Experience, expertise and trust: how search engines judge a site
Search engines have long assessed not only the text on a page but whether its author can be trusted. For medicine, finance and legal services that is decisive; for everyone else it is a noticeable advantage. Here is what trust consists of and how to demonstrate it.
Search engines assess four things: whether the author has first-hand experience, whether they know the subject, whether the industry recognises them, and whether the site itself can be trusted. In practice that means: sign your material with real people, publish your legal details and contacts, add update dates, and cite sources. The effect is strongest in medicine, finance and law.
In this article9 sections
What exactly is assessed
This is about four properties that a search engine tries to infer from public information about a site and its authors.
- ExperienceWhether the author has first-hand contact with the subject. A doctor who has treated patients differs from a copywriter who has read about it.
- ExpertiseHow deeply the person knows the subject: education, practice, publications.
- AuthorityWhether the industry recognises this company and this author: mentions, links, reviews.
- TrustworthinessWhether the site can be trusted: legal details, contacts, honest terms, a secure connection.
This is not a separate algorithm with a numeric score but a set of signals by which search distinguishes a practitioner's material from text written to fill space.
Where it is critical
| Topic | How important | What is checked hardest |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and health | Critical | An author with relevant qualifications |
| Finance and lending | Critical | Licences, legal details, accuracy of terms |
| Legal services | Critical | Qualifications, currency of the law |
| Construction and renovation | High | Portfolio, guarantees, contract |
| Goods and services | Medium | Reviews, contacts, return terms |
| Entertainment and hobbies | Low | Being useful is enough |
The rule is simple: the more a decision in your field affects someone's health, money or rights, the stricter the requirements on the site.
Experience: how to show it
The most valuable and the rarest. Signs of first-hand experience separate a practitioner's material from a retelling of other people's articles.
- Your own photographs of the work and the process, not stock imagery.
- Numbers from your practice: timelines, cost, share of repeat clients.
- Descriptions of cases, including ones where something went wrong.
- Caveats and exceptions — only someone who has done the work knows those.
- Answers to the questions people actually ask you on the phone.
Expertise: the author page
Material with no byline belongs to nobody. A simple and underrated step: create author pages and link them to the articles.
- The author's name and role next to the heading.
- A separate page with education, experience and specialisation.
- A photograph — a real one, not an avatar.
- Links to professional profiles, where they exist.
- A list of that author's material on the site.
For a small company two or three author pages are enough: the owner and the lead specialists.
Authority: what counts from outside
This is the only one of the four you cannot build entirely on your own site. It is made of what other people say about you.
- Mentions in industry publications and local media.
- Profiles in directories and catalogues with consistent details.
- Reviews on independent platforms.
- Membership of professional bodies, where that applies.
- Links from live sites in your field.
Writing the name, address and phone number identically everywhere matters more than it seems: discrepancies stop a search engine from tying the mentions to one company profile.
Trustworthiness: basic site hygiene
Everything here is verifiable and can be done in a day. The absence of any item is a direct signal of distrust.
- The company's legal details in the footer: name, tax number, address.
- A working phone number and email, not just a form.
- A secure connection on every page.
- A data processing policy and terms of service.
- Real prices, or at least a price range.
- Publication and update dates on your material.
What to do, step by step
- Check the basicsLegal details, contacts, legal pages, secure connection. Half an hour of work.
- Sign your materialAn author on every article, with a real biography on their page.
- Add proofPhotographs of work, numbers from practice, reviews with names.
- Add datesPublication and update. Update what is stale, not everything.
- Gather mentionsDirectories, catalogues, local publications. Consistent details everywhere.
- Mark up the organisationStructured data helps connect the site, the author and the company.
What not to do
- Invent authors. A non-existent expert with a stock photo is a risk, not a benefit.
- Claim credentials you do not have. These get checked.
- Set an update date without changing the content.
- Copy other people's texts, service descriptions included.
- Hide your legal details «so as not to put people off».
How this connects to AI search
Language models rely on the same signals: verifiable facts, a named author, consistent information about the company across sources. Work on trust improves both ordinary results and the chance of appearing in a model's answer.
The reverse holds too: a site with no bylines and no legal details gets cited reluctantly — there is nothing to confirm who the statement belongs to.
Frequent questions
Is this a separate ranking factor?
No, it is a set of signals used to judge quality. There is no single numeric score, but the effect on results in sensitive topics is noticeable.
Does a small company need author pages?
Two or three are enough: the owner and the lead specialists. It matters more that they are real people with real experience than that there are many of them.
Can we manage without publishing legal details?
Technically yes, but it is a direct minus both in search and with people. A company with no details looks like one that is hard to find when something goes wrong.
Does this affect an online store?
Yes, through trustworthiness: return terms, guarantees, real contacts, reviews. For a store that often matters more than author expertise.
How quickly does it show?
This is not a fast lever. Changes in basic hygiene work over months and show up most in topics where trust is critical.
What if our specialists do not want to be published?
Start with the owner and with company-voice material describing real experience. That beats anonymous text and needs no one's consent.
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