E-E-A-T
TL;DR
Google's quality framework — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness — used by quality raters to assess content credibility.
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness — a framework Google uses in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines to assess the overall quality and credibility of web content. The extra "E" for Experience was added in 2022 to emphasise first-hand, real-world experience in content creation.
Experience — Does the creator have direct, first-hand experience with the topic? Expertise — Does the creator have formal or demonstrated knowledge in the field? Authoritativeness — Is the creator or site recognised as a go-to source by others in the space? Trustworthiness — Is the content accurate, transparent, and free of deception?
For the highest-stakes content categories (medical, legal, financial — "YMYL" — Your Money or Your Life), E-E-A-T signals are critical. Improving E-E-A-T involves: publishing author bios with credentials, citing reputable sources, earning editorial backlinks, maintaining accurate and up-to-date content, displaying contact information, and building a transparent editorial policy.
Examples in Practice
A medical article written by a named MD with published credentials signals high E-E-A-T. A financial advice site with no author information, no sources, and no contact page signals low E-E-A-T.