Study about E-E-A-T for SEOs: What You Should Know

This article is based on a LinkedIn post by Chris Long, a well-known SEO expert. He shared insights about research by Shaun Anderson that connects E-E-A-T to factors found in the 2024 Google API leaks. The post got a lot of attention in the SEO community.

Source: LinkedIn post by Chris Long

Important Note: The Google API leak factors discussed here come from documents that were reportedly leaked in 2024. Google hasn’t confirmed these are real. The connections we’ve made between these factors and E-E-A-T are educated guesses based on analysis, not confirmed facts.

Why We’re Sharing This

Google has a document called Search Quality Rater Guidelines. It defines E-E-A-T as:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness

Google says E-E-A-T is NOT a direct ranking factor. It’s a way to evaluate quality.

But here’s the thing: Google can’t manually check billions of web pages. To actually use E-E-A-T, Google needs a way to measure it automatically with computer systems.

In 2024, some of Google’s internal documents leaked online. In March 2024, an automated Google bot accidentally published over 2,500 pages of internal API documentation on GitHub. These documents showed factors Google might use in their algorithm. You can read the full story here: Google API Leak – SparkToro. Google hasn’t confirmed these are real, but they give us clues about how Google might actually measure quality.

Breaking Down E-E-A-T: How Google Might Measure It

1. Experience

These factors might help Google measure if someone has real experience:

contentEffort

• What it might measure: How much work someone put into creating content
• Google might look at things like: How long is the content? Does it have images or videos? Is it well-organized? Does it go deep into the topic?
• What this means for you: Put real effort into your content. Don’t just write quick, shallow articles.

originalContentScore

• What it might measure: How original your content is compared to what’s already online
• Google probably checks if you copied content or just rewrote what others said
• What this means for you: Create unique content with your own insights, data, or perspective.

isAuthor

• What it might measure: Tracking everything a writer creates online to understand their experience
• Google might connect all articles by the same author across different websites
• What this means for you: Build a consistent author profile and link your content together across platforms.

2. Expertise

Google might measure expertise by looking at what topics you focus on:

Topical Authority Signals (siteFocusScore + siteRadius)

• What they might measure: How focused your website is on specific topics
• siteFocusScore: Does your site stick to one main topic?
• siteRadius: How many different topics does your site cover?
• What this means for you: Focus on a few related topics instead of writing about everything. Go deep, not wide.

entityAnnotations

• What it might measure: Understanding what your page is really about and how well you cover the topic
• Google’s AI probably identifies people, places, companies, and concepts in your content
• What this means for you: Cover topics thoroughly and mention relevant people, places, and concepts naturally.

onsiteProminence

• What it might measure: How your internal links spread authority around your site
• This is like PageRank but for links within your own website
• What this means for you: Link to your most important, expert content from other pages on your site.

3. Authoritativeness

Google might measure authority through quality scores and links:

predictedDefaultNsr

• What it might measure: A quality score that tracks how well your site performs over time
• This might be Google’s AI predicting if your content will be good based on past performance
• What this means for you: Consistent quality over time builds trust with Google’s systems.

PageRank

• What it might measure: Using links from other websites to determine authority
• PageRank has been part of Google since the beginning, though you can’t see the score anymore
• What this means for you: Get links from quality, trusted websites in your industry.

siteAuthority

• What it might measure: Overall authority and relevance of your entire website
• This might combine many different authority signals into one score
• What this means for you: Build your website’s reputation by consistently creating quality content on your main topics.

4. Trustworthiness

Trust might be measured by how users interact with your content:

Navboost

• What it might measure: How users engage with your content after clicking from search results
• GoodClicks: When people click your result and stay on your page (they found what they needed)
• BadClicks: When people click your result but quickly go back to Google to try another result
• What this means for you: Create content that actually answers what people are searching for.

clutterScore

• What it might measure: Whether your site has a bad user experience or looks spammy
• Google might check for too many ads, annoying pop-ups, or confusing navigation
• What this means for you: Keep your website clean and easy to use. Don’t overwhelm visitors with ads.

serpDemotion

• What it might measure: Poor performance in search results over time
• If people rarely click your results or quickly leave your site, Google might lower your rankings
• What this means for you: Bad search performance can create a downward spiral—fix quality issues quickly.

pandaDemotion

• What it might measure: Having lots of thin, low-quality content on your site
• Google Panda was a real update that targeted low-quality content. It’s now part of Google’s main algorithm
• This factor might identify sites with too much weak content
• What this means for you: Remove or improve low-quality pages. Quality beats quantity.

Conclusion

This research shows that E-E-A-T probably isn’t just a vague concept that only humans can understand. Instead, Google likely uses specific, measurable factors to judge quality automatically.

Key Points:

1. E-E-A-T is measurable—Google uses actual data points and signals
2. Google probably uses dozens of connected signals to judge quality like a human would
3. Focus on creating genuinely helpful, original content that shows real expertise
4. Technical stuff (site speed, clean design, user engagement) matters just as much as content quality

With AI making it easier to create content quickly, these quality signals matter even more. Google needs better ways to tell the difference between content made with real effort and expertise versus content mass-produced by AI.

Bottom line for SEOs: Create content that would score well on all these potential factors:

• Original insights and information
• Real expertise from knowledgeable people
• Links from trusted sources
• Positive user engagement (people actually like your content)
• Clean, user-friendly website

The way Google measures quality is getting smarter, not simpler.