What is Google E-E-A-T?
Google has become increasingly good at assessing who is behind the content. It's not only what you write that counts, but also whether you or your company are seen as a trustworthy source. That's what Google E-E-A-T is all about: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.
Many marketing managers know the term, but don't know exactly how to get started with it. Or they think you have to be an influencer to build any authority at all. We show you how to work on E-E-A-T without depending on a personal brand or visibility, and why this plays an important role right now in both SEO and GEO.
E-E-A-T explained in brief
Google uses E-E-A-T as a guideline to determine whether content is trustworthy. This plays a role especially for topics that have an impact on people, such as finance, health or business operations. But in B2B too, this assessment is becoming increasingly important.
The four elements:
- Experience – does the author have first-hand experience with the topic?
- Expertise – does the content come from someone with professional knowledge?
- Authoritativeness – is the author or company recognised within the sector?
- Trustworthiness – is the source transparent, secure and reliable?
In the past you could get a long way in SEO with clever keywords. Now Google increasingly looks at the sender behind the content. And that sender is you or your company.
What does Google expect from your content?
Google doesn't go by gut feeling, but by signals. Think of:
- A clear author page with background information
- Mention of sources or substantiation of claims
- Customer reviews, cases or references
- External mentions on other websites or platforms
- A secure, transparent website with a good structure
So it's not about perfect sentences or pretty pictures. It's about context: who is sharing the information, and why should a reader (or search engine) trust them?
Authority without being an influencer
You don't have to be an influencer or a visible thought leader to build authority. Many companies have knowledge in-house, but don't make use of it in their content strategy.
Alternative ways to build E-E-A-T:
- Regularly publish in-depth articles from within your team
- Make specialists within your company visible as authors
- Create customer cases that show you know what you're talking about
- Refer to external sources, research data or best practices
- Build a knowledge base like the one we use at BE Digital
That way you show expertise without putting yourself in the spotlight.
Why E-E-A-T also counts in GEO
AI tools such as ChatGPT or Google SGE generate answers based on existing content. And here too the same applies: only content that is judged to be trustworthy rises to the top in those generated answers.
In short: without E-E-A-T, no place in AI answers.
For GEO it's important that your content:
- Is strong in context (question and answer)
- Has a clear sender
- Can be traced to a source (so AI knows who shared the information)
- Fits within a consistent content profile
So you're optimising not only for Google Search, but also for how AI tools process, summarise or cite your information.
Practical tips to improve E-E-A-T
You don't have to completely overhaul your content. There's often already a lot of value in what's there, it's just not recognisable as such to search engines or AI. Here's a checklist:
- Add a short author bio to every substantive page
- Work your experience or practical examples into the text
- Add customer cases or testimonials where relevant
- Use structured data to indicate authorship and content type
- Make sure you have a secure website with a clear contact page and about-us section
- See whether you can get external mentions through partners, industry associations or media
Ready to optimise for E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T is not a standalone project, but a fundamental part of your SEO and content strategy. Especially now that AI has an ever greater influence on how your content is found and interpreted.
Want to know where your company stands in terms of E-E-A-T and where your opportunities for improvement lie? Request the BE Digital Scan with no obligation. We analyse your digital strategy, content structure and SEO performance, and show you where AI can be used responsibly within your organisation.