Building trust and authority on your website isn’t just about having a sleek design or throwing up a few testimonials—especially as we head into 2025. Google’s algorithms (and, more importantly, your potential customers) want to see transparent expertise, real-world experience, credible authorship, and technical signals that your business is legitimate and up-to-date. At Novah Media, we’ve been living and breathing E-A-T—Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness—for years, and, more recently, its evolved version: E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust). Here’s how you can put E-E-A-T into action across your site and content, turning those signals into the trust and authority that customers and search engines crave.
Understanding E-E-A-T in 2025: More Than Just Jargon
Let’s quickly break down what E-E-A-T means today and why it matters more than ever if you want to outperform in organic rankings and win your customers’ trust:
- Experience: Demonstrates first-hand, real-world use, implementation, or observation—this could be showing your team’s process during a campaign or highlighting unique challenges you’ve overcome for a client.
- Expertise: The proven credentials, knowledge, and depth your content creators or subject-matter reviewers bring to the table—think certifications, years in your industry, or specific results tied to your strategies.
- Authoritativeness: This is external recognition—backlinks, mentions, citations, awards, and coverage in reputable circles boost your site’s standing.
- Trustworthiness: The foundation! This includes accurate content, visible contact details, secure technology, transparent business operations, and a strong, positive reputation.
Why E-E-A-T is the Benchmark for Trustworthy Content
Google’s focus on E-E-A-T helps users find content from businesses and creators who know their stuff and have proven it. It especially matters in sectors that affect people’s lives and money—like legal, finance, and health—but we’ve seen it play out for every industry we serve, from real estate to retail. Today, customers are savvier and expect transparent, helpful content from experts they can verify. If your website can’t prove that, you’ll struggle to be visible online—no matter how good your offer or product is.
How We Implement E-E-A-T at Novah Media
E-E-A-T isn’t a switch you flip. In our work with clients, we treat it as an integrated system that influences every layer of your digital strategy—site structure, content creation, technical SEO, brand reputation, and more.
Our Step-by-Step Approach:
1. Site & Content Audit: Establish Trust Baselines
- Review your top traffic pages—are they attributed to real, named authors? Do they cite credible sources? Are they up to date?
- Examine your business info: Is it transparent and easy for customers (and Google) to verify—address, leadership, support contacts?
- Check your technical trust factors: HTTPS everywhere, schema markup for organization and authors, and clear privacy/policy documentation.
- Gather your reputation data: Public reviews, average ratings, and overall online sentiment play a major role in perceived trust.
2. Make Author Identity & Expertise Obvious
- Create standalone author pages: Headshot, bio, credentials (certifications, education, years in the field), and links to their content. (We do this for our leadership—see our About page for inspiration.)
- For sensitive or high-impact topics, add subject matter reviewers—include “Reviewed by [name, degree/certification]” with each piece of content.
- Add Organization and Person schema for every author and your business as a whole, so Google (and users) can connect the dots.
3. Embed Real Experience in Your Content
- Document the process behind your results. This means details—not just “We got a great result,” but how you got there, what challenges you faced, and any unique methods you used.
- Use screenshots, timelines, photos, or original data wherever possible to prove your first-hand involvement—or your client’s journey with you.
- Showcase expertise by linking out to high-authority sources and including thoughtful commentary or analysis—don’t be afraid to cite external data.
4. Build Authoritativeness Beyond Your Website
- Pursue quality mentions in industry publications, local press, and trusted online directories. Don’t chase low-quality backlinks—focus on meaningful relationships.
- Develop original research or insight reports that others in your field will reference and cite. For example, a state-of-the-market study or expert predictions for your niche.
- Highlight awards, certifications, and partnerships on your site and in structured data.
5. Strengthen Trust with Technical & UX Signals
- Ensure every page is secure (HTTPS), loads quickly (pass Google Core Web Vitals), and is usable on mobile devices.
- Be transparent everywhere: publish privacy, refund, and TOS pages. Make sure your contact form works, and be clear about support hours and escalation paths.
- Deploy schema markup: Organization, Person (authors), FAQ, Article. This improves both search visibility and user confidence.
Template: E-E-A-T-First Content Structure
- Start with the Value: Brief summary of what you’re going to deliver, who wrote it, and their credentials.
- The Why: Explain the importance and support with relevant, cited data.
- The How: Detailed, step-by-step explanations or walkthroughs with visuals and real numbers.
- Social Proof & Evidence: Embed testimonials, ratings, or results screenshots when relevant.
- Sources & Further Reading: Show your work. Link to reputable external sources and outline your methodology.
Quarterly E-E-A-T Checklist
- All major content attributed to a real author with bio and credentials
- Author pages published and updated as your team grows or earns new accolades
- HTTPS and technical SEO hygiene in place (schema, structured data, policy pages, contact info check)
- Monitor and respond to online reviews (Google, industry directories)
- Seek out fresh mentions and coverage—aim to have something “new” to share each quarter
Common Pitfalls (What NOT to Do!)
- Avoid anonymous or “Team” bylines—if content is valuable, readers (and Google) want to see who stands behind it.
- Don’t rely on AI-only content without human review or insight. Everything should be original and directly connected to your real experience.
- Don’t skip structured data/schema. It’s not just for big brands! It’s essential for search engines to trust and feature your content.
- Be consistent—don’t let author pages, policy docs, or your testimonials section fall far out of date.
KPIs to Watch as You Grow E-E-A-T
- Growth in organic non-branded clicks and impressions
- Uptick in high-quality referring domains and press mentions
- Increasing review count and average star rating across major directories
- Better conversion rates from organic, as trust signals drive action
Start Building E-E-A-T with a Partner Who Walks the Walk
E-E-A-T is not a buzzword for us—it’s integrated across every campaign and website we build at Novah Media. Whether you need a deep-dive audit, a new content strategy, or help overhauling your technical trust signals, we’re here to help you demonstrate undeniable experience, expertise, and trustworthiness online.
If you’re ready to see where your business stands and get a tailored plan for growth, request a free digital marketing audit from Novah Media. Let’s make 2025 the year your site becomes a trust magnet in your industry.