E-E-A-T for startups: showing experience and trust
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust: the qualities Google's search quality rater guidelines use to judge content. It is not a single ranking factor, but it describes what Google's systems try to reward. A startup shows it with real authors, first-hand evidence, transparent company details and third-party recognition, which are also what AI assistants look for in a source.
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What E-E-A-T is
Google's search quality rater guidelines are instructions for the people who evaluate search results to help Google test its systems. E-E-A-T is their framework for judging page quality; "Experience" was added in December 2022. Google's guidance on helpful, people-first content asks similar questions: who created it, how, and why.
How a startup can show it
| Element | On your site | Off your site |
|---|---|---|
| Experience | Screenshots, real data, case studies, "we tested" | Customer stories, reviews |
| Expertise | Author bios with credentials | Talks, podcasts, guest articles |
| Authoritativeness | Clear focus on your topic | Links, mentions, news coverage, directory listings |
| Trust | About page, company name and address, contact, pricing, policies, HTTPS | Consistent facts on profiles, review platforms |
Why it matters for AI assistants too
AI assistants choosing between sources face the same question raters do: is this source credible? Pages with named authors, evidence, dates and clear ownership are easier to trust and to cite. See how to write content AI assistants cite and entity SEO.
Questions people ask
Is E-E-A-T a ranking factor?
Not directly. It is a framework for human raters. Google's ranking systems use many signals that aim at the same qualities.