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Term

Trustworthiness Signals

Trustworthiness signals are visible and technical proofs that a website and its content can be trusted — author credentials, imprint, HTTPS, transparent sources, external reputation signals.

Trustworthiness Signals — explained in more detail

Trustworthiness is the “T” in E-E-A-T and the most important of the four criteria for YMYL topics. The signals fall into three groups: on-page (clear imprint, author bio with credentials, publication and update dates, linked primary sources, correct spelling), technical (HTTPS certificate, clean structured data for Organization and authors, no mixed content), and off-site (mentions in reputable media, third-party reviews, sameAs links to LinkedIn/Wikidata, editorial backlinks).

Example / In practice

A health site upgrades its trust signals: author bio with medical license and photo, each article with a medical reviewer and date, studies cited as DOI links, Schema.org Person with sameAs to a clinic profile. After three months and a core update, visibility climbs sharply — the content was already strong, but the trust layer was missing.

Distinction from similar terms

E-E-A-T is the umbrella concept; trustworthiness is one of its four pillars. Authoritativeness is about brand/author reputation, trustworthiness about the verifiable reliability of the specific page. Trust signals are not a ranking-factor toggle — they make the algorithms more tolerant, especially in YMYL areas.

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