The First “E” in E-E-A-T: What “Experience” Means for SEO Content

By Ethan Lazuk

“Experience,” it’s the first thing any job interviewer asks about.

It’s an admirable thing to have, in most cases.

It’s also the first “E” in Google’s E-E-A-T — and the most recently added.

But what does “experience” mean (in practical terms) when creating SEO content for people using Google Search, or other search engines?

That’s what we’ll set out to discover in the sections below:

• “Experience” in E-E-A-T & how Google might evaluate it
  • Experience vs. expertise
  • Google ranking systems
  • Helpful content & reviews systems
  • Hidden gems
  • Google SOTR podcast excerpt
• Content examples showing “experience”
• The vibes

We’ll be reviewing a lot of Google’s own documentation, so like with anything — and as I noted in another post about AI Overviews — my advice is to listen but always “think for yourself.” 😉

Now, let’s set the context for why this discussion on “experience” is relevant for SEOs, content creators, and website owners today …

The gr(E-E-A-T) debate

E-E-A-T has always been a hot topic of discussion among SEOs.

This was especially true after Google Search Central published its refreshed SEO Starter Guide in early February of 2024, which now states, in no uncertain terms, that E-E-A-T isn’t a ranking factor:

Even still, E-E-A-T is mentioned in a lot of Google Search documentation, notably the Search Quality Rater Guidelines (SQRG).

These guidelines are what inform how Search Quality Raters evaluate search quality tests. Their ratings then (indirectly) influence ranking system changes (like training data).

While the SQRG is not an SEO starter guide itself, it can still help us understand what great content, and “aligning with E-E-A-T,” means on a conceptual level.

E-E-A-T is also prominent in “Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content” (a Google document I analyzed in another post).

Google’s SEO Starter Guide even links to that page, specifically the section on “Get to know E-E-A-T and the quality rater guidelines.”

You may see the overlap happening already.

There’s more …

That “Get to know E-E-A-T” section explains how Search uses “automated systems” to rank content based on many factors.

The reference to “factors” links to a “Ranking results” page, which describes Google Search’s key factors for choosing results (ranking them):

• Meaning of the query (search intent)
• Relevance of the content (having the information needed)
• Quality of the content (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness)
• Usability of the webpage (page experience aspects, like HTTPs or mobile-friendliness)
• User’s context and settings (search history, location, SafeSearch, etc.)

You’ll notice the “quality of the content” factor refers to three aspects that comprise E-A-T.

Here’s the excerpt from the Quality of content section:

And here’s an excerpt from the “Get to know E-E-A-T” section in “Creating helpful content”:

You’ll notice some wording is very similar.

One point of difference is the “Get to know E-E-A-T” section says content should demonstrate “aspects” of E-E-A-T rather than just demonstrate E-E-A-T. Maybe it’s a distinction without a difference.

But what’s also notable is the “Quality of content” section doesn’t mention “experience.”

To that end, even the “Get to know E-E-A-T” section uses a URL fragment that is just “eat” (/creating-helpful-content#eat).

That’s likely because “experience” is a relatively new part of E-E-A-T, introduced in 2022. (Maybe it hasn’t made its way through all of Google’s documentation yet?)

Side note: the mention of “page experience” in the “usability” factor, the next one after relevance and quality, has been a hot topic lately, as well. Page experience can include Core Web Vitals (CWVs), and Google has gone back and forth clarifying whether how CWVs influence rankings. (I’ll cover page experience in a future post, but I did write about it more here.)

I’ve heard some people suggest a second “E” in E-E-A-T is superfluous, anyway, because what’s the difference between expertise and experience?

Personally, I feel expertise and experience are quite different, and so are the types of content they apply to.

In that spirt, let’s explore what “experience” means, and how it might look in SEO content.

What is “experience” in E-E-A-T & how might Google Search’s ranking systems evaluate it?

I define “experience” as the insights or firsthand perspectives of someone who has direct knowledge of a topic through exposure.

It’s the difference between commentating on basketball as a journalist (expertise) and a former player (experience.

While expertise is demonstrated by a person’s specialized knowledge of a topic, experience is a person sharing their perspective on how that topic has impacted them personally.

Content can demonstrate experience, expertise, or both. What serves a user’s search intent best ultimately depends on their goals.

Experience, expertise & the bigger goal, trust

Expertise is more generally applicable than experience, which is more personally relatable. Together, they can give content a holistic context for a topic.

For example, a doctor could have the expertise to explain how an allergy medication works in the body or what symptoms it may help with. But a patient who took the medication could share their experience of whether it made them tired or how well it improved their symptoms.

If we’re creating a webpage about the medication, we’d probably start with expertise, such as its ingredients, recommended dosage, possible side effects, or pricing. That’s likely the more key information consumers want. However, experience in the form of reviews, like how easy the medication was to take or how fast it works, would add context.

Not all content needs to have expertise and experience. For example, if a person wants to buy their first turntable for records, they may not care about signal-to-noise ratios, an expert detail. They may just want someone’s perspective on the sound quality. But a different buyer who’s an audiophile may care less about someone else’s opinion than knowing a turntable’s technical features.

Whether an audience would want content with expertise, experience, or both depends on their search intent. That said, the details readers glean from either should ultimately build their trust in the page’s information and source.

As Google’s “Get to know E-E-A-T” section explains:

“After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify a mix of factors that can help determine which content demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or what we call E-E-A-T.

Of these aspects, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust, but content doesn’t necessarily have to demonstrate all of them. For example, some content might be helpful based on the experience it demonstrates, while other content might be helpful because of the expertise it shares.” [Highlights added.]

– Get to know E-E-A-T and the quality rater guidelines, Google Search Central

When a user has trust, they’ll be more likely to return to that website (or author) for future information. This is when a source starts becoming an authority (the “A” in E-E-A-T).

Trust may also lead someone to use a brand’s products or services (earning conversions from SEO efforts).

Relatedly, when a page has expertise or experience relevant to a searcher’s query or buyer’s journey, it’ll be more likely to get returned in Google’s search results, or surface in Discover, People also view, People also ask, Gemini, etc.

That visibility from SEO efforts helps achieve overall marketing, brand-building, and business goals.

Let’s now investigate how Google Search’s ranking systems might interpret/reward “experience” in content

I recently wrote a blog post about how social media content can appear in Google Search, which has some points relevant to this topic of experience, as well — after all, what demonstrates experience better than social posts shared by people with firsthand perspectives?

I believe an “experience era” paradigm shift might have begun in May of 2023 and ramped up in November of 2023, because that’s when Google introduced Perspectives and its hidden gems ranking improvements.

In the May 2023 announcement for Perspectives, on Google’s blog, The Keyword, there’s also this sentence:

“And as we underscore the importance of ‘experience’ as an element of helpful content, we continue our focus on information quality and critical attributes like authoritativeness, expertise and trustworthiness, so you can rely on the information you find.”

The word “attributes” links to the Quality Rater Guidelines PDF, while the words “importance of ‘experience’” link to a December 2022 Google Search Central blog post called “Our latest update to the quality rater guidelines: E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience.”

In other words, E-A-T became E-E-A-T in December of 2022.

Here’s an explanation of why the change:

“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.” [Highlights added.]

– E-A-T gets an extra E for Experience, Google Search Central

Important to note, this announcement was presented as an update to the Quality Rater Guidelines, not any search ranking systems.

As mentioned, quality raters look at quality tests, but their evaluations don’t impact Google Search rankings directly.

However, two sections from that excerpt can be analogized to ranking systems. The first is “helpful, relevant information,” which I think can speak to the helpful content system (now part of the core ranking systems). The second is “actual use of a product,” which I think can relate to the reviews system (now a rolling system).

“Experience” in the old helpful content and reviews systems

The reviews system became a rolling system in November of 2023, meaning it no longer has announced updates. That change coincided with its eighth and final announced update.

Its first update was April of 2021, but at the time, it was called the “product reviews system.”

Only two years later in April of 2023 did the name change to just “reviews system,” because “reviews can be about any topic.”

Here’s how Google’s reviews system documentation describes the system:

“The reviews system aims to better reward high quality reviews, which is content that provides insightful analysis and original research and is written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well.”

Interesting it mentions experts or “enthusiasts.” Presumably, the latter would be people who can contribute experience.

When it comes to what “high quality reviews” look like, meanwhile, Google links to another document called “Write high quality reviews.”

The document uses the word “expert” (or a variation) four times, while “experience” is used twice.

However, both instances of “experience” are mentioned in sections that also refer to “expertise”:

• “Provide evidence such as visuals, audio, or other links of your own experience with what you are reviewing, to support your expertise and reinforce the authenticity of your review. …
• Focus on the most important decision-making factors, based on your experience or expertise (for example, a car review might determine that fuel economy and safety are key decision-making factors and rate performance in those areas).” [Highlights added.]

– Write high quality reviews, Google Search Central

No doubt, a lot of the “Write high quality reviews” advice pertains to expertise over experience, such as “quantitative measurements,” “benefits and drawbacks … based on your own original research,” or “how a product has evolved.”

Where experience matters is the “authenticity” of the review — did you actually use or encounter what you’re reviewing?

For its part, the helpful content system was slow moving at first, yet it became a juggernaut after its third update in September 2023.

Its first update was August of 2022, but its second update was in December of 2022, the same month “Experience” was added to E-E-A-T in the Quality Rater Guidelines.

As Google Search Central explains about this system:

“The helpful content system aims to better reward content where visitors feel they’ve had a satisfying experience, while content that doesn’t meet a visitor’s expectations won’t perform as well. …

Our help page on how to create helpful, reliable people-first content has questions that you can use to self-assess your content to be successful with the helpful content system.” [Highlights added.]

– Google Search’s helpful content system and your website, Google Search Central

What stands out is the mention of “satisfying experience” and “meet a visitor’s expectations.”

Specific to experience in content (or expertise, similarly), such qualities are about giving users the type of perspectives they want for a topic of interest.

In short, experience is an element of a page’s quality that makes its content more relevant and satisfactory to a user’s search intent.

The helpful content system later became part of Google’s core systems, as announced during the March 2024 core update.

There’s another set of rankings systems improvements to Google’s core systems that may also be instructive for understanding experience …

Hidden gems and “perspectives”

When Google Search announced Perspectives (mobile filter and carousel) in May of 2023, it also hinted at hidden gems surfacing in Search.

The examples of hidden gems given included, “a comment in a forum thread, a post on a little-known blog, or an article with unique expertise on a topic.”

I suspect social media content was also a part of this.

We originally assumed hidden gems would appear via the helpful content system but later found out in November of 2023 (when other new features were announced) that it was a part of Google’s core rankings systems.

In the November announcement on The Keyword, Google didn’t describe its rankings improvements as “hidden gems,” but rather as “more firsthand knowledge in Search”:

“One of the best ways to get information that works for your specific needs is to find someone with firsthand experience. We’re introducing a few updates to make it easier for people to find and share their insights with others on Search.” [Highlights added.]

– New ways to find just what you need on Search, Cathy Edwards (Google Search)

Firsthand knowledge is arguably a synonym for experience or perspectives, clearly a focus of hidden gems.

So we had the reviews and helpful content systems evaluating content quality at a more holistic site level, while Google’s core ranking systems (which are more page level) are surfacing more hidden gems.

Based on that dynamic, we can start to understand how “experience” plays into many aspects of website content.

Experience isn’t a single factor or a checkbox to hit for better rankings, but more so a criterion of helpful content in certain cases, which Google’s ranking systems are getting better at recognizing and surfacing.

What experience might look like, per a Google podcast discussion

There’s a Google Search Central podcast episode of Search Off the Record (SOTR) from August of 2023 called “Let’s talk ranking updates” that features Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, and was published on the same day the August 2023 core update started rolling out.

In the podcast episode, Danny talks with John Mueller and Martin Splitt about a situation that can serve as an example of what experience may look like in content.

It’s a long section, but I’ll highlight the most relevant parts:

John Mueller: “I think that’s a good way to look at it. I mean, what I notice is SEOs try to pick everything apart into individual factors and look at it like that. But I think for a lot of the guidance that we have, it’s a lot more now about the bigger picture, because it feels like from a technical point of view, things are often pretty reasonable.

And now you really need to get that bigger picture into the right shape, so that when users come, they’re like, “Oh, this is actually a helpful site.””

Danny Sullivan: “And that bigger picture really is, more than anything else, just put yourself in the shoes of someone who arrives at that content and what they’re going to be thinking about.

Last year, we did this trip to Iceland. So we drove around the island, which was amazing and I highly recommend it to anybody. And so, renting a car in Iceland is great too, because like, “Do you want the volcanic mud and ash insurance?”” [laughter]

John Mueller: “I remember that. Yeah.”

Martin Splitt: “You’re like, “Uh, I guess.”” [laughter]

Danny Sullivan: “But I read so many travel blogs to the degree that I want to write my own now, just to explain it, because I was getting exhausted, because they’d all start off the same way. And this is, I’m going to have the travel bloggers come after me. So I read so many travel blogs and they’re always like, “Oh my gosh, I’m going on an amazing world trip.”

And, before I got started on this trip to this one particular place in Iceland, I packed my sunscreen, I packed my jacket, affiliate link, I did this, I packed that. And so I get, you want to, and I had my GPS compass, like, “I’ve just got to park and then walk in to watch the waterfall, I don’t need all that stuff.” I know why it’s all there, because that’s part of the business model of producing this content.

And then it’s like, “Whenever you go, the sun is shining and…” It’s like, I just wanted to know, like, where do I park? How do I get to the place? How long do I need to be there? And that you’ve actually been there.

You would get so much of this other stuff. And people know this, right? This is the other complaint you tend to hear. Like, well, you have to have all this stuff and people write it long because Google says you have to have a gazillion words. And actually, we don’t say that at all. Not one place, do we think, anywhere saying, “Your character count need to be…”, this sort of thing. I think it’s becoming a real turnoff to a lot of people.

And I know it’s a struggle because you also need to, if you’re producing content, understand how the content is going to generate revenue for you. We want you to produce good content and that you’re going to be successful with it.

But I think more of just sitting back and thinking, “If I were a person coming into this, would I actually be satisfied?” “Did I really write this for an actual person, that I’m thinking about my audience?”

And if you’re doing that, you really feel like the way you do it works and you’re getting the feedback from your audience that it’s all great. Do it. Just do it. Keep going that way, right? But maybe there’s some reflection there. And that’s what I would say, to kind of think about it a bit more.” [Highlights added.]

– Google Search Off the Record, Let’s talk ranking updates (Transcript)

We’ve arguably got a few elements of experience here to think about.

But the main one is the experience of traveling to the actual vacation destination and thus knowing what details are pertinent to a reader to include in your content.

After all, the “Write high quality reviews” page even suggests, “Focus on the most important decision-making factors, based on your experience or expertise.”

But if Google is suggesting SEOs align their content with E-E-A-T criteria, including experience when relevant, do they also practice what they preach in their own blog on They Keyword?

You can be the judge below. 😉

Content examples from Google’s own blog showing “experience”

For this last section, I plan to create a list of examples of content that show experience, which I’ll add to over time.

I used this approach in another post I wrote introducing a helpful content framework called 11x content, which is basically a way to achieve what we’ve been talking about — creating original, helpful content that incorporates expertise or experience and satisfies the audience.

I think the examples below do a nice job of showing how even a blog post about product promotion or review can have a personal touch using the author’s firsthand experience.

Example 1: “6 AI tools to help you give better gifts”

This post was published on Google’s blog, The Keyword, on February 6, 2024. It was authored by Molly McHugh-Johnson, whose title is “Contributor.”

It’s written to promote Google’s AI products in the context of selecting Valentine’s Day gifts, yet it shows a lot of “experience” that I think can be instructive for how brands can approach this type of content in a way that feels more authentic.

A firsthand perspective is clear from the article’s first sentence: “I personally find Valentine’s Day to be one of the most daunting gift-giving holidays.”

Here’s another collection of sentences that stood out to me for showing experience:

“Don’t judge me, but I love my dogs more than anything and plan on giving them something this year beyond the treats or toys I might normally pick up — but I could use some extra help with ideas. …

I’ve been thinking about getting my sister, who is into meditation, something (budget-friendly!) to complement her new healthy habit, but I feel a bit overwhelmed with where to start. …

While my first love language is sharing an elaborate meal, a close runner-up is photo gifts. I take a ton of photos with my Pixel 8 Pro, especially during special trips and important moments, and preserving those memories for my loved ones can make a thoughtful, affordable gift. Like the photo below that I took at Yosemite on a hiking trip with my husband, which I captured using the Tensor-powered Super Res Zoom feature.” [Highlights added.]

– 6 AI tools to help you give better gifts, Molly McHugh-Johnson (Google, They Keyword)

You can see the weaving in and out of product mentions and perspectives, especially in that last section.

Now compare that to another recent blog on The Keyword from December 2023:

“When you order last-minute gifts, you might be keeping an extra close eye on their delivery dates. With package tracking in Gmail in the U.S., you’ll see delivery updates clearly labeled on shopping emails right in your inbox list view on mobile and desktop. That way, you can easily check when your order will arrive, including whether it’s coming sooner or later than originally planned.”

– 3 Google features to help you get last-minute holiday gifts (Google, They Keyword)

It has expertise, definitely, but there’s no personal perspective, and all the examples are hypotheticals.

Comparing these two articles, one is feature-forward (ex: here’s what you can do with package tracking in Gmail), while the other has a personal touch (ex: here’s how I used the Pixel 8 Pro).

I suppose we could also consider the differences in the products. While both are posts about holiday gifts, one is more utilitarian and the other is more inspirational.

Perhaps it’s an example of when to lean into experience versus expertise.

Something else to consider is the uniqueness experience brings to content in a world where generative AI is increasingly used.

That Valentine’s Day post also has an AI summary available:

Compare the tone of that AI-generated summary to the perspective and creativity of an actual passage from the article: “The perfect Valentine’s Day gift is sentimental but not saccharine-sweet. Genuinely useful but not overly practical. It has a personal touch — but could potentially be replicated for a friend or two (or three).”

Which text inspires you more to go shopping for Valentine’s Day? 😉

Example 2: “I tried 8 of our newest AI products and updates”

This post is authored by Chaim Gartenberg, listed as a “Contributor.” It was published on June 5th, 2024 and recaps his experiences with different AI products at Google I/O 2024.

What I liked about this post is it mentions products, speaks to their capabilities in a real-world scenario, but then also adds personal associations or context.

Here’s an example for Gemini Advanced’s large context window and NLP capabilities, which Chaim relates to his own experience as a renter:

“For my first demo of the day, I watched Gemini Advanced parse through a 20-plus page property lease, full of complicated legal phrasing and gotchas. I could then ask questions about the lease, like whether my landlord would allow me to have a pet dog, or whether I’d have to pay any extra fees. (I’m personally looking forward to being able to use the feature to decipher my next convoluted lease when my apartment is up for renewal.)”

– I tried 8 of our newest AI products and updates (Google, The Keyword)

Perhaps most intriguing, the post includes what appear to be firsthand photos form the event, like these where the author talks about playing Pictionary with Project Astra:

This post also has an AI-generated summary.

Recall the excerpt earlier where the author spoke about their experience with Gemini Advanced’s context window related to leasing documents. Compare that to this line from the AI-generated summary: “Gemini 1.5 Pro, a large-scale foundation model, can now summarize and analyze documents up to 1,500 pages long.”

Which description sparks your imagination more to use Gemini Advanced, “documents up to 1,500 pages long” or “my next convoluted lease”? 😉

Outro

I hope you’ve found this discussion of “experience” from E-E-A-T in content helpful.

I’ll add more examples of content that demonstrate experience as well as refine the writing and keep this article’s contents updated.

For further reading, I’d suggest checking out the articles and documentation linked throughout this post, or the related posts below.

Until next time, enjoy the vibes:

Thanks for reading. Happy optimizing! 🙂

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