What are E-E-A-T signals and why are they important for GEO?

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is a framework used by Google (and reflected by LLMs) to assess the quality of web content. While Google uses it primarily for quality rating, for LLMs these signals are key to assessing the trustworthiness of a source and the likelihood of citing it. LLMs place extreme emphasis on all aspects of E-E-A-T when selecting sources for their answers, because they need to provide accurate and trustworthy information. Building authority (e.g. through mentions in training data, consistency of information, being first to publish new concepts) and verifiability (accurate citation of sources, research methodology) is essential for GEO.