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Glossary · SEO basics

E-E-A-T

Also called EEAT

Reviewed 31 Oct 2026 By Madiha Fatima 4 min read Check it yourself: yes, free

4 min
Definition

E-E-A-T is Google's shorthand for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, the four qualities its human quality raters are told to look for when judging whether a page and the site behind it deserve to rank. It is a description of what Google wants to reward, not a score you can see or a tag you can add.

Trust is the one that counts most. A page can be expert and still fail if the site hides who wrote it, has no address, no reviews and no way to check the claims. For a law firm, a clinic or anyone handling money and health, Google holds the bar higher, because a wrong answer does real harm.

Short version: show who you are, what you know and why anyone should believe you.
Why it matters for your business

Google is asking the same questions
your customers ask.

When someone lands on a page about a legal problem or a dental procedure, they want to know who wrote it and whether to believe it. E-E-A-T is Google trying to measure that at scale. It means an anonymous 'blog by admin' is at a disadvantage against a page with a named lawyer, their credentials and the firm's address in the footer, even if the words are similar.

It is also what gets you named in AI answers. ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews lean on the same signals: named authors, consistent business details, reviews, mentions on other sites. Work that improves E-E-A-T improves AI visibility at the same time.

Be wary of a proposal that sells 'E-E-A-T optimisation' as a technical package. Most of it is ordinary: author pages with real credentials, a complete about page, visible contact details, reviews you did not write yourself and a few mentions from places people in your field respect.

Example

Two articles on the same visa rule,
one of them believed.

Firm A

An article titled 'Everything you need to know about family visas' published under 'Admin'. No author, no date, no address on the site, a contact form and a stock photo of a courthouse. The content is accurate.

Firm B

The same topic, written by a named lawyer with a short biography, bar membership, the date it was last checked and a line saying which authority the information comes from. The firm's office address and phone number sit in the footer and match its Google Business Profile. Google can connect the page to a real person at a real firm with real reviews. Firm B ranks, is quoted by AI assistants and gets the calls. Firm A has the same facts and no way to prove it.

How to check it on your site

Four checks you can do on your own site tonight.

Tick each one as you go. 0 of 4 checked on your site.

  1. Find the author

    Open your most important article or service page. Can a stranger see who wrote it, what qualifies them and when it was last reviewed? If the byline says 'admin' or there is none, that is the first fix, and it is free.

  2. Read your about and contact pages as a stranger

    Real names, real faces, a physical address, a phone number that is answered and a registration or licence number where your trade has one. If any are missing, Google and your customers are both being asked to trust a site that will not say who runs it.

  3. Search your business name plus 'reviews'

    What comes up is what Google uses to judge trust. A profile with recent, specific reviews helps. No reviews, or reviews only on your own site, does not. Asking happy clients for a Google review is the cheapest E-E-A-T work there is.

  4. Check that your details match everywhere

    Your name, address and phone number should read the same on your site, your Google Business Profile and the main directories for your trade. Mismatches look like two different businesses, and citations that disagree weaken trust rather than build it.

Related terms

Usually in the same sentence.

Read next

Where this shows up in practice.

AI search How ChatGPT chooses businesses

The trust signals AI assistants look for are the same ones E-E-A-T describes.

 Industry SEO for law firms

Where E-E-A-T matters most: how we build authorship and trust into a legal website.

 Service Content marketing

Articles with named authors, dates and sources, the kind Google and AI assistants trust.
Related service

Author pages, trust signals and sourced articles are built into the content marketing service and into every site we design. Prices are on the price list, not on a call.

See the content service
Reviewed by Madiha Fatima, founder of 99creatix

Every entry in this glossary is written and checked by the person who runs the agency, reviewed at least once a quarter and dated. Last reviewed 31 October 2026.

Spotted an error or a term we are missing? Tell us and it is fixed within the week.

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