"EEAT is 95% link based" - Gary Illyes, G Engineer
EEAT = Trust Signals.
Trust Signals were around FAR before Google released the EEAT documentation for MANUAL raters, not the algo.
Google doesn't just intrinsically trust a website, you have to build links from other sites it already trusts for it to trust yours.
Yes, there are OnPage trust signals but they aren't anywhere near as powerful as OffPage ones are, most of the time... As with everything in SEO, it's more nuanced than that, as each site will need different signals but in general, OffPage>OnPage signals.
My view is that EEAT is an off-page factor…
It comes from -
• podcast appearances
• awards
• accreditations
• LinkedIn
• publishing books
• writing for big brands
etc.
It doesn’t come from -
• writing ‘experienced travel writer’ on your about page