E-E-A-T in practice: how to build an author and reviewer programme

If you write about health, money or gambling, your readers take a risk every time they act on what you say. They know it, and so does Google.

That's why "Your Money or Your Life" topics are held to a higher standard. And it's why one question sits behind every page you publish: who wrote this, and why should I trust them?

An author and reviewer programme is how you answer it, consistently, on every page. This guide gives you everything you need to build one.

What E-E-A-T actually asks for

E-E-A-T comes from Google's search quality rater guidelines. In December 2022 Google added an extra "E" for Experience. The four parts:

• Experience: first-hand involvement. Has the writer used the platform, made the trade, been through the treatment?
• Expertise: depth of knowledge in the subject.
• Authoritativeness: reputation as a go-to source.
• Trust: is the page accurate, honest and safe to rely on?

Google calls Trust the most important of the four. For YMYL topics, the guidelines also put more weight on accuracy and agreement with expert consensus. Everyday experience can help, for example a real customer's view of a withdrawal process, but medical and financial advice needs real expertise behind it.

E-E-A-T isn't a ranking switch you flip. It's a description of what trustworthy content looks like. An author and reviewer programme is how you produce that content on purpose.

Step 1: Map your content by risk

Not every page needs the same level of review. Start by sorting your content. This matrix is the backbone of the whole programme:

A simple rule for the risk column: if a mistake could hurt someone's health or money, or break an advertising rule, it's high risk.

Step 2: Recruit and document authors

Every page that gives advice should have a named author with relevant experience. For each author, keep a profile record with:

• Full name and photo
• Role and relevant experience
• Qualifications and registrations, where relevant
• Topics they're approved to write on
• Links to professional profiles

Then write a short bio for the byline. The test is simple: does it explain why this person is qualified to write this page?

Weak bio:

Sarah is a passionate writer who loves helping people. She has written for many websites and enjoys yoga in her spare time.

Strong bio:

Sarah Jones is a health writer with eight years' experience covering men's health and telemedicine. She works with our medical review team to make sure every guide reflects current clinical guidance.

The strong version names the subject area, the experience, and how quality is checked. (Sarah is a made-up example.)

Don't invent personas, use stock photos, or list credentials that aren't relevant to the topic. Fake authors are a trust problem the moment anyone checks.

Step 3: Build a reviewer network

Reviewers are the people who check high-risk content for accuracy. Typical reviewers by vertical:

• Health: doctors, pharmacists, specialist nurses
• Finance and trading: qualified financial professionals, risk and compliance officers
• Gambling: compliance specialists, responsible gambling experts

Agree three things with each reviewer up front:

1. Scope. What they check: clinical or financial accuracy, not grammar.
2. Turnaround. How long a review takes, so it doesn't stall publishing.
3. Sign-off. How approval is recorded, with a date.

Step 4: Show the work on the page

Credentials nobody can see don't build trust. Every high-risk page should show:

• Byline: "By Sarah Jones, Health Writer"
• Review line: "Medically reviewed by Dr. [Name], [qualification], on 12 October 2026"
• Dates: published and last updated
• Sources: primary sources, linked, at the end of the page
• Profile links: author and reviewer names link to profile pages

For sources, cite regulators, official guidance, peer-reviewed research and company filings. Avoid citing other blog posts for important claims.

Step 5: Make it readable for machines

Readers see bylines. Search engines and AI tools read structured data. Mark up articles with the author, and pages with the reviewer. Here's a simplified example:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "MedicalWebPage",
  "headline": "How does finasteride work?",
  "dateModified": "2026-10-12",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Sarah Jones",
    "jobTitle": "Health Writer",
    "url": "https://example.com/authors/sarah-jones"
  },
  "reviewedBy": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Dr. Example Name",
    "jobTitle": "General Practitioner"
  }
}

Keep author details identical everywhere they appear: your site, LinkedIn, guest articles and conference pages. Consistency makes it easier for search engines and AI assistants to recognise the same expert across the web.

Step 6: Build market rules into every brief

Compliance shouldn't be the last step. It should be in the brief. 2026 has made this more important in all three regulated verticals:

This isn't legal advice, and rules vary by market. Your compliance team or legal advisers should sign off the rules in your briefs.

Step 7: Keep it current

Rules, fees and treatments change. Set a review cycle for each content type (see the matrix in Step 1) and track it in a simple content register: URL, author, reviewer, last review date, next review date.

When you update a page, change the "last updated" date and note what changed. Readers notice when a date changes but nothing else does.

A 90-day rollout plan

How to know it's working

Watch for:

• Faster compliance sign-off, because rules are built into briefs
• Fewer corrections and complaints on high-risk pages
• Rankings that hold through core updates on YMYL topics
• More citations in AI answers, because your pages are clearly sourced and attributed

The pre-publish checklist

Before any YMYL page goes live:

1. Is there a named author with relevant experience?
2. Does the risk matrix say it needs review, and has it had one?
3. Are key claims backed by primary sources, and linked?
4. Are published and updated dates visible?
5. Does it follow the advertising rules for every market it targets?
6. Is author and reviewer markup in place?

If any answer is no, the page isn't ready yet.

An author and reviewer programme takes effort to set up. Once it's running, it's simply how you publish. And it pays off everywhere: readers trust you, compliance signs off faster, and search engines and AI tools have every reason to believe what you say.