E-E-A-T and answer engines
E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. It comes from Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines, which added “Experience” in December 2022. It is a framework for judging quality, not a single ranking score. Showing who wrote a page, how it was made and why it exists supports it.
Where it comes from
Google’s raters use the Search Quality Rater Guidelines to evaluate results. The guidelines call trust “the most important member of the E-E-A-T family.”[1] Google added the extra “E” for experience on December 15, 2022.[2] Raters “have no control over how pages rank”; their data helps Google check that its systems work.[3] Vendor-documented
Who, How, Why
Google suggests evaluating content by asking “Who, How, and Why”:[3]
| Question | What to show | On this site |
|---|---|---|
| Who created it? | Bylines linking to author pages with credentials | Simon White |
| How was it created? | Methods, testing, use of AI tools | Editorial policy |
| Why was it created? | To help people, not to game rankings | About |
Experience is the differentiator
Google’s AI guide asks for “non-commodity” content: a unique perspective or first-hand experience rather than restated common knowledge.[4] Original photos, test results, case studies (see our seniorliving.wiki case study) and named practitioners are hard for a summarizer to get elsewhere. Vendor-documented
AI-assisted content
Google says generative AI “can be particularly useful when researching a topic, and to add structure to original content,” but generating many pages without adding value for users may violate its scaled content abuse policy.[5][6] Disclose AI assistance where readers would expect it. Vendor-documented
Practical signals
- Author bylines, bios and Person markup with
sameAs(see entity SEO). - Sources cited inline, with dates.
- Clear ownership, contact details and editorial standards.
- Accurate reviews and reputation on third-party sites (see third-party presence).
Frequently asked questions
Is E-E-A-T a ranking factor?
Not as a single score. It describes what Google's systems try to reward; raters use it to evaluate results.
Can AI-written content show E-E-A-T?
Only if a person with real experience adds original insight, checks facts and stands behind it. Google judges the helpfulness of content, not how it was produced.
See also
References
Pages accessed September 28, 2026 unless a date is given. See all sources and our editorial policy.
- ^ "Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF)". Google.
- ^ "Our latest update to the quality rater guidelines: E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience". Google Search Central Blog. Published December 15, 2022.
- ^ "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content". Google Search Central.
- ^ "Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search". Google Search Central. Added May 15, 2026; last updated July 10, 2026.
- ^ "Google Search’s guidance on using generative AI content on your website". Google Search Central.
- ^ "Spam policies for Google web search". Google Search Central. Updated May 2026 to cover generative AI responses.