E-E-A-T signals present
Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness signals measurably boost AI citations.
What is E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It started as a Google search quality concept but AI crawlers adopted it wholesale because it turns out to be a great proxy for 'should I cite this source'.
The research here is striking: a page with strong E-E-A-T signals at rank #6 gets cited 2.3x more often than a page with weak signals at rank #1. Authority beats position.
What the signals actually look like
- — Experience — specific anecdotes, first-person accounts, years in the field.
- — Expertise — credentials, qualifications, domain knowledge demonstrated in the writing.
- — Authoritativeness — references, citations, recognition from peers.
- — Trustworthiness — contact info, author bylines, transparent ownership, privacy practices.
Quick wins
Add author bylines with real photos. Link author names to bio pages. Put credentials in the byline ('MD', 'PhD', '10 years as a carpenter'). Reference external sources by name. These are small changes with an outsized impact.