In mid-December 2022 Google updated its quality rater guidelines. E-A-T became E-E-A-T. 

The additional E stands for experience. Google states that “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.”

So with that, I’m going to run a quick analysis of the SERPs for searches that I think warrant first-hand, life experience – along with expertise, authoritativeness, and trust. 

Big Disclaimer: Of course E-E-A-T are not the only search engine ranking factors. The purpose of this analysis is to see if pages that demonstrate experience are more visible in the SERPs following the update.

The Mattress Industry 

They’re expensive and can have a major impact on your quality of life. The internet is also full of hundreds of mattress recommendations that contain affiliate links, so these recommendations might not have your best interests at heart. 

Lets review the SERPs for “Best Mattress For Back Pain”

December 2nd Rankings:

Ranking	Experience	Expertise	Authority	Trust
Sleep Foundation	✅	✅	✅	✅
NY Times	❌	✅	✅	✅
Forbes	❌	✅	✅	✅
US News	❌	✅	✅	✅
Sleepopolis	✅	✅	✅	✅

January 25th Rankings: 

Ranking	Experience	Expertise	Authority	Trust
Sleep Foundation	✅	✅	✅	✅
NY Times	❌	✅	✅	✅
Forbes	❌	✅	✅	✅
US News	❌	✅	✅	✅
Sleepopolis	✅	✅	✅	✅

We can see nothing changed for the top 5 search results. 

I’ve given Sleepopolis a checkmark for experience because their article contains a video that shows different mattresses being tested. 

In theory, Sleepopolis should of leapfrogged US News, Forbes and NY Times. However, this did not happen – and it could well be down to other technical, off-page or on-page elements. 

NY Times, Forbes, and US News all have a substantially higher number of referring domains than Sleepopolis, so this could be a factor. However, the 6th result (Cnet) has the highest number of referring domains than all of the top 5 so make of that what you will. 

Travel Industry

“Best Places To Visit In Mexico”

Would you rather get travel ideas from someone who’s been to and experienced a country, a journalist from a News website, or an affiliate website? 

December 2nd Rankings:

Ranking	Experience	Expertise	Authority	Trust
US News	❌	❌	❌	❌
Travellers Worldwide	❌	✅	✅	✅
Planetware	❌	✅	✅	✅
Road Affair	❌	✅	✅	✅
Goats On The Road	❌	✅	✅	✅

January 25th Rankings: 

Ranking	Experience	Expertise	Authority	Trust
US News	❌	❌	❌	❌
Touropia	❌	✅	✅	✅
Travellers Worldwide	❌	✅	✅	✅
Road Affair	❌	✅	✅	✅
Planetware	❌	❌	❌	❌

After the implementation of E-E-A-T, it looks like results for this keyword have gotten marginally worse. 

All of the articles contain affiliate links, and none of them are written by someone who is reviewing places that they have visited in Mexico. 

I am even questing the expertise, authority and trust behind all of these articles – but from an algorithm’s perspective, they fit the definition. 

This is one result the new “E” has not had an effect on. Of course, there could be other travel searches that see different results – but isn’t the point of an algorithm update to have an impact on a wide variety of results? 

Anna Everywhere‘s post is buried on page 3. From an E-E-A-T perspective, Anna Everywhere’s article should be on page 1, it ticks all of the boxes – maybe in the coming weeks and months Google will reward it with higher rankings.

Supplements – CBD Oil for Anxiety 

“Can CBD Oil Help With Anxiety”. 

This one is easy – there’s a fantastic article from Byrdie that covers all areas E-E-A-T, but as of January 26th this is in position 7. On November 22nd this article was position 9. 

The other articles on page one for this query can all be said to cover the remaining aspects of E-A-T – however, from a user experience perspective, the winner should be Byrdie’s article. 

Articles from sites like Healthline, Forbes, and Cleveland Clinic explain the effects of CBD on anxiety. However, there is only one article on page one that actually talks about personally taking and experiencing the effects CBD can have on anxiety. 

In my opinion, CBD is one industry that has been failed by E-A-T in the past, and is currently being failed by E-E-A-T.

Does The #1 Result For The Following Queries Cover All Three Aspects of E-E-A-T? 

Now, I’ll slightly change my methodology.

I’ll search for queries that I believe warrant E-E-A-T and will see if the #1 ranking result covers all bases. (I’ll continue to build upon this list over time).

Keyword	Experience	Expertise	Authority	Trust
Best Running Shoes	✅	✅	✅	✅
How To Make Avocado Toast	✅	✅	✅	✅
Does Melatonin Work	❌	✅	✅	✅
How to Do a Push-Up	✅	✅	✅	✅
Best Tacos In New York	❌	✅	✅	✅
How to Pay Off Credit Card Debt	❌	✅	✅	✅
Best Treadmill	✅	✅	✅	✅
Does Biotin Work For Hair Loss	❌	✅	✅	✅
Best Stroller and Car Seat Combo	❌	✅	✅	✅
How To Lose Belly Fat	❌	✅	✅	✅

So we can see that for all of these queries the #1 result demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trust – however, experience is only relevant for a few queries. 

From my analysis and day-to-day work in the SEO industry, I feel as if Google continues to reward “big” websites – these are websites with “high SEO authority”. Even if their content is bad, irrelevant or even unhelpful it still gets rewarded with strong rankings. You can purchase a sponsored article with many news publishers, and your article will likely jump straight to the top of Google (search for Best Crypto Wallet for a real-world example).

It’ll be interesting to see how the role of Experience evolves over time, but so far in my daily work and my research I’m yet to see “Experience” overhaul the SERPs – and this is unlike previous updates to Google’s QRG that shook up a lot of industries.