SYS/DEF
E-E-A-T
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust: Google’s quality grid. An acronym, not a ranking factor named in the API.
Definition
E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) is the vocabulary of the Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Google asks human raters to judge whether a page seems written by someone with first-hand experience, expertise, recognised authority, and whether the site is trustworthy. It is not a score Search Console exposes.
The extra “E” (experience) was added for YMYL content and reviews. A “best CRM 2026” page with no author, no method, no date fails the test even if it still ranks for a few weeks.
When it matters
On any content that touches money, health, advice — and, for Shamalo, on expertise pages and resources. A glossary that states its limits and links a term to the tool that uses it is more E-E-A-T than a wall of copied definitions.
It matters when designing the cocoon: who signs, which sources, which links to proof (cases, method, legal).
Pitfalls
Sticking an “written by experts” banner with no verifiable bio. Buying links for “authority” while author pages 404. Confusing E-E-A-T with Core Web Vitals. Generating 80 AI pages with no craft review — first-hand experience is not a temperature parameter.
Related terms
Related tool
Organic traffic to a trustworthy page can be valued; traffic to a content farm, rarely: Open value of SEO traffic.