Our latest update to the quality rater guidelines: E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience
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Thursday, December 15, 2022
Many creators are familiar with the concept of E-A-T, which is used in how we evaluate if our
search ranking systems are providing helpful, relevant information. Would ordinary people feel
the results they get demonstrate E-A-T, that is: expertise, authoritativeness, and
trustworthiness?
Now to better assess our results, E-A-T is gaining an E: experience. Does content 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? There are some situations
where really what you value most is content produced by someone who has first-hand, life
experience on the topic at hand.
For example, if you're looking for information on how to correctly fill out your tax returns,
that's probably a situation where you want to see content produced by an expert in the field of
accounting. But if you're looking for reviews of a tax preparation software, you might be looking
for a different kind of information—maybe it's a forum discussion from people who have
experience with different services.
E-E-A-T — or "Double-E-A-T," if you prefer, is now part of the updated
search rater guidelines
we've just released. You'll also see clearer guidance throughout the guidelines underscoring the
importance of content created to be original and helpful for people, and explaining that helpful
information can come in a variety of different formats and from a range of sources.
These are not fundamentally new ideas. And we're by no means abandoning the fundamental principle
that Search seeks to surface reliable information, especially on topics where information quality
is critically important. Rather, we hope these updates better capture the nuances of how people
look for information and the diversity of quality information that exists in the world.
As a reminder, these guidelines are what are used by our
search raters to help evaluate
the performance of our various
search ranking systems, and they don't
directly influence ranking. They can also be useful to creators seeking to understand how to
self-assess their own content to be successful in Google Search. Our page on how to
create helpful, people-first content has a section
that explains this more.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eGoogle is expanding its E-A-T guidelines to E-E-A-T, adding "experience" as a factor to assess the quality and helpfulness of online content.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eExperience, as part of E-E-A-T, emphasizes the value of content created by individuals with first-hand or real-world knowledge in a particular subject.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe updated search rater guidelines reflect Google's focus on original, helpful content that benefits users, regardless of format or source.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eE-E-A-T reinforces Google's commitment to providing reliable information, especially on topics where information quality is crucial, by acknowledging the diverse ways people seek and access information.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eContent creators can leverage E-E-A-T guidelines to self-assess and improve their content's quality and search performance.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Search ranking evaluation now includes E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. This update emphasizes content created from first-hand experiences, such as product use or visiting a place. While expertise remains important, especially for topics like tax returns, experienced users' input can be valuable, like in software reviews. The guidelines, used by search raters to evaluate search systems, now underscore original, helpful content from diverse sources. The updated guidelines do not influence rankings directly.\n"],null,["# Our latest update to the quality rater guidelines: E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience\n\nThursday, December 15, 2022\n\n\nMany creators are familiar with the concept of E-A-T, which is used in how we evaluate if our\nsearch ranking systems are providing helpful, relevant information. Would ordinary people feel\nthe results they get demonstrate E-A-T, that is: expertise, authoritativeness, and\ntrustworthiness?\n\n\nNow to better assess our results, E-A-T is gaining an E: experience. Does content also demonstrate\nthat it was produced with some degree of experience, such as with actual use of a product, having\nactually visited a place or communicating what a person experienced? There are some situations\nwhere really what you value most is content produced by someone who has first-hand, life\nexperience on the topic at hand.\n\n\nFor example, if you're looking for information on how to correctly fill out your tax returns,\nthat's probably a situation where you want to see content produced by an expert in the field of\naccounting. But if you're looking for reviews of a tax preparation software, you might be looking\nfor a different kind of information---maybe it's a forum discussion from people who have\nexperience with different services.\n\n\nE-E-A-T --- or \"Double-E-A-T,\" if you prefer, is now part of the updated\n[search rater guidelines](https://guidelines.raterhub.com/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf)\nwe've just released. You'll also see clearer guidance throughout the guidelines underscoring the\nimportance of content created to be original and helpful for people, and explaining that helpful\ninformation can come in a variety of different formats and from a range of sources.\n\n\nThese are not fundamentally new ideas. And we're by no means abandoning the fundamental principle\nthat Search seeks to surface reliable information, especially on topics where information quality\nis critically important. Rather, we hope these updates better capture the nuances of how people\nlook for information and the diversity of quality information that exists in the world.\n\n\nAs a reminder, these guidelines are what are used by our\n[search raters to help evaluate](https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/rigorous-testing/)\nthe performance of our various\n[search ranking systems](/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide), and they don't\ndirectly influence ranking. They can also be useful to creators seeking to understand how to\nself-assess their own content to be successful in Google Search. Our page on how to\n[create helpful, people-first content has a section](/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content#get-to-know-e-a-t-and-the-quality-rater-guidelines)\nthat explains this more.\n\n\nPosted by Elizabeth Tucker"]]
