Google’s EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines have been the guiding star for content creators since 2014, ensuring that content served to users met strict quality parameters. However, as the digital landscape transforms, so do Google’s guidelines. The recent evolution from EAT to EEAT marks another milestone in the search giant’s commitment to perfecting the user experience.
This article will explore the new, expanded EEAT guidelines and explain why experience matters. We will also share tips and practices for meeting Google’s demands and how to stand up to the competition in the world of content abundance.
Content creators aspire to get their work in front of their target audience, but in today's information-saturated internet environment, standing out is becoming increasingly difficult. Even Google is struggling to sift through this vast sea of data.
This is where EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) comes into play. It acts as a beacon, guiding Google to distinguish high-quality content from the surrounding “white noise.” For modern creators, aligning with EEAT not only ensures visibility, but also marks their content as credible and valuable.
This is especially true for YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) topics, which sri lanka whatsapp number database touch on critical areas such as finance, health and current affairs. These contents can have a huge impact on people's well-being. Google classifies content into clear YMYL (e.g. evacuation routes), potential YMYL (e.g. weather forecasts) and unlikely YMYL (e.g. film awards).
While neither EEAT nor YMYL are direct SEO ranking factors, they are essential for shaping high-quality content. Pages that cover YMYL topics should place special emphasis on EEAT principles.
But what do these principles mean? Let's find out.
Unpacking the new “E”: The role of experience in EEAT
Previously, Google used three things to ensure that search results were useful and trustworthy:
Expertise: Is the information coming from a knowledgeable source?
Authority: Is it from a respected source?
Reliability: Can we trust this information?
Now, Google has added another E, which stands for Experience. This ensures that the person providing the information has actually tried the product, visited the place, applied the solution or experienced the event they are talking about.