The 21-Point E-E-A-T Audit Checklist for AI Citation Optimization
E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) is Google's quality framework and the primary citation quality filter used across all major AI answer engines. This interactive checklist covers every critical E-E-A-T signal - tick each item to track your score. Each item is weighted by its relative AI citation impact. See E-E-A-T for Answer Engines for the conceptual foundation.
The checklist is organized into the four E-E-A-T pillars - Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust - each with its own set of verifiable signals. Items marked Critical are blockers: missing them substantially reduces AI citation probability regardless of other signals. Items marked High are high-ROI improvements. Medium items provide marginal but cumulative gains.
E-E-A-T: Four Pillars of AI Citation Quality
Each pillar represents a distinct category of AI trust signal. Trust signals are the baseline - without HTTPS, editorial policy, and accurate contact data, AI systems are likely to exclude your content from citations entirely. Authority signals like Wikidata presence and editorial backlinks are the highest-impact levers for competitive topics.
Interactive E-E-A-T Audit
Tick each item you have implemented to calculate your E-E-A-T AEO score
Priority Action Plan: Where to Start
The highest-ROI E-E-A-T improvements are sequenced below. Most teams see measurable AI citation improvement within 6–8 weeks of completing steps 1–4:
Resolve all 'Critical' trust blockers
HTTPS, About page, editorial policy, contact page - these are baseline qualifications, not differentiators.
Trust Signals Guide →Create Wikidata entity for your organization
The single highest-ROI authoritativeness action. Connect brand, founders, and key products to the knowledge graph.
Wikidata for AEO →Build author entities with Person schema
Every author needs a bio page + Person schema + sameAs to professional profiles. Especially critical for YMYL content.
Author Entity Building →Add academic-style citations to all key pages
Inline citations to authoritative sources on every major claim. The easiest expertise signal to implement immediately.
Academic Citation for AEO →Launch digital PR campaign for editorial backlinks
Target domain authority 40+ publications for earned mentions. These build AI co-citation patterns alongside industry authorities.
Digital PR for AEO →Deep Dive: E-E-A-T Signal Guides
What a Full E-E-A-T Implementation Looks Like
A page that scores 90%+ on this checklist typically has:
- Named author with Person schema, LinkedIn link, and a bio page listing credentials and publications
- 3–5 inline citations to peer-reviewed studies, government data, or industry reports per 1,000 words
- Organization schema with sameAs pointing to Wikidata entity and company LinkedIn
- Last-updated date visible using dateModified Article schema
- HTTPS with HSTS, valid SSL, no mixed content warnings
- Editorial policy page linked from every article footer
- 50+ Google reviews at 4.3+ with regular owner responses
- 3–5 editorial backlinks from industry publications with DA 40+
YMYL Content: Elevated Requirements
Health, finance, legal, and safety content faces stricter AI evaluation. For YMYL topics, a 70% score on this checklist is insufficient - expert reviewer attribution with named credentials is mandatory, and every factual claim must cite an authoritative primary source. See the YMYL Content Guide for AEO.