What Is E-E-A-T and How to Improve It (Plain Language Guide)

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is Google's framework for evaluating content quality — and it is one of the primary signals AI systems use to decide who to cite.

?Why it matters

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is Google's quality evaluation framework and one of the primary signals AI systems use to decide whether a business or website is worth citing. A business with strong E-E-A-T signals is more likely to appear in AI answers, Google AI Overviews, and traditional search results.

✓What you'll need

  • •Access to your website
  • •Information about your team's credentials and experience
  • •Customer reviews or testimonials

Step-by-step walkthrough

1

Add an "About" page that demonstrates experience

Create or improve your About page to include: how long you've been in business, the specific types of projects or clients you serve, credentials and certifications, and team member profiles with photos. AI systems extract this as "Experience" evidence.

2

Add author attribution to all content

Every blog post, video description, and case study should attribute a named author with a brief bio. "Written by Jane Smith, Certified HVAC Technician with 15 years of experience serving Calgary homeowners" is a clear Expertise signal.

3

Collect and display reviews

Embed your Google Business Profile reviews on your website (Google's own embed code). Add testimonials with full name, company (if B2B), and photo. Reviews are a Trustworthiness signal that AI systems explicitly evaluate.

4

Get third-party coverage

Earn mentions on local news sites, industry associations, and partner websites. Even one well-known site mentioning your business by name significantly boosts your Authoritativeness score. Press releases, community sponsorships, and guest articles all qualify.

5

Add your credentials to your website footer

Industry certifications, association memberships, and awards belong in your footer — visible on every page. This is the fastest single-page E-E-A-T improvement most businesses can make.

6

Add LocalBusiness or Organization schema

Add JSON-LD schema to your website that includes your founding date, credentials, and service area. This gives AI systems a machine-readable version of your Expertise and Trustworthiness data.

★Pro tips

  • TIP:Respond to every Google review — positive and negative. Review response is a Trustworthiness signal that many businesses ignore.
  • TIP:Link to your GBP, LinkedIn, and industry association pages from your website. These cross-references strengthen your entity graph.
  • TIP:Case studies and before/after examples are the strongest Experience signals. Even one detailed case study per quarter adds significant E-E-A-T weight.

!Common mistakes

  • ✕Publishing content without author attribution — nameless content scores low on Expertise.
  • ✕Ignoring negative reviews — unanswered negative reviews are a visible Trustworthiness gap.
  • ✕Having credentials but not displaying them on your website — AI systems can only score what is visible.

Built for local performance.

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