Contents:
- What is EEAT?
- Why authorship’s so important
- The EEAT Q&A checklist
- EEAT and LinkedIn
- EEAT and Google News
- All full up yet?
What is EEAT?
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. It’s a huge focus in Google’s search quality rater guidelines to make sure quality sits at the centre of content success.
Put simply, Google wants your content to be clear, accurate and genuinely helpful. Content that includes organic links from reputable sources and is written by a subject matter expert (with verifiable credentials to prove it) will score highest for SEO. And with GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) — to boost your brand’s visibility in AI-generated search results — the same principles apply.
Why? Because searchers are keen on EEAT. If they know they’re dealing with an expert — the authority on a subject — then they’re more likely to be satisfied. And Google likes satisfied users. They keep coming back.
After all, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. In fact, seven in ten (71%) UK adults had encountered misinformation online in the four weeks before they were surveyed.
Google’s EEAT framework is an update of EAT (with an extra E for experience), which has been important for a long time. Google was talking about it back in 2015, but it zoomed into focus in 2019, when a core algorithm update focused on EAT saw very popular sites take huge hits in terms of keyword rankings and organic traffic. In 2022, Google added the extra ‘E’ to show they’re looking for content creators who have genuine experience on the topic they’re writing about.
And let’s not forget the ‘T’: Trust. The update will generate greater “trust”, which is at the centre of this concept and is the “most important member of the EEAT family.”
EEAT in SEO: why is it so important?
Google wants to make sure the results it returns in search queries answer people’s questions accurately — without misinformation, confusion or misrepresentation. Good content is helpful, reliable, and puts people first.
But Google wants more than just facts — anyone can research those. It’s looking for content that conveys a real understanding of the topic. And it highly values pieces authored by genuine subject matter experts with informed experience. That means getting real people, with real experience, to write it (or put their name to it).
It also means that the author’s credibility needs verification that readers (and Google) can easily find. LinkedIn is a great place to concentrate this — but more on that shortly.
Beyond search benefits, remember that people buy from people (and more importantly, from people they trust — it’s a vital part of the sales mix). So, it’s in your interests to have content authored by an individual rather than a brand.
And get this — 73% of global business executives say an organisation’s thought leadership content provides a more reliable method for evaluating its abilities and competencies than traditional marketing materials and product descriptions. And, 70% have a higher opinion of businesses that consistently deliver high-quality thought leadership.
Still not convinced? Over half (52%) of B2B decision-makers and 54% of C-level executives spend at least one hour per week engaging with thought leadership content. All of which spells out: it’s worth investing the time to get it right.
The EEAT Q&A checklist
So, what’s Google’s advice if you’re suffering from a lack of EEAT?
“Focus on content.”
In reality, this is both on and offsite content — owned and earned.
Look at the important pages on your site and analyse them one by one, keeping the following questions in mind (each of which is detailed in Google’s 2019 blog and each of which we’ve looked to expand upon).
On-site content and quality questions
Does the content provide original information, reporting, research or analysis?
If you’re not adding value, then why would you be returned in the search engine results?
Does the content provide a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
Word count is not a ranking factor, but Google’s Quality Raters (human beings who work for Google and spend their days assessing and reporting back on websites to help Google fine tune its algorithm) are being asked to assess content based on how comprehensive it is.
Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
Once again, if you’re not adding value, then why would you be returned?
If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?
Anyone can plagiarise, but to be a genuine expert, you must use your experience and expertise to add value. This also extends to generic AI-generated content. While AI can be a great tool to support your SEO copywriting efforts, it can’t fabricate legitimate EEAT signals.
Does the headline and/or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
Yes, optimising your metadata is still important. As is providing descriptive headers and content menus, and writing in a way that Google finds easy to understand. Google likes to provide instant answers (you may have heard them referred to as ‘featured snippets’ and more recently, an AI Overview). This is why they’re asking for menus and ‘helpful summaries’. This helps Google extract sections from a page and return those sections directly in the search results.
Does the headline and/or page title avoid being exaggerating or shocking in nature?
This is not Google punishing enticing news headlines; this is Google targeting clickbait.
Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
Referrals remain the greatest indicators of quality.
Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopaedia or book?
If you produce quality original content, optimise it, and author it to an expert, then it’s very likely it’ll be a source in future. This will, in turn, result in followed links to your content. For more on why that’s important, check out our guide: What is digital PR?
Is the content mentioned alongside other reputable online sources, helping to build trust and authority?
Google isn’t just looking at who links to your site — it’s also paying attention to which sites are mentioned together. These are known as co-citations. When your content regularly appears next to trusted sources (even without a direct link), it sends strong signals of authority and relevance. This kind of association can increase your chances of being included in AI-generated summaries, like Google’s AI Overviews, which rely heavily on trustworthy, well-connected information to deliver their answers. Simply put: the company you keep matters.
Experience and expertise questions (and why authorship’s so important)
Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?
If you’re the best at what you do, then it’s never been more important to demonstrate this. Do you have experts? How can you demonstrate their experience? How can you promote their expertise?
The additional ‘E’, for experience, means your content should “also demonstrate that it was produced with some degree of experience, such as with actual use of a product, having actually visited a place or communicating what a person experienced.” Google’s updated quality rater guidelines clearly state that in some instances, the best quality content that readers can trust the most will have to have been produced by someone with first-hand experience of a place or thing.
That means you need to think seriously about the reputation of the content author when planning your content and EEAT strategies. Authorship reputation is regularly cited as important in the Search Quality Guidelines — take a look at section 2.5.2:
Every page belongs to a website, and it should be clear:
- Who (what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) is responsible for the website?
- Who (what individual, company, business, foundation, etc.) created the content on the page you are evaluating?
In 2019, Google’s John Mueller said:
Then in a Google SEO office-hours from April 2021, he advised to: “Link to a common or central place — could be a social network profile page.”
This is because Google is trying to recognise who is behind something — it’s called ‘reconciliation’, recognising which entities belong together.
This raises an important point. Where should all author signals be consolidated to? An authorship page on your website? Or a social profile, maybe?
From a B2B perspective, we’d recommend LinkedIn because:
- It’s not behind a login page — profiles are public by default, and Google’s spiders can crawl profile pages and pick up EEAT signals.
- It’s easy to generate EEAT signals on a LinkedIn profile page. There are literally sections dedicated to ‘Experience’, ‘Education’, ‘Licenses & certifications’, ‘Skills’ and ‘Recommendations’ — all clear EEAT indicators, some of which can be awarded by third parties on LinkedIn who themselves may have strong EEAT signals associated with their profiles.
- LinkedIn profiles include historical EEAT signals — as a B2B brand, showcasing the full depth of your experts’ careers helps build powerful EEAT signals that go way beyond their tenure at your company alone.
- Regular use of LinkedIn — posting and networking with a focus on sharing insights and knowledge — generates sustained EEAT signals to help Google understand your content author over the longer term.
Given the above, it’s crucial to make sure your company is listed on your employees’ LinkedIn profiles as their current place of work and that their profiles are up to date with their latest qualifications and expertise. For your exec teams and key spokespeople (your regular content authors), it’s even better if you can make sure they’re utilising all of LinkedIn on a regular basis — that means networking and sharing quality content at least once a week. More guidance on that below.
But don’t neglect your website either. Think about your company profile. What kinds of awards and certifications do you have as a company? How good a job do your ‘About us’ and ‘Team’ pages do at promoting your expertise (after all, Google specifically requests quality raters look for ‘About us’ pages as part of their EEAT review of a brand)? Why would a customer choose to work with you versus a competitor? And is it clear you are who you say you are?
Google introduced a new way to achieve this in October 2022 in the form of site names — you can use basic structured data to tell Google what the site name should be. This helps users clearly identify your brand in the organic search results. Complement this site name with a branded favicon for instant recognition!
If you researched the site producing the content, would you come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely recognised as an authority on its topic?
How do you present yourself as an authority on a subject? Well, one way we know Google favours is PR. They haven’t come out and directly said “hire a PR agency” but they have said to their quality raters: High-quality news articles and informational articles may be good sources of information for both companies/organisations/entities and content creators. Search for such articles.
This comes back to positive brand mentions in contextually relevant publications. If you’re an expert on back-office processes in manufacturing companies, then Google and its quality raters need to see you talking about the topic in the right places — for starters, the manufacturing press. The rationale is that you wouldn’t be featured if you didn’t know your stuff.
On the other hand, if you pop up on some random guest blog site that anyone can feature on, or simply a site that’s totally unrelated to your business and expertise, then that’s not going to convince anyone you know what you’re talking about.
There’s more evidence to support building your profile via LinkedIn, too. In Google’s 2022 update on EEAT, they said, “helpful information can come in a variety of different formats and from a range of sources…” and that they’re seeking to “capture the nuances of how people look for information and the diversity of quality information that exists in the world.” So, think quality insight plus knowledge sharing, and you’re onto a winner.
Google advises search operators are used to find reputable sources of information, using IBM as an example.
- Step one: identify the homepage of a brand’s website e.g. ibm.com
- Step two: using ibm.com as an example, try one or more of the following searches on Google:
- [ibm -site:ibm.com]: a search for IBM that excludes pages on ibm.com
- [<ibm.com= -site:ibm.com]: A search for <ibm.com= that excludes pages on ibm.com
- [ibm reviews -site:ibm.com] A search for reviews of IBM that excludes pages on ibm.com
- [<ibm.com= reviews -site:ibm.com]: A search for reviews of <ibm.com= that excludes pages on ibm.com
The guidelines also point out that a brand’s social media profiles may be returned when the above searches are conducted, but said profiles should not be considered as independent sources of reputation information about a company, which is kind of obvious. Google then directs its quality raters to a Wikipedia page on independent sources for more guidance.
It’s also worth noting that a less in-depth way of conducting the above checks (but one that may be more reflective of what Google’s algorithm is actually seeing) is to use the aforementioned ‘About this result’ tool Google launched in 2021.
Is this content written by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
This comes back to authorship once again — note the difference in language though: ‘expert or enthusiast’. It suggests that Google believes you can be a trusted source simply based on the frequency of publication of content related to a particular topic. Makes sense, right? There are plenty of businesses where there’s a limit to the official qualifications you can gain, so how else do you demonstrate authority? Via self-teaching and dissemination of value-added content.
Is the content free from easily verified factual errors?
This is content 101 stuff.
Would you feel comfortable trusting this content for issues relating to your money or your life (YMYL)?
This is YMYL specific, but an interesting point.
Presentation and production questions
Is the content free from spelling or stylistic issues?
This is also content 101 stuff.
Was the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
It’s about quality, not quantity. This doesn’t mean the page has to look wonderful (take Google’s own aesthetically bland AI blog), but it does mean it has to adhere to everything we’ve discussed already regards expertise, and it has to be well laid out, in an easy-to-read format.
Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
This question screams spam. It’s also very difficult to properly maintain multiple websites as a brand.
This really harks back to the old days when spammy SEO companies would buy keyword-optimised domain names and barely populate them with any decent content because they didn’t need to, for them to rank.
Does the content have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
It’s unlikely that as a B2B company you’re running on-page ads, but you’ll still be familiar with this problem. You land on a page, particularly on mobile, and you can’t navigate it because of ads popping up everywhere. It’s not hard to get this right.
Also, Google has previously flagged intrusive interstitials as a ranking no-no (something you may potentially suffer from if you’re a B2B company engaged in content marketing — think of a download form that pops up and covers the screen when you visit an organisation’s homepage), so take the hint.
Does the content display well for mobile devices when viewed on them?
Google runs a mobile-first index. If your site doesn’t work well on mobile, then this is a BIG issue. It’s also wise to consider mobile on a page-by-page basis. Google won’t necessarily penalise the whole site if certain pages provide a poor mobile experience. Make sure your most important pages are as good as they can be from an EEAT perspective and can be easily viewed and navigated on a mobile device.
Comparative questions
Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
This is an obvious but oft-ignored point when developing B2B content. You have a keyword target, but have you reviewed what appears on page one when you search for the keyword? Do you know what pages or content you have to be better than? Do you know which area of the topic you can add value to? This is SO important. It’s a crucial part of producing great content.
Does the content seem to be serving the genuine interests of visitors to the site, or does it seem to exist solely by someone attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
Content for the sake of ranking is not going to do as well as content designed to address a visitor’s original search query. Google is very good at understanding when you’re trying to game the system.
Besides your website, there are other places you can — and should — ask your authors to publish content to support EEAT signals.
It’s important to generate positive brand mentions in contextually relevant and credible publications, assigning bylines and comments to key spokespeople within your business, to present them as authorities on their area of expertise. Google has said to its quality raters: High-quality news articles and informational articles may be good sources of information for both companies / organisations/entities and content creators. Search for such articles.
How to use LinkedIn to support EEAT
You should make use of all the features available to you on LinkedIn for the greatest effect. That means putting time into:
- Refining your profile page
- Creating (and sharing content)
- Networking
- Staying active and consistent
Refining your profile page
Within LinkedIn itself, there’s a big opportunity to make sure your profile is visible in search results by setting it up well and keeping it up to date.
The basics mean you should:
- Have a professional headshot
- Opt for a professional cover photo
- Add your company’s website as a button right up top
- Customise your LinkedIn profile URL
- Add relevant contact information and keep it up to date
And for extra clout:
Use your headline to capture attention
Your LinkedIn headline is your first chance to make an impression. And you’ve only got 220 characters to grab attention. Make every word count. Define your professional identity and value proposition.
This isn’t just about making a splash — this is pivotal for visibility in recruiter and client searches. Choose your words strategically to optimise your profile’s search potential and impact.
Make your summary section stand out
LinkedIn might craft a default summary from your profile details, but you should treat it as a starting block, not the finish line. Remember EEAT — communicate your experience and expertise with real examples. Highlight your specialism and key accomplishments.
People buy into people, so use this space to show your personality and make your summary memorable.
Add multimedia including videos, slideshows or PDFs in your ‘Summary’ section
Showing, not just telling, is key to building trust and demonstrating real-world experience. Literally pointing to previous work examples demonstrates you have real-life understanding.
On top of this, rich media like videos can help to convey complex messaging more easily and make content more digestible — people respond well to it.
Ensure your work history is up to date
And use it to show potential clients, customers and Google — where your experience came from and where your expertise lies.
Make sure you have skills added to your profile and each role.
Make sure that after that, any content authored by you on your company website points back to this consolidated source of EEAT signals with a link (like we have at the bottom of this blog).
Creating (and sharing content)
The content you post — whether it’s your own or shared from others — should benefit your network and deepen connections. Actively engage with comments on both your posts and others’.
Think about:
- Who you want to talk to — who’s your target audience(s)
- What’s important to them?
- What problems do they face?
- What expertise, opinions, experience can you share to offer value?
When curating your LinkedIn content, focus on authenticity and trust. Make sure every post offers knowledge, value and insight to strengthen your personal brand and position you as a trusted expert.
LinkedIn’s suggestions to help develop your content are to:
- Analyse industry trends, recent developments, or case studies.
- Break down complex information into digestible, engaging content.
- Provide clear takeaways that your audience can easily understand and apply.
- Share actionable tips, strategies, and best practices.
- Focus on advice that your audience can immediately implement in their own work.
- Help your network solve common problems or improve their skills.
- Use real-world examples to make your content relatable.
- Highlight specific achievements or lessons learned from your own career.
- Show how your experiences can provide valuable insights to others.
Let your personality shine through — keep it professional and relevant, but don’t shy away from your unique voice. This personal touch helps keep your network engaged.
Experiment with formats to drive engagement — videos, memes, photos, graphics and even longer posts with no image can all work well on LinkedIn. If you’re sharing an external link — that’s fine — but don’t assume your audience is going to navigate away from LinkedIn and read the piece. You’re best off summarising the key points and adding your expert view or opinion to make sure it lands well.
Check out our social media content creation guide for more tips.
Networking
On LinkedIn, your network impacts how your profile appears in search results. The more connections and followers you have, the more likely your profile will be recommended and rank higher.
Remember, this is social media, so your posts and contributions shouldn’t be a broadcast alone — they need to add value. Part of that comes from being involved in discussions around nuanced and sometimes complex topics. You can generate that conversation in your own comment section as well as contributing to others’.
This helps to boost your visibility — the more likes, comments and shares you get, the higher your newsfeed rankings and exposure to both existing and new connections.
Cultivate a vibrant online community by actively engaging with your network. Respond to comments, interact with peers’ posts, answer DMs and invite feedback to keep the dialogue flowing and your connections strong.
Remember, every share, comment or like should add value or strengthen bonds within your network. Whether you’re promoting your own insights or amplifying others’, focus on building meaningful interactions.
Staying active and consistent
It’s easy to deprioritise managing your LinkedIn profile. We get it — it can seem like there’s always something more important to do and distractions arise.
But if you make it part of your daily routine, it becomes natural. Spending even a few minutes a day, a few times a week, scrolling and searching for posts to interact with is all it takes. Creating your own posts will take a bit more time, but that’ll result in a bigger reward for you and your brand channels.
If you do stay active and consistent over the long term, you’ll see results, and you’ll generate greater EEAT signals on an ongoing basis.
Aim to do this weekly:
- Proactively post something on your page
- Spend 15 mins liking, commenting and sharing other content
- Repost something from your company page, another company spokesperson or industry expert — adding your own insight
Make LinkedIn part of your everyday:
- Use meeting breaks to scroll: If you find yourself with a short 5–10-minute break between meetings and don’t have enough time to start a new task, but also don’t want to simply wait around, make use of the opportunity to scroll through LinkedIn instead.
- Brainstorm post ideas on drink breaks: Make use of your idle moments, like waiting for the kettle to boil or taking a quick five-minute break outside, to brainstorm some post ideas or think about what you’ve read this week that’s thought-provoking, that you have an expert opinion on.
- Seek out discussions during commutes: Take advantage of your commuting time to actively seek out discussions on LinkedIn that you can be a part of.
Take a look at our essential guide for more tips on how to build your B2B strategy for LinkedIn.
EEAT and Google News
The barrier to Google News entry is lower than ever before. Your site is automatically considered for Google News if it regularly publishes original news-related content, complies with Google’s news policies (i.e. you’re not printing sexually explicit or dangerous content) and demonstrates high levels of… you guessed it, EEAT.
This is a big deal for B2B brands (and something I’ve written about separately for PR Week) because it means EEAT is key to driving traffic from Google News. Google News drives billions of searches to publisher websites every month. Not something that has gone unrecognised by B2B brands who are now taking the EEAT piece very seriously in their quest to bypass traditional news publishers and become the source.
All full up yet?
There you have it. Our guide to how B2B companies can tackle their EEAT problems.
A lot of the above is fundamental to any B2B SEO or PR strategy. All content should be high quality, adhere to the above guidance, and regardless of whether you want it to rank or not, should be authored by experts with demonstrable EEAT signals associated with their public profiles, positioning your organisation as a trusted source. Easy, right? If the answer’s ‘no’, then don’t panic, just give our B2B SEO team a call, and they’ll be happy to undertake an EEAT audit on your behalf.
Written by Luke Budka, AI Director at Definition.
Updated by Lou Watson-Dowell, Head of Digital PR and Social Media at Definition, on 23/05/2025