E-E-A-T Explained
Understand Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust.
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust. It is a framework from Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines used to judge content quality - especially for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics like health and finance.
The four pillars
- Experience - first-hand experience with the topic.
- Expertise - relevant knowledge or credentials.
- Authoritativeness - recognition as a go-to source.
- Trust - accuracy, transparency and a secure, honest site.
How to demonstrate it
- Show real author bios and credentials.
- Cite reputable sources and keep facts current.
- Add reviews, testimonials and clear contact/about pages.
- Earn mentions and links from authoritative sites.
Example
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Best Grind Size for Pour Over Coffee",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Maria Lopez",
"jobTitle": "Q Grader, 10 years experience"
},
"datePublished": "2026-05-02"
}When to use it
- A financial advice site adds a certified accountant as a named author with credentials and links to their LinkedIn profile to demonstrate Expertise and Authoritativeness.
- A medical publisher introduces expert review badges, citing the reviewing doctor's name and qualifications, to strengthen Trust signals after a core algorithm update.
- A software blog builds Experience signals by publishing hands-on case studies with real benchmark data rather than generic overviews of tools the author has not tested.
More examples
Author bio with credential markup
A structured author bio with credentials, experience claims, and a verifiable sameAs link gives Google concrete signals for Expertise and Authoritativeness.
<div class="author-bio" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Person">
<img itemprop="image" src="/authors/jane-doe.jpg" alt="Jane Doe">
<h3 itemprop="name">Jane Doe</h3>
<p itemprop="jobTitle">Certified Financial Planner (CFP)</p>
<p itemprop="description">
Jane has 12 years of experience advising high-net-worth clients
and has contributed to <em>Forbes</em> and <em>Money</em>.
</p>
<a itemprop="sameAs" href="https://linkedin.com/in/janedoe">LinkedIn</a>
</div>E-E-A-T signals in JSON-LD
Adding a reviewedBy entity in Article schema signals that the content was verified by a named expert, directly addressing the Trust dimension of E-E-A-T.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "How to Choose a Index Fund",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Jane Doe",
"url": "https://example.com/authors/jane-doe/",
"sameAs": "https://linkedin.com/in/janedoe"
},
"reviewedBy": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Dr. Alan Smith, CFA"
},
"datePublished": "2024-02-01",
"dateModified": "2024-05-20"
}Trust page checklist in HTML
A comprehensive About page with verifiable credentials, regulatory details, contact information, and editorial policies directly addresses Google's Trust signals.
<!-- /about-us/ — key E-E-A-T trust page elements -->
<main>
<h1>About Acme Financial</h1>
<!-- Verifiable credentials and history -->
<p>Founded in 2008 by CFPs with 60+ combined years of experience.</p>
<p>Regulated by the SEC (Registration No. 801-XXXXX).</p>
<!-- Contact and accountability -->
<address>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><br>
123 Finance Street, New York, NY 10001
</address>
<!-- Editorial standards link -->
<a href="/editorial-policy/">Our Editorial Policy</a>
<a href="/corrections/">Corrections Policy</a>
</main>
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