E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It’s the set of qualities Google asks its human search quality raters to look for when they judge whether a page can be relied on. It isn’t a score you can check or a setting you can switch on, but it describes quite precisely what makes a page trustworthy in Google’s eyes. Here’s what each part means, when it matters most and what it looks like in practice.
The short version
- E-E-A-T means Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Google added the first E, for Experience, in December 2022.
- It isn’t a ranking factor on its own. Google says so directly, but its systems use many signals that line up with it.
- Trust matters most. Google says the other three contribute to it.
- It counts most on topics that affect health, money or safety, which is exactly what many charities write about.
- You show it with named authors, first-hand experience, sources, clear ownership and a well-kept website.
What each part of E-E-A-T means
| Letter | What it means | What it looks like on a charity website |
|---|---|---|
| Experience | First-hand experience of the subject | A guide to living with sight loss that draws on members’ own experience, shared with their consent. |
| Expertise | Knowledge or skill in the subject | Information about a condition reviewed by a named nurse or clinician. |
| Authoritativeness | Being recognised as a go-to source | The national charity for a condition, linked to by NHS pages, other charities and the press. |
| Trustworthiness | Being accurate, honest, safe and transparent | A charity number in the footer, real contact details, cited sources, review dates and a secure donation form. |
Is E-E-A-T a ranking factor?
Not directly. Google’s own guidance says “E-E-A-T itself isn’t a specific ranking factor.” What it does say is that its systems use a mix of signals that help identify content with good E-E-A-T, and that “of these aspects, trust is most important.”
The quality raters who score pages against these guidelines don’t move rankings either. Google says “rater data is not used directly in our ranking algorithms”. Their ratings help Google check whether its systems are working as intended. So the useful way to think about E-E-A-T is as a description of what Google is trying to reward, not a checklist it ticks off.
Why it matters more for some websites
Google holds pages about health, money and safety to a higher standard, because bad advice on those subjects can do real harm. It calls them “Your Money or Your Life” topics, and says that for them its systems give “even more weight” to content with strong E-E-A-T.
A lot of charity content falls into that category: health conditions, mental health, debt and benefits advice, domestic abuse, housing. If your charity writes about any of these, E-E-A-T is worth taking seriously.
How to show E-E-A-T on your website
- Name your authors. Show who wrote each page, with a short bio, a photo and their role. A page written by “Admin” asks the reader to take it on trust.
- Show first-hand experience. Case studies, stories from the people you work with (with their consent) and figures from your own services are things nobody else can write.
- Review and date important pages. For health or advice content, say who reviewed it and when, as NHS pages do with their “page last reviewed” dates.
- Cite your sources and link to them, especially for statistics.
- Make ownership obvious. Your about page, charity number, address, trustees and company details all tell people and search engines who stands behind the site.
- Earn mentions from trusted sources: partners, funders, local press and other charities linking to your work.
- Keep the site secure and maintained. HTTPS, up-to-date software, no broken links and no pages that are years out of date.
- Be open about interests. If you are comparing something you sell or run, say so. When we compared JustGiving alternatives, we said upfront that one of them is our own plugin.
Who, how and why
Google’s guidance on helpful content suggests asking three questions of anything you publish. Who created it, and is that clear to the reader? How was it made, including any use of automation or AI? And why was it created: mainly to help people, or mainly to attract visits from search engines? Content made for people tends to do better over time than content made for rankings.
What about AI-written content?
Google’s position is that it cares about the quality of content rather than how it was produced, but using automation mainly to manipulate search rankings breaks its spam policies. In practice, AI struggles most with the first E. It hasn’t lived with a condition, run a food bank or supported a family through a crisis. If you use AI to help draft content, the experience, the checking and the judgement still need to come from people who know the subject.
How we can help
We build charity websites with clear authorship, structured company and charity details, and pages that are easy to keep up to date, which are the foundations E-E-A-T rests on. See how we approach charity web design, or read our guide to SEO for charities.
Questions people ask
What does E-E-A-T stand for?
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It comes from the guidelines Google gives the people who rate the quality of search results.
When did Google add the extra E?
In December 2022. Before that the framework was known as E-A-T. The new E stands for Experience, meaning first-hand experience of the subject.
Does E-E-A-T apply to small websites?
Yes. It isn’t about size. A small local charity with real experience, named people and accurate information can show strong E-E-A-T on the subjects it knows.
How long does it take to improve E-E-A-T?
Some changes, such as adding authors, sources and review dates, take an afternoon. Others, like earning mentions from trusted organisations, build up over months. Search results reflect them gradually as pages are recrawled.
