its practices benefit any kind of site, including for GEO, since AIs also prioritize sources that demonstrate authority.