{"slug": "e-e-a-t-google-s-quality-framework-explained", "title": "E-E-A-T: Google's quality framework explained", "summary": "Based on the provided text, this document serves as a comprehensive installation and audit reference for implementing Google's E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) framework on any website to a world-class standard. It functions as both an installation manual for building the framework into a site and an audit document for evaluating an existing site using a pass/fail scoring system. The framework supports three modes of use: Install Mode, Audit Mode, and Hybrid Mode.", "body_md": "Originally published at thatdevpro.com. Part of ThatDevPro's open SEO + AI framework library. ThatDevPro is an SDVOSB-certified veteran-owned web + AI engineering studio. Open-source AI citation toolkit: github.com/Janady13/aio-surfaces.\nExperience · Expertise · Authoritativeness · Trustworthiness\nA comprehensive installation and audit reference for implementing Google's E-E-A-T framework on any website to a world-class standard. This document is dual-purpose: it serves as both an installation manual (for Claude Code CLI or a human developer building the framework into a site) and an audit document (for evaluating an existing site against the framework with pass/fail scoring).\nCross-stack implementation note: the code samples in this framework are written in plain HTML for clarity. For React, Vue, Svelte, Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Hugo, 11ty, Remix, WordPress, Shopify, and Webflow equivalents of every pattern below, see\nframework-cross-stack-implementation.md\n. For pure client-rendered SPAs (no SSR/SSG) seeframework-react.md\n. For Tailwind-specific concerns (purge, dynamic classes, dark-mode CLS, focus accessibility) seeframework-tailwind.md\n.\nThis is the canonical reference for installing E-E-A-T signals across a website to a level Google's algorithms and human Search Quality Raters will recognize as world-class. Every signal Google looks for is documented here. Every code block needed to demonstrate that signal is included. Every validation criterion is specified.\nThis document supports three modes of use. Choose the mode before starting work.\nMode A — Install Mode: Building E-E-A-T into a new or existing site from scratch. Follow Sections 2 → 17 in order. Each section is a buildable phase. Generate the implementation report at the end (Section 17).\nMode B — Audit Mode: Evaluating an existing site against the framework. Skip directly to Section 12 (Audit Mode). Use the scoring rubric to score each pillar. Generate the audit report at the end. Then if remediation is needed, return to Install Mode for the failing items.\nMode C — Hybrid Mode: Auditing then installing. Run Mode B first to baseline the site. Then run Mode A only for the items that scored below threshold. Generate both reports.\nWhen this document is provided to Claude Code CLI:\nIf reading as a human:\nWhen installing into an existing site, conflicts will arise (existing schema, existing author pages, existing canonical tags). Apply these rules in priority order:\nWhen in doubt, flag for manual review rather than overwriting. The implementation report (Section 17) must list every flagged item.\nHave these available before starting:\nhttps://search.google.com/test/rich-results\nhttps://validator.schema.org/\nhttps://pagespeed.web.dev/\ncurl\nor httpie\n— for header inspection and bot user-agent simulationBefore beginning any installation or audit, gather every variable below. Do not proceed until the intake is complete. Variables marked REQUIRED\nblock all work. Variables marked RECOMMENDED\nblock specific sections only.\n# ============================================\n# E-E-A-T FRAMEWORK CLIENT VARIABLES\n# ============================================\n# --- Business Identity (REQUIRED) ---\nbusiness_name: \"\" # Exact legal/branded name. Used in all schema name fields.\nbusiness_alternate_names: [] # Common abbreviations, alternate spellings, DBA names.\nbusiness_type: \"\" # Schema.org type. Examples: \"ProfessionalService\",\n# \"LocalBusiness\", \"MedicalBusiness\", \"FinancialService\",\n# \"LegalService\", \"Restaurant\", \"Store\", \"Organization\".\nbusiness_subtype: \"\" # More specific subtype if applicable. Example: \"WebDesignAgency\".\nbusiness_founded_year: \"\" # Four-digit year. Example: \"2020\".\nbusiness_description_short: \"\" # 50-160 characters. Used in meta descriptions, schema description.\nbusiness_description_long: \"\" # 300-500 words. Used on About page, /entity/ hub, llms.txt.\n# --- Contact & Location (REQUIRED) ---\nbusiness_address_street: \"\"\nbusiness_address_city: \"\"\nbusiness_address_region: \"\" # State/province/region (full name, not abbreviation in schema).\nbusiness_address_postal: \"\"\nbusiness_address_country: \"US\" # ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code.\nbusiness_geo_latitude: \"\" # Decimal degrees. Example: \"36.6770\".\nbusiness_geo_longitude: \"\" # Decimal degrees. Example: \"-93.8730\".\nbusiness_phone: \"\" # E.164 format. Example: \"+15055123662\".\nbusiness_phone_display: \"\" # Human-readable. Example: \"(505) 512-3662\".\nbusiness_email: \"\"\n# --- Hours of Operation (REQUIRED for LocalBusiness types) ---\nbusiness_hours:\nmonday: \"09:00-18:00\"\ntuesday: \"09:00-18:00\"\nwednesday: \"09:00-18:00\"\nthursday: \"09:00-18:00\"\nfriday: \"09:00-18:00\"\nsaturday: \"closed\"\nsunday: \"closed\"\nbusiness_timezone: \"\" # IANA timezone. Example: \"America/Chicago\".\n# --- Web Properties (REQUIRED) ---\nprimary_domain: \"\" # Example: \"thatdeveloperguy.com\" (no protocol, no trailing slash).\ncanonical_protocol: \"https\"\ncanonical_www: false # true if canonical includes www, false if not.\ncanonical_trailing_slash: true # Site-wide trailing slash policy.\n# --- Founder/Owner Identity (REQUIRED for E-E-A-T) ---\nfounder_full_name: \"\"\nfounder_first_name: \"\"\nfounder_last_name: \"\"\nfounder_title: \"\" # Example: \"Founder & Lead Developer\".\nfounder_bio_short: \"\" # 50-100 words. Used in author boxes.\nfounder_bio_long: \"\" # 200-400 words. Used on author page.\nfounder_photo_url: \"\" # High-resolution professional photo, square crop preferred.\nfounder_email: \"\"\n# --- Founder Credentials (REQUIRED for Expertise pillar) ---\nfounder_credentials:\n- type: \"EducationalOccupationalCredential\"\nname: \"\" # Example: \"BA Computer Engineering\".\nissued_by: \"\" # Example: \"Colorado State University\".\nyear: \"\"\n- type: \"EducationalOccupationalCredential\"\nname: \"\"\nissued_by: \"\"\nyear: \"\"\nfounder_certifications: [] # Industry certifications, licenses, accreditations.\nfounder_years_experience: \"\" # Numeric. Example: \"12\".\nfounder_topical_expertise: [] # Array of topic strings. Example: [\"Web Development\", \"SEO\", \"AI\"].\nfounder_external_publications: [] # Array of URLs to articles authored on third-party sites.\nfounder_speaking_history: [] # Array of conference/podcast appearances with URLs.\n# --- Founder External Profiles (REQUIRED for Authoritativeness via sameAs) ---\nfounder_wikidata_qid: \"\" # Format: \"Q138610626\". Leave blank if no Wikidata entry yet.\nfounder_linkedin_url: \"\"\nfounder_x_url: \"\" # X/Twitter profile URL.\nfounder_github_url: \"\"\nfounder_huggingface_url: \"\"\nfounder_orcid: \"\" # If applicable for academic/research credibility.\nfounder_personal_site_url: \"\" # If founder maintains a personal domain separate from business.\nfounder_other_profiles: [] # Any additional verified profiles.\n# --- Additional Authors (RECOMMENDED for multi-author sites) ---\nadditional_authors:\n- full_name: \"\"\ntitle: \"\"\nbio_short: \"\"\nbio_long: \"\"\nphoto_url: \"\"\ncredentials: []\nsameAs: []\nknowsAbout: []\n# --- Topical Pillars (REQUIRED for Expertise demonstration) ---\nprimary_topical_pillars: [] # 3-7 topics this site is the authority on.\n# Example: [\"AI Search Optimization\", \"SEO\", \"Web Development\"].\n# --- YMYL Classification (REQUIRED for Trust pillar weighting) ---\nymyl_classification: false # Set true if site covers Your Money or Your Life topics.\nymyl_categories: [] # If true, list applicable categories:\n# \"health\", \"finance\", \"legal\", \"civic\", \"safety\", \"shopping\".\n# --- AI Content Disclosure (REQUIRED for Trust pillar) ---\nuses_ai_in_content: false # Set true if any content is AI-assisted or AI-generated.\nai_disclosure_policy: \"\" # If true, the disclosure statement to display.\nai_review_process: \"\" # If true, describe human review process.\n# --- Trust & Compliance (REQUIRED) ---\nhas_privacy_policy: false\nhas_terms_of_service: false\nhas_accessibility_statement: false\nhas_cookie_consent: false\ngdpr_applicable: false\nccpa_applicable: false\nstate_privacy_laws_applicable: [] # Example: [\"CA\", \"CO\", \"CT\", \"VA\", \"UT\", \"TX\"].\n# --- Reviews & Social Proof (RECOMMENDED) ---\ngoogle_business_profile_url: \"\"\ngoogle_business_profile_id: \"\"\nexisting_review_count: 0\nexisting_average_rating: 0.0\nreview_platforms: [] # [\"Google\", \"Trustpilot\", \"Clutch\", \"BBB\", \"Yelp\"].\ntrust_certifications: [] # [\"BBB Accredited\", \"SDVOSB Certified\", \"ISO 27001\"].\n# --- Earned Media (RECOMMENDED for Authoritativeness) ---\nfeatured_in_publications: [] # Array of {name, url, date, quote} objects.\nexternal_backlink_count: 0 # Approximate, from Ahrefs/Semrush.\ndomain_rating: 0 # Ahrefs DR or equivalent.\n# --- Tech Stack (REQUIRED for stack-specific install) ---\ntech_stack: \"\" # One of: \"wordpress\", \"nextjs\", \"astro\", \"hugo\",\n# \"vanilla-html\", \"vanilla-php\", \"shopify\", \"webflow\", \"other\".\ncms_admin_access: false # Whether the implementer has CMS access.\ngit_repository_url: \"\" # If applicable.\ndeployment_method: \"\" # \"git-push\", \"ftp\", \"cms-publish\", \"ci-cd\", \"manual\".\n# --- Existing State Detection (filled during install/audit) ---\nexisting_organization_schema: false\nexisting_author_pages: []\nexisting_canonical_strategy: \"\"\nexisting_robots_txt: false\nexisting_llms_txt: false\nexisting_sitemap: false\nexisting_ssl: false\nexisting_hsts: false\nexisting_csp: false\nAfter variables are gathered, save them as eeat-variables.yml\nin the project root. All install code in this document references these variable names.\nE-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is Google's published framework for evaluating content quality, embedded in the Search Quality Rater Guidelines (last updated September 11, 2025, 182 pages). The framework was originally introduced as E-A-T in 2014. The fourth pillar — Experience — was added in December 2022 to better evaluate first-hand involvement with topics in the era of AI-generated content.\nE-E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor. Google does not assign an E-E-A-T score to pages or sites. Instead, E-E-A-T is the framework Google's human Search Quality Raters use to evaluate whether the algorithm is surfacing genuinely helpful content. Google then uses signals correlated with E-E-A-T to train and refine the ranking algorithms themselves. The practical effect: sites that demonstrate strong E-E-A-T signals consistently outrank sites that don't, especially after core updates.\nIn 2026, E-E-A-T's importance has compounded. The March 2026 Core Update reinforced entity-based ranking, expertise demonstration, and trust signals as primary differentiators. AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Copilot) use overlapping signals to decide which sources to cite. Strong E-E-A-T implementation simultaneously improves Google rankings, AI citation rate, and brand authority — making it the highest-leverage framework in modern SEO.\nTrust is the most important pillar. Google's own guidelines state: \"Untrustworthy pages have low E-E-A-T no matter how Experienced, Expert, or Authoritative they may seem.\" Experience, Expertise, and Authoritativeness all support and reinforce Trust. Without Trust, the other three are worthless.\nE-E-A-T applies to all content but is held to higher standards on YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics — health, finance, legal, civic information, safety, and government. The September 2025 Search Quality Rater Guidelines update expanded YMYL to explicitly include elections and civic trust. If a site covers any YMYL topic, every signal in this framework must be implemented to a higher bar.\nEach pillar gets the same treatment: definition, the signals Google looks for, the specific elements you must install on the website to demonstrate that signal, and the audit criteria for scoring an existing site.\nExperience asks: does the content reflect first-hand, lived involvement with the topic? Has the author actually used the product, visited the place, performed the procedure, run the campaign, lived through the situation? Or is the content compiled from secondary sources without direct involvement?\nExperience was added in December 2022 specifically to counterbalance AI-generated content. 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