Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — Google's quality rater framework for evaluating content credibility.
EEAT is Google's framework for evaluating content quality based on four signals: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It's not a ranking factor you can optimize for directly — it's a lens through which Google's Search Quality Raters assess whether the algorithm is surfacing credible content. Those assessments then inform how Google's actual ranking systems evolve.
Google added the first E (Experience) in December 2022, recognizing that firsthand experience often matters more than formal credentials. A parent who's actually sleep-trained three kids might produce more valuable content than a certified sleep consultant who hasn't. The framework now asks: does this content demonstrate that the creator has direct, personal experience with the topic?
Why It Matters for AI SEO
The explosion of AI-generated content has made EEAT signals more critical than ever. Google can't manually review billions of pages, so algorithmic proxies for these qualities have become essential. If your site lacks clear authorship, has no author bios, cites no sources, and reads like it came from a content mill, you're swimming against the current. YMYL topics — anything affecting health, finances, safety, or major life decisions — face the highest EEAT bar. A medication guide written by an anonymous blogger won't outrank Mayo Clinic, no matter how well-optimized. But EEAT applies across the board now. Even a recipe site benefits from author photos, background stories, and specific details that signal real cooking experience rather than scraped instructions.
How It Works in Practice
Building EEAT means making expertise and experience visible. Add detailed author bios with relevant credentials. Link to author social profiles, published works, or professional certifications. For experience-driven content, include specific details that only someone who's done the thing would know — the exact temperature your oven runs hot, the brand of pan that warped after six months, the checkout line that moves fastest at your local Costco. Tools like SurferSEO and Clearscope don't measure EEAT directly, but they can help you identify gaps where authoritative competitors are citing sources, including expert quotes, or linking to primary research. I've seen sites recover from Helpful Content updates by simply adding author bylines, headshots, and credential statements to previously anonymous articles. Citation matters too. Link to original studies, government databases, and authoritative sources. When you make a factual claim, show where it came from. Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines specifically mention checking whether content references credible sources.
Common Mistakes
The biggest mistake is treating EEAT like a checkbox. Adding a generic author bio with stock credentials doesn't help if the content itself reads like regurgitated search results. Google's raters are trained to spot the difference between "claims expertise" and "demonstrates expertise through specific, detailed information." Another trap: assuming EEAT only matters for medical or financial content. Google applies these principles site-wide now. A furniture review that says "this couch is comfortable" scores lower than one explaining how the seat cushion depth affects lumbar support for someone 5'10" with back problems. That specificity signals real experience, not just AI-generated product descriptions.