E-E-A-T signals

Google added the second "E" (Experience) to E-A-T in December 2022 — a signal that first-hand contact with the topic matters, not just theoretical knowledge. E-E-A-T isn't a direct ranking factor; it's the framework Quality Raters use, and the algorithms approximate. WBP operationalises each of the four Es with a detection signal, a WBP tool that fills the gap, and a per-page score.

TL;DR: Google calls Trust the most important of the four. WBP maps each E to a specific detection signal + tooling: Experience → Before/After Pro widget, Expertise → Author Manager + Smart Citations, Authoritativeness → topical breadth + brand consistency, Trust → SSL / accuracy validation / transparency.

1. The four Es (operationalised)

Experience — Before/After Pro widget

First-person language, original images, tested claims. Detection: first-person pronoun density + original-media count. Fixed with the Before/After Pro widget.

Expertise — Author Manager + Smart Citations

Named authors with linkable credentials, prior writing on the topic, cited sources. Detection: author-page depth + inline citation density.

Authoritativeness — topical breadth + schema

Site-wide topical concentration, consistent brand signals, entity schema resolvable to Knowledge Graph. Detection: topic-cluster coverage + brand-mention consistency.

Trust — SSL + accuracy + transparency

Correct facts, honest disclosure, clear contact, safe transactions, valid TLS. Detection: accuracy validation + policy-page presence + HTTPS health.

2. How raters actually measure

The Quality Rater Guidelines specify a Page Quality score from Lowest to Highest. Raters read the page, click the author bio, click through to the About Us and Contact pages, search the author name, check other pages on the site. The judgement is holistic — the whole site is on trial, not just the page in question.

This means an E-E-A-T failure on the author page or the About page can drag down a page that would otherwise pass. Programmatic sites often win the page and lose the site.

3. Why Trust is the 'most important'

Google's own Quality Rater Guidelines call Trust the most important of the four. The other three — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness — feed into how much a rater trusts the page. A page with high expertise and low trust (accurate but shady) is judged lower than a page with modest expertise and high trust.

For WBP-powered sites, Trust is where the fastest wins are. Valid TLS, real contact address, disclosure of AI use, corrections log, and a genuinely reachable author bio move the trust score before any expertise work compounds.

4. How WBP surfaces E-E-A-T

The EEAT Engine plugin surfaces every trust signal automatically: named-author enforcement across every URL, verifiable-credentials block on author pages, citation surface on every article, and an entity-linked author graph so LLMs and Search alike can resolve the author to a real person.

The Reputation Trust plugin monitors mentions and citations across the web, gives you a live authoritativeness score, and surfaces mismatches — where a page claims a level of authority the off-page signals don't support.