E-E-A-T Audit: Check Experience, Expertise and Trust on Your Pages

Key takeaways

Google says E-E-A-T is not a single ranking factor.
Trust is the most important part, per Google.
Audit page by page and fix untrue claims first.

An E-E-A-T audit checks whether a page shows experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust in ways a reader can see. It is not a score. Google says E-E-A-T itself is not a specific ranking factor, and no tool can measure it as one number. What you can do is check each page for the signs a reader looks for, then fix what is missing.

This guide gives you a page-level audit a small team can finish in an afternoon. It covers only what you control on your own site. It ends with a 20-point scorecard, filled in for a fictional page. For the full audit process, including search intent and fact checks, see the guide to SEO content audits.

What E-E-A-T is, and what it isn’t

Google’s guide to creating helpful, reliable, people-first content explains the term. Its systems look for a mix of factors that show experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Google says that of these, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust.

Google also says a page does not need to show all four. Some content helps because of the experience it shows. Other content helps because of the expertise it shares.

Three points are easy to get wrong:

It is not a single ranking factor. Google says so directly.
Quality raters do not rank pages. Google says raters give feedback on its results, and their data is not used directly in ranking.
There is no official score. A tool that gives you an “E-E-A-T score” is using its own rules, not Google’s.

Google suggests reading its search quality rater guidelines to self-assess your content. That is how to use this audit too: as a self-check, not a formula.

Experience: show you did the thing

Experience means first-hand knowledge. A plumber who explains a repair they have done many times shows experience. A review written by someone who used the product shows experience.

Look for these signs in the text:

Details only someone who did the work would know.
Your own photos, measurements, or results, not stock images.
Clear words like “we tested,” “in our shop,” or “on our last job,” when they are true.

Do not add fake experience. Saying “we tested this” when you did not is worse than saying nothing.

Expertise: who wrote it and why

Google’s helpful content guide suggests asking “Who, How, and Why” about your content. For “Who,” it asks whether it is clear who wrote the page, whether pages carry a byline where readers expect one, and whether bylines lead to more about the author.

Check each page for:

A byline with a real name.
An author page that explains their background and the topics they cover.
Credentials that match the topic, such as a license for a trade.

Google warns against fake authorship, such as made-up names, AI-generated headshots, or false credentials. It calls this deception. To help search engines read author details, the guide to Person schema for authors covers the markup.

Trust: sources, dates, contact, and policies

Trust is the part Google calls most important. On a single page, check:

Sources. Claims link to primary sources where a reader would expect proof.
Dates. The page shows when it was published or last updated, and the date is honest. Google’s guide asks whether you change dates to make pages seem fresh when the content has not changed much.
Accuracy. Prices, hours, and facts match the rest of your site. The guide to conflicting information shows how to find mismatches.
Clear next step. A reader can contact you or act without hunting for it.

Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines point the same way. They ask for content that can be verified and kept accurate and up to date.

Site-wide pages that support trust

Some trust signals live outside the page you are auditing. Check them once for the whole site:

An About page that says who runs the business.
A Contact page with a real way to reach you.
Privacy, returns, or service policies where they apply.
Consistent business details across the site.

Organization markup can describe these details for search engines. See the guide to Organization schema markup.

Run the audit page by page

Pick your most important pages first: service pages, top guides, and pages that bring in leads. For each one, go through the scorecard below and mark each point yes, no, or fix.

Pages about health, money, or safety need a stricter review. The guide to YMYL content covers those extra checks.

While you audit, you may find two pages that cover the same topic. Note them. The guide to keyword cannibalization explains what to do. If a page has nothing worth keeping, the guide to content pruning helps you decide.

What to fix first

Anything untrue. Wrong facts, fake claims, or false experience. Fix or remove these right away.
Missing authorship on pages where readers expect it. Add a real byline and author page.
Missing sources for key claims. Add links to primary sources.
Missing contact or policy pages. Add them once for the whole site.
Weak experience signals. Add your own photos, examples, or details where you have them.

Where DEX fits

DEX connects search research, content planning, article writing, and publishing on the connected site. Experience and expertise come from your team. Add them during review, before a page goes live.

20-point E-E-A-T page scorecard

Fictional example. The scorecard below is filled in for an imaginary page: “Water Heater Repair in Tulsa” on a small plumbing company’s site.

Group	Check	Result
Experience	1. The page describes work the business has done itself	Yes
Experience	2. It includes the team’s own photos	Fix: stock photos only
Experience	3. It names specific problems the team sees often	Yes
Experience	4. Claims of testing or experience are true	Yes
Experience	5. It explains what a visit looks like, step by step	No
Expertise	6. The page has a byline or a named reviewer	Fix: no name shown
Expertise	7. The byline links to an author or team page	No
Expertise	8. Credentials match the topic, such as a license	Yes
Expertise	9. Technical terms are explained correctly	Yes
Expertise	10. No fake names, photos, or credentials	Yes
Authority	11. The page links to related pages on the same topic	Fix: no internal links
Authority	12. The business name is consistent across the site	Yes
Authority	13. The About page explains who runs the business	Yes
Authority	14. Organization details are marked up correctly	No
Authority	15. The page covers the topic more fully than a quick summary	Yes
Trust	16. Key claims link to primary sources	Not needed on this page
Trust	17. Published or updated date is shown and honest	Fix: date missing
Trust	18. Prices and hours match the rest of the site	Fix: hours differ from Contact page
Trust	19. Contact details are easy to find	Yes
Trust	20. Relevant policies, such as warranty terms, are linked	No

Start with the “Fix” rows. They are quick wins on a page that already does most things right.

FAQ

Is E-E-A-T a ranking factor?

Google says E-E-A-T itself isn't a specific ranking factor; its systems use a mix of factors.

Can a tool measure my E-E-A-T score?

No official score exists. Tools use their own rules.

Which part of E-E-A-T matters most?

Google says trust is most important.

Sources

Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content · Google
Search Quality Rater Guidelines · Google
Bing Webmaster Guidelines · Microsoft Bing

Dex SEO

Dex SEO is an AI SEO agent for small businesses. Every article here is planned from search data, drafted by Dex, fact-checked against the sources it cites, and reviewed by the team before it is published.

How this article was made: planned and drafted by Dex from search data, fact-checked by Dex (6 claims checked), then approved by the Dex SEO team.