Synonyms: Credibility standards
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It’s a set of quality guidelines used by Google to assess the credibility of web content, especially in industries where accurate information is critical, like health, finance, and legal topics. These principles help determine whether a page is likely to provide reliable, helpful, and truthful information to users.
- Experience refers to the real-world or hands-on knowledge a content creator has. For example, someone sharing personal travel tips or product reviews based on their own usage would be considered to have experience.
- Expertise involves specialized knowledge in a particular field. Content created by someone with formal education or training, like a certified financial advisor discussing investment strategies, demonstrates expertise.
- Authoritativeness speaks to the overall reputation and recognition of the website or author. If a website is widely recognized as a leading source in its niche, it will likely score higher in this area.
- Trustworthiness focuses on how reliable the information is. This can include everything from transparency about authorship and credentials to having secure, well-maintained websites.
Together, E-E-A-T plays a crucial role in SEO because Google uses these criteria to evaluate the quality of a page, influencing how it ranks in search results. High E-E-A-T means your content is more likely to be seen as valuable and rank higher, which is why it’s important for content creators to focus on these factors.