You know that sinking feeling when your carefully crafted content just isn’t ranking the way it should? I’ve been there, and Ibet you have too. The truth is, Google’s E-A-Tguidelines (now E-E-A-Twith that extra “E” for Experience) have totally changed how things work. But here’s what many folks don’t get – these ideas aren’t just for Google anymore. Almost every big search platform is looking for similar stuff, and if you’re not showing real expertise, authority, and trust, you’re pretty much invisible online.
Let me share what I’ve picked up about E-A-Ton different platforms after spending years helping businesses in Colorado Springs and beyond get found locally. Things have really changed, and what used to work even a couple of years back could actually be doing more harm than good now.
The Real Challenge: E-A-T Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All
Here’s the thing that often surprises people – Google, Bing, and other search platforms actually see E-A-Tsignals differently. It’s kind of like trying to impress three different groups with the exact same speech. What totally wows Google might just get a shrug from Bing, and what gets you shining on Apple’s search might not even show up anywhere else.
Isee this all the time when I’m working on local SEO projects. Aclient could be totally crushing it in Google’s local pack but nowhere to be seen in Bing’s local results. The reason? They’ve focused so much on what Google wants for E-A-Tthat they haven’t thought about how other platforms decide who to trust.
The biggest mistake Isee businesses make is treating E-A-Tlike a simple checklist. They’ll just slap some author bios on their site, maybe get a few backlinks, and then scratch their heads wondering why they’re still not ranking. But E-A-Tisn’t about trying to trick the system – it’s about truly becoming the kind of helpful resource that both people and search engines want to point others to.
Google’s E-E-A-T: The Gold Standard (For Now)
Google’s way of looking at E-E-A-Thas gotten really smart. They tossed in that extra “E” for Experience because they figured out that just having expertise on paper doesn’t always mean real-world usefulness. Think about it: a mechanic who’s been wrenching on cars for 20 years might not have an engineering degree, but their hands-on experience makes them incredibly valuable for anything about cars.
Google’s quality raters look for specific signals:
- Clear author attribution – Not just a name, but credentials that matter for the topic
- Transparent business information – Contact details, physical addresses, clear ownership
- Content depth that matches search intent – Surface-level fluff gets filtered out fast
- Citations and references – Especially important for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics
- User engagement signals – Time on page, return visitors, social shares
What’s really interesting is how Google’s local brain weighs these things differently. When I’m working on Google Maps optimization, I’ve noticed that local E-A-Tsignals carry a lot more punch. Aplumbing company with consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) info everywhere online, real customer reviews, and involvement in the local community will often beat out a competitor who might have better technical SEO but weaker local trust.
Bing’s Trust-First Approach
Microsoft’s Bing has gone a bit of a different route. While Google really obsesses over how good your content is and what users experience, Bing tends to lean more on those traditional authority signals. They still really care about things like how old your domain is, if your domain name exactly matches keywords, and direct citations in ways that Google has mostly left behind.
I’ve noticed Bing really rewards businesses that keep their branding consistent across different Microsoft properties. If you’re active on Linked In (which Microsoft owns, by the way), have a good presence on Microsoft Business, and keep your Bing Places listings updated, you’ll often show up more often organically on Bing compared to competitors who only focus on Google.
Bing also seems a bit more forgiving of newer websites that clearly show expertise, even if they don’t have a ton of backlinks yet. They’re looking at social signals, connections in professional networks, and industry recognition in ways that feel more straightforward, but maybe a little less predictable than what Google does.
Apple and Alternative Platforms: The Wild West
Apple’s search results (you know, through Siri and Spotlight) grab info from all sorts of places, but they’re really starting to favor local businesses with lots of good reviews and super clear contact info. They’re not quite as advanced as Google’s E-A-Tchecks yet, but they’re catching up quickly.
Duck Duck Go, Yahoo, and other alternative platforms often piece together clues from different places. They might grab authority signals from Google while also using trust info from Bing, kind of mixing and matching. This means they reward you for having a solid, all-around E-A-Tgame.
Industry-Specific E-A-T Challenges
The healthcare and financial services industries have their own special E-A-Tchallenges. Google’s YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) guidelines mean that medical advice from a fitness blogger just won’t carry as much weight as the same kind of info from a licensed doctor, even if the blogger’s writing is more fun to read.
I’ve worked with medical practices that ran into this exact problem. Their patient education content was really well-written and super helpful, but it just wasn’t ranking. Why? Because they hadn’t really shown off the medical credentials of their authors. Once we added detailed doctor bios, their medical license numbers, and hospital affiliations, their content started shooting up the rankings.
For financial services, the whole thing is even trickier. Because of all the regulations, you can’t just say you’re an expert – you need documented credentials, compliance certifications, and often details about regulatory oversight shown right there for everyone to see.
Building Cross-Platform E-A-T Signals
Here’s my battle-tested approach for building E-A-Tsignals that work across multiple platforms:
Start with Your Foundation
Your website needs to scream credibility from every single corner. I’m talking about super detailed About pages, team bios with actual photos (no stock photos!), clear contact info, and showing exactly how you do business. Seriously, don’t hide behind generic descriptions – real faces and real stories are what build trust.
Make sure your business location info is exactly the same everywhere it pops up online. Messy addresses or phone numbers are big red flags for search engines trying to figure out if they can trust you.
Create Platform-Specific Content Strategies
Don’t just copy and paste the same stuff everywhere! Google might love really deep, thorough guides, while Bing users might prefer content that’s more direct and tells them exactly what to do. Your Linked In articles should sound professional and focused on your industry, but your blog? That can be way more conversational and show off your personality.
I’ve found that businesses get the best results when they show their expertise in a way that fits what each platform’s audience expects, all while keeping their main message the same.
Build Genuine Relationships, Not Just Links
That old-school trick of buying links or messing with link schemes? It doesn’t just not work anymore – it’s actually risky. Today’s E-A-Tchecks look at how you’re connected. Are other experts in your field mentioning you? Do industry magazines or websites point to your stuff? Are you speaking at conferences or part of professional groups?
These relationship-based authority signals are much harder to fake and carry more weight across all platforms. When Iwork with clients on building these connections, we focus on genuine industry participation rather than SEO-focused outreach.
Common E-A-T Mistakes That Kill Rankings
Isee the same mistakes over and over again, and they’re painful to watch because they’re so easily avoidable:
The Anonymous Expert Problem
Publishing expert content without clearly saying who wrote it is like giving a presentation with a bag over your head. Search engines can’t figure out if someone’s an expert if they don’t know who that person is! Every single piece of content needs a real person behind it, with credentials you can check.
The Credential Mismatch
Having a marketing manager write medical advice or a junior employee author financial guidance destroys E-A-Tsignals. The expertise level of your content creator needs to match the topic’s complexity and importance.
The Set-and-Forget Approach
E-A-Tisn’t a ‘do it once and you’re done’ kind of thing. It needs constant care, regular content updates, and always building those connections. I’ve watched websites lose their rankings simply because they stopped feeding their authority signals after they first got some success.
Measuring E-A-T Success Across Platforms
You can’t make something better if you don’t measure it, but measuring E-A-Tisn’t always straightforward. Here are a few important things Ikeep an eye on:
- Organic click-through rates – Higher CTR often indicates stronger trust signals in search results
- Brand search volume – People searching for your brand name directly shows growing authority
- Referral traffic from authoritative sources – Getting traffic from industry publications and expert sites
- Local pack visibility – For local businesses, map pack appearances across different platforms
- Featured snippet appearances – Google’s willingness to feature your content as authoritative
Don’t get too hung up on vanity metrics like those domain authority scores. Instead, focus on what actually matters for your business – phone calls, form submissions, and actually getting new customers from organic search.
The Future of E-A-T: What’s Coming Next
AI and machine learning are making E-A-Tchecks smarter and smarter every day. Search engines are getting much better at spotting truly helpful content versus stuff that’s just keyword-stuffed fluff. And this is only going to speed up.
Ibet we’ll see an even bigger focus on real-world results and how happy users are. Search engines might start looking at things like how many customers stick around, how often people come back, and what long-term success users have when they’re deciding who to trust.
Voice search and AI assistants are also changing how E-A-Tsignals are understood. When Siri or Alexa gives an answer, they’re making super-quick decisions about which sources to trust. The businesses that will win are the ones building authority signals that work great for both real people and AI systems.
Taking Action on E-A-T
Here’s what you should do right now, today, to start improving your E-A-Tsignals:
First, check your author info. Every piece of content on your site should have a clear author with their relevant credentials shown. If you can’t put a real name and bio on something, honestly, just don’t publish it.
Second, update your About page and team bios. Include photos, credentials, contact information, and specific expertise areas. Make it easy for both users and search engines to understand who you are and why they should trust you.
Third, start building genuine industry relationships. Join professional organizations, comment thoughtfully on industry blogs, and participate in relevant online communities. These relationship signals matter more than most people realize.
Finally, create a content calendar that prioritizes depth over quantity. It’s better to publish one thoroughly researched, expertly written article per month than four shallow pieces that don’t demonstrate real expertise.
E-A-Tisn’t going anywhere – if anything, it’s becoming even more important as search engines get smarter about finding great content. The businesses that really build up genuine expertise, authority, and trust signals now will have a huge leg up as things keep changing.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all this, you’re definitely not alone. Building E-A-Tsignals that actually work across different platforms takes time and expertise. That’s exactly why we focus on creating whole local search setups at Casey’s SEO – because just doing little bits here and there just doesn’t cut it in today’s busy online world.
The good news? Once you get these fundamentals right, you’ll see improvements across all platforms, not just Google. That’s the power of building real authority instead of chasing algorithm tricks.
