Jason Barnard Hosts SEMrush Webinar: 4 Hours of E-A-T | What is E-A-T and Why is It So Very Important?

Published by: SEMRush. Guests: Jennifer Slegg, Ric Rodriguez, Casey Markee. Host: Jason Barnard. April 24, 2020.

Topic: The Critical Shift from SEO Tactics to Brand E-A-T Engineering.

Summary Sentence: Jason Barnard and his guests affirm that E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness - which is now E-E-A-T for Google and N-E-E-A-T-T for Kalicube®) is not a direct ranking factor but a foundational concept that, when intentionally engineered across a brand’s digital ecosystem, creates the high credibility signals necessary for Google and AI Assistive Engines to confidently recommend it.

• E-A-T is fundamentally a human quality control concept, with Google’s algorithms using a variety of signals as a proxy to match human assessment.
• The goal of SEO must shift from ranking a single page for keywords to proving the E-A-T of the author and publisher across the entire digital ecosystem.
• Third-party corroboration is paramount: reviews, linkless mentions, and articles from respected Authoritative Sources send credibility signals that algorithms use to build trust in a brand’s narrative.
• “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) sites, including any site that sells products or services, are held to a significantly higher E-A-T standard due to their impact on user safety and financial well-being.
• Content Marketing must be structured for dual audiences: clearly written for users (user-centric design) and technically optimized with Semantic HTML and citations for machines (algorithmic education).
• For highly sensitive YMYL topics like medical information, claims must be supported by inline citations or links to verified, external expert sources, often from professionals with verifiable expertise (Content Creator Optimization).
• To showcase E-A-T, authors should use concise, high-impact condensed biographies on the article page, with a full, detailed author biography page linked for comprehensive corroboration.
• Google’s core systems are constantly changing, with over 3,200 updates per year; this high volatility requires an ongoing, proactive strategy, like Jason Barnard’s Kalicube Process, to maintain algorithmic trust.
• Voice Search Optimization and Featured Snippets require extremely high E-A-T because Google has only one shot at presenting a single,