Breaking down E-E-A-T to the content, author, and brand levels.

E-E-A-T is a complex topic that many SEOs are still getting their heads around. That’s not surprising, especially since it’s not a ranking factor but can still have a profound impact on organic visibility.

As SEOs, we’re used to pulling levers that directly influence rankings. But that’s not how E-E-A-T works, and it requires a different mindset.

Because while you can’t “optimise” E-E-A-T in the same way you optimise title tags or internal links, you can build the underlying signals that search engines increasingly rely on to determine who deserves visibility.

Just because we don’t see an immediate or measurable impact doesn’t mean it isn’t shaping outcomes.

In fact, E-E-A-T is increasingly acting as a filter rather than a lever. It doesn’t boost weak sites; it holds them back from competing at the top.

Why E-E-A-T matters more than ever

The shift isn’t subtle. Google is moving from ranking pages to ranking entities – brands, authors, and their credibility within a topic.

Those who invest in strengthening E-E-A-T signals today are far more likely to:

• Ride out algorithm updates with minimal disruption
• Compete in increasingly competitive SERPs
• Build sustainable, defensible organic growth

Why? Because they’ll have built a solid reputation for their brand and their people, and Google understands this.

You see, E-E-A-T can’t be faked. It’s all about building real signals that highlight your expertise, your authority and your trust, as well as the fact that you’ve got actual first-hand experience in the topics you’re writing about.

And more importantly, these signals don’t operate in isolation – they reinforce one another over time. Strong authors strengthen content. Strong brands strengthen trust. Together, they create a level of credibility that’s difficult for competitors to replicate quickly.

E-E-A-T for content, authors, and brands

Following the Helpful Content Update (HCU), one thing has become clear:

Treating E-E-A-T as a single, abstract concept is where most strategies fall apart.

Instead, it needs to be considered across three distinct levels:

• Content level
• Author (creator) level
• Brand (website) level

When looking at many sites negatively impacted by the HCU, it’s evident that they lacked E-E-A-T at least one of these levels.

And when other sites demonstrate E-E-A-T at all three levels, they win in the SERPs, while sites that aren’t showing strong signals are negatively impacted, potentially because the Helpful Content System has most likely been trained on content that shows these signals.

What’s important here is that Google isn’t evaluating content in isolation – it’s evaluating the context around it. Who created it, where it’s published, and whether those entities are trusted.

But it’s clear that many are still confused about why their sites were hit by this update.

Tweets like the one below have questioned why ‘big brands’ content is outperforming what’s arguably content that’s more helpful or demonstrates first-hand experience better.

But what is actually happening here is that the sites that saw a negative impact just don’t have the same brand and/or author reputation as those who are outranking them.

And yes, many rightly point out that the content is sometimes more helpful on the smaller sites, but neither the author nor the brand publishing this is as trusted as the bigger sites.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that these ‘big brands’ should have a free pass to rank content under any topic, but we’ve got to consider why Google continues to reward these so strongly.

It sucks to be hit by any algorithm update, especially if it wipes away significant amounts of traffic and revenue that you relied on, but the truth is that in almost all of these situations, there are just not enough signals at every level when compared to those who now outrank the site that show that it offers a better result for searchers.

People want to consume content that’s been produced by people and/or brands they trust. And, of course, that puts smaller sites at a disadvantage, but we must remember that Google’s primary goal is to help searchers find the content that’s the most relevant to their needs. They know that searchers want information fast, so they display the results most likely to provide it at the top of the SERPs.

This also means returning results that searchers trust, based on what we know from Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines.

That said, we don’t need to go looking too far to find many examples of sites that aren’t big media publishers ranking in the top spots. Especially when we move away from the terms that have become increasingly targeted by niche and affiliate sites (e.g. ‘Best X…’).

But one thing that’s become very clear is that Google still wants to reward brands. And can you blame them? Brands are usually trusted by the public by default. The mere fact that they’ve become so established supports this.

And whilst most businesses won’t ever become a brand overnight, there’s nothing stopping you from establishing yourself as a key player in your industry. There’s a big difference between becoming a household name and becoming a name in your industry.

And this is where most SEO strategies need to evolve. It’s no longer enough to ask, “How do we rank this page?”…the better question is, “Why should Google trust us over everyone else publishing on this topic?”

And really, the takeaway message here is that just having the best content isn’t enough anymore. You also need to be trusted and seen as authoritative as a brand and as authors.

It almost doesn’t matter how good your content is if there’s no evidence to back up your brand’s and authors’ reputation.

That’s the shift: from content competition to credibility competition.

To drive SEO success right now, you’ve got to make sure you’re demonstrating E-E-A-T at all three levels.

Yes, it’s hard work.

Yes, it takes time for Google to connect the dots and fully understand who is behind a webpage and its reputation

But it’s worth it.

In fact, we could even argue that it’s become necessary for any business to double down on.

The three levels of E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T isn’t a single signal; it’s a series of both on-page and off-page signals at the content, author and brand levels.

This is something we can infer straight from page 27 of Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines.

Effectively demonstrating E-E-A-T is all about corroborating what a site says about itself (on-site) with third-party evidence (off-site), but you can’t demonstrate these signals at just one level and expect to rank as well as those who demonstrate them at all three.

This is where many strategies fall short. They focus heavily on one layer (usually content), while overlooking how that content is validated by the author behind it and the brand publishing it.

And once you get into the mindset that E-E-A-T must be demonstrated in every piece of content you publish, for every author who writes for your site and for your brand as a whole, you’ll think about what it takes to do this in a very different way.

It’s about creating content that people trust. To do this, you must understand what makes people trust one piece of content more than another.

And trust rarely comes from a single signal – it’s built through consistency. Consistency in who is publishing, what they’re known for, and how others validate that expertise.

I’ll say it once again, E-E-A-T is complex, and what it takes to demonstrate these signals in one industry can be noticeably different to another, especially in YMYL niches.

For example, in health or finance, formal credentials and consensus-backed information carry significant weight. In other niches, demonstrated experience and recognised industry presence may be enough. The signals differ, but the principle of trust remains the same.

Where most E-E-A-T advice falls short

Too much E-E-A-T advice, in my opinion, fails to break down these signals into three levels. And this means that what it takes to demonstrate each of these becomes too simplified.

At the most basic level, E-E-A-T is assumed to be about ‘authorship’. But it’s about so much more. Yes, part of E-E-A-T is about helping Google understand who (as an entity) created the content and their reputation, but this understanding fails to account for brand reputation and many content-level E-E-A-T signals.

Despite what some people believe, E-E-A-T isn’t just about assigning an author to your content, writing an author bio and sharing key details and ticking this box, just as Danny Sullivan confirmed recently.

Other advice on E-E-A-T, especially following the latest Helpful Content Update, isolates content-level signals, leading to the understanding that it’s possible to demonstrate this through the best content.

It’s not. At least, ranking at the top of the SERPs is not just about having this. It helps, sure, but on its own, it’s not enough.

What’s missing from most advice is the idea of alignment. Strong content, credible authors, and a trusted brand need to reinforce one another. If one is weak, the overall signal is diluted.

Let’s look at some scenarios where this plays out…

And to illustrate this, I want to share a few hypothetical scenarios:

Site 1:

• Demonstrates very high E-E-A-T at the content level
• Demonstrates very high E-E-A-T at the author level
• Demonstrates low E-E-A-T and demonstrations of an untrustworthy business at the brand level

Site 2:

• Demonstrates very high E-E-A-T at the content level
• Demonstrates no E-E-A-T (yet) at the author level
• Demonstrates very high E-E-A-T at the brand level

Which of these two sites’ content would you trust the most?

I’m guessing it would be site 2, since site 1 is deemed untrustworthy despite the content and author displaying strong E-E-A-T signals. Whilst site 2’s author has no E-E-A-T, let’s assume this is because they’re a new author.

If we then dropped in a third site:

Site 3:

• The site demonstrates very high E-E-A-T at the content level
• The site demonstrates very high E-E-A-T at the author level
• The site demonstrates very high E-E-A-T at the brand level

There’s now going to be no question which site’s content you’d trust the most, given that site 3 displays very high E-E-A-T at all three levels.

This is, of course, a simplified look at the importance of E-E-A-T at each level, but it makes clear the distinct need to focus on building strong signals for your content, your authors, and your brand.

And this is exactly how competitive SERPs are being decided today, not by a single standout factor, but by the cumulative strength of signals across all three layers.

The truth is that most advice on demonstrating E-E-A-T focuses largely on how you can demonstrate each of the four components of this – Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness – but not how these sit across the three different levels, as well as how they combine through both on-page and off-page signals.

Understanding this structure is what turns E-E-A-T from a vague concept into something you can actively build and scale.

Demonstrating E-E-A-T for content

E-E-A-T at the content level is all about ensuring that the main content on a webpage demonstrates first-hand experience and/or expertise, is considered to be an authoritative source of information and is trustworthy.

The fundamentals of this are making sure that your content adds value beyond what’s already ranking on the SERPs, that it’s written and published by a subject matter expert and that it contains verifiable statements and, particularly in YMYL niches, matches consensus.

In other words, content-level E-E-A-T is about proving that your page deserves to exist, not just replicate what’s already out there.

What strong content-level E-E-A-T looks like

Demonstrating E-E-A-T in your website’s content does, to a large extent, mean being able to tick the following boxes:

• The content is authored by subject matter experts (not published under ‘admin’ or your marketing person – ideally)
• A clickable link of the author’s name goes to a detailed author bio page
• There’s WebPage Schema markup in place that references the author and links to their author profile
• The published and/or last updated date is clearly shown on the page
• Anyone who reviewed the content clearly named, with their name linking to an author bio page
• The content uses unique photos, videos, screenshots or other media to demonstrate first-hand experience
• The content adds value beyond what already ranks on the SERPs, and isn’t just a rehash of existing content (see our guide on information gain in SEO for more context on this)
• The content matches the intent of the searcher for key target queries
• The main content links out to sources to back up and verify claims and statements
• The main content includes quotes, comments or unique insights from the author and/or other subject matter experts
• The page has been linked to from other sites, being cited as a source
  Clear to see that effort has been put in by a human to create the content

These signals collectively answer a simple question: “Was this created with genuine expertise and effort, or assembled to rank?”

The nuance most people miss

This is just an example of the types of signals that you can demonstrate at the content level. It’s by no means a comprehensive list, and what I want you to take away is that each niche has its own nuances, and demonstrating E-E-A-T is very much about getting into a mindset of shoring up these signals at every level.

But here’s the key point – content-level E-E-A-T is now expected. It’s the baseline for competing, not the differentiator that pushes you ahead.

You need to make sure each webpage on your site is demonstrating sufficient E-E-A-T signals. But consider that not every page type will demonstrate this in the same way.

For example, author profile links and bylines are essential for informational content but aren’t relevant for e-commerce product or category pages.

What matters is relevance. The signals you use should make sense for the page type and the intent behind it – not blindly applied across every template.

On-page vs off-page signals

The key to demonstrating E-E-A-T at the content level is to understand the types of signals that can be used and consider these in the context of the page type. You’ll quickly start to determine what signals should exist on different page types across your site.

Looking at on-page vs off-page E-E-A-T signals at the content level, you should expect this to be weighted heavily towards on-page. Off-page signals, such as links to and social shares for individual pieces of content, are important factors here, but expect to focus your efforts towards on-page signals at this level.

That said, off-page signals still play a supporting role, particularly when your content is referenced, cited, or used as a source elsewhere. That’s when content-level E-E-A-T starts to reinforce author and brand-level signals.

If content-level E-E-A-T is about proving quality, then author and brand-level E-E-A-T are what make that quality believable at scale.

Demonstrating E-E-A-T for authors

E-E-A-T at the author level is all about building and showcasing the reputation of your authors, corroborating what you say about these individuals (on-site) with third-party evidence of this (off-site).

In simple terms, this means making it easy for both users and search engines to understand who authored a piece of content and why they have the experience and/or expertise for this to deserve to rank.

It’s the difference between publishing content and proving who is responsible for it, and why their perspective should be trusted.

Think of author-level E-E-A-T as a series of signals that combine to show your authors are subject matter experts.

And this can be achieved through demonstrating a number of on-page and off-page signals.

Author-level E-E-A-T also applies to any experts you are using to review your content, and attributing their involvement to this on the page.

What strong author-level E-E-A-T looks like

Some practical ways to demonstrate E-E-A-T at the author level include:

• Author pages that include a detailed, up-to-date bio for the author
• Author pages marked up using ‘Person’ Schema
• Person Schema uses ‘name’ to define the author’s name
• Person Schema uses ‘jobTitle’ to define the author’s job title
• Person Schema uses ‘description’ to define the author’s bio
• Person Schema uses ‘knowsAbout’ to define one or more areas of specialist expertise
• Person Schema uses ‘sameAs’ to define the author’s social and other professional profiles
• Person Schema uses ‘image’ to define the author’s profile image
• Person Schema uses ‘worksFor’ to define the author’s employer
• The author’s profile page includes links to the author’s main social profiles
• The author’s profile page contains links to other content they’ve created on the site
• The author has published multiple pieces of content within the same wider topic
• The author has been cited as an expert in the press, having their comments used by journalists
• The author has written for third-party publications on the same wider topic
• The author regularly shares content on their socials on their topic of expertise that receives engagement
• The author has a Personal Knowledge Panel on Google

These signals build a consistent picture: this person knows this topic, contributes to it regularly, and is recognised beyond your own site.

The bigger shift to authors as entities

In fact, research has shown that the number of Person entities in Google’s Knowledge Graph increased significantly in recent years.

This confirms the importance of author-level E-E-A-T and that Google is doubling down on understanding Person entities more than ever before.

This is a critical shift. Authors are no longer just bylines—they’re entities with reputations that can influence how content performs across multiple sites.

Think about E-E-A-T as connecting the dots.

This is exactly how Google’s Knowledge Graph works, corroborating what you say on your site (typically on an author’s bio page) with third-party evidence.

And whilst you’re not totally in control of third-party evidence around an author’s reputation, even if that author is yourself, you’re fully in control of the on-page signals you provide.

Your job is to make those connections as clear and consistent as possible.

One of my favourite examples of a well-structured author profile page that does a fantastic job at highlighting who the author is and why they’re an expert in their space comes from Confused.com.

What Google’s patents tell us

We know that Google has long explored ways to evaluate the credibility of content creators.

For example, the concept of “Agent Rank” suggested that content creators could be given reputation scores that influence how content is evaluated.

Similarly, the “Credibility of an author of online content” patent outlines potential ways Google could assess an author’s trustworthiness and expertise.

While these patents aren’t confirmation of ranking factors, they offer valuable insight into the direction of travel – how search engines may evaluate authors at scale.

Key takeaways from these include:

• An author’s reputation can be influenced by how much content they’ve published
• Recency and consistency of publishing can play a role
• Reputation can be influenced by the credibility of reviewers or collaborators
• Reputation can carry across different websites
• Plagiarised or low-quality content can negatively impact credibility
• Author identity and credentials can be verified against third-party sources
• Memberships, employment, and education may contribute to credibility
• Citations from other publications can strengthen  a site’s reputation

Taken together, these reinforce a simple point: author credibility isn’t built on your site alone – it’s earned across the wider web.

Demonstrating E-E-A-T for brands

E-E-A-T at the brand level is about building and showcasing your brand’s reputation. In this case, we’re referring to the website publishing the content as the brand, but also to the organisation behind it.

And in many ways, this is about giving users a reason to trust the business, whether that’s a publisher, an eCommerce store, a service business or another type.

We’ve already confirmed the importance of trust in E-E-A-T, but it’s safe to assume that trust is most strongly weighted at the brand level.

Because, regardless of how strong your content or authors are, users ultimately decide whether they trust the business behind it.

Ultimately, users want to discover websites they can trust via search engines, and we know from the Quality Rater Guidelines that untrustworthy pages should be given the lowest rating.

A few words on the “Real Business” signal

Ultimately, I have a strong suspicion that brand-level E-E-A-T (or lack of) was another major factor in the sites negatively affected by the latest Helpful Content Update.

I’ve referred to this update a few times as “the real business update.”

Why?

Because the majority of sites that have been hit are ‘niche sites’ that, in all honesty, have very few trust signals at the brand level. In some cases, efforts have even been made to hide who is behind the site.

Yet there’s still little evidence of ‘real businesses’ being negatively affected, even when their content is maybe not quite as good as that on other sites deemed less trustworthy.

That’s a strong signal in itself. When trust is uncertain, Google appears to favour businesses that can be clearly identified, verified, and held accountable.

Brand signals are a big deal, and that’s been made clearer than ever by the fact that sites like major publishers can rank for topics outside of their core topical authority.

Not because the content is always better, but because the underlying brand is already trusted.

What strong brand-level E-E-A-T looks like

Some practical ways to demonstrate E-E-A-T at the brand level include:

• A physical business address visible on the site (not a virtual address or mailbox)
• Easy-to-find contact information: phone number, email address and a contact page
• Standard policies and notices you’d expect from a real business:
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Cookie policy
  • Copyright notice
  • Return policy (eCommerce)
  • Delivery policy (eCommerce)
  • Complaints procedure
• A detailed ‘About Us’ page that gives an insight into the site and who is behind it
• A ‘Meet the Team’ page that links to author/expert bio pages
• Evidence of memberships or accreditations held by the brand
• An ‘In the Press’ page or display of ‘As Featured In’ logos that link to press coverage
• Easy-to-find company information that makes it clear who is behind the site
• Brand searches showing on keyword tools (an indication that people are searching for you specifically)
• Positive customer/client reviews or testimonials displayed on the site
• Positive customer/client reviews or testimonials displayed on third-party sites
• The brand is consistently earning relevant press coverage and links
• A brand search returns positive sentiment results on the SERPs

These signals reduce uncertainty. They show that the business is real, accountable, and recognised beyond its own website.

The role of consistency in demonstrating E-E-A-T

In many ways, E-E-A-T at the brand level is all about doing the things that help potential customers and clients trust a business, regardless of whether or not those signals are used directly by Google.

And it’s important to remember that whilst some of these things are site features, many factors at the brand level need to be kept on top of and up to date.

Positive PR coverage, as an example, should be consistent. It’s relatively easy to get featured in the press once, regardless of whether you’re a trusted brand or not.

Anyone can get lucky.

But continued coverage that references not just the brand but also your authors is much more difficult to achieve, and it goes a long way toward building trust signals and your overall brand reputation.

Consistency is what turns isolated signals into a reputation. One mention doesn’t build trust…repeated validation does.

It’s time to set the gold standard for your industry’s E-E-A-T

Whilst E-E-A-T remains an area of uncertainty for many SEOs, especially given Google’s continued confirmation that it’s not a ranking factor, we need to change our mindset about it.

If we stop thinking about E-E-A-T in the same way as the more traditional ranking factors we’re used to, where we do X and see Y impact, and instead think about it as doing the necessary things to help people to trust our content, authors and brand, we stop expecting the same verifiable outcome as with other tactics.

That shift in thinking is where most strategies either succeed or fall short.

Should we be doubling down on E-E-A-T signals? Absolutely.

And just because you can’t directly attribute impact to this in the same way you can some tactics, that doesn’t mean you should ignore it.

In many cases, E-E-A-T is the reason strong SEO fundamentals don’t translate into rankings—not the other way around.

In fact, you should work to set your industry’s gold standard for what E-E-A-T looks like.

Go above and beyond what your competitors are doing, and work to better demonstrate experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness at each content, author, and brand level.

Do the things that help people to trust you, whatever they might be in the context of your business, your people and your content.

No two businesses or websites are the same, which is why there’s never going to be a definitive list of E-E-A-T factors that you must display. Some are relevant to some businesses and not others.

But when you take the time to understand why Google continues to push E-E-A-T, you’ll soon start to think of what it’s going to take to be your industry’s gold standard.

Final thoughts

Struggling to make sense of E-E-A-T?

You’re not alone, but the opportunity for those willing to approach it differently is unmistakable.

Digitaloft is a specialist SEO agency with over a decade of experience supporting brands with targeted organic growth strategies. Speak to our team of experts for tailored insights on how we could help your business win by owning the search moments that matter to you.