EEAT for e-commerce: how to build trust and visibility today
Do you have an e-commerce site? Then you know that nowadays it’s not enough to have a fast website, well-organized products, and SEO-friendly content: if your brand isn’t considered trustworthy, Google will ignore you. No penalties, no punishment: it will simply sideline you. Because it doesn’t trust you.
EEAT – experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness – is no longer a textbook concept reserved for medical or financial websites. Today, it also applies to you, to every piece of content you publish, every link you receive, every time someone searches for your brand name. If no one searches for you, if no one mentions you, if no one links you to a topic or product… you are invisible to Google.
That’s the whole point: you can have the best catalog in the world, but if your e-commerce site doesn’t convey trust, it doesn’t matter. And be careful: you can build it, but not with “tricks.” You need a method. In this guide, I’ll show you how to turn EEAT from an obscure acronym into a concrete strategy. You’ll see what works, what to avoid, and—most importantly—how to make Google understand that you, in your market niche, really matter.
EEAT and e-commerce: what is really changing
There was a time when EEAT seemed like a formula reserved for sites that talk about medicine, mental health, investments—the YMYL topics, which stands for “Your Money or Your Life.” But if you think that’s still the case, it’s time to update your view, because Google has changed the rules.
The algorithm evaluates every website—including e-commerce sites—according to parameters that measure trustworthiness, recognizability, and relevance. It is no longer a matter of responding to an information need: it is about deserving attention. And it is not just the technical quality of your website that counts, but how well you are recognized in your industry.
Trust has become the real filter of visibility. You can have perfect listings, an impeccable structure, and optimized content, but if Google doesn’t “see” that your brand is searched for, cited, and considered a useful source, you’re out of the game. Not because you’ve done something wrong, but because no one has legitimized you. And in today’s world, only those who are credible matter.
That’s why EEAT now also affects those who sell online. In fact, it mainly affects those who sell online. Because commercial content, by its very nature, starts at a disadvantage: you have to prove that you’re not just a showcase, but a resource. And that changes everything.
Google is no longer satisfied with keywords and links: it wants real signals. It wants to know if you really exist in the market, if someone searches for you by name, if you are mentioned, if your content really helps people, if you are connected to recognizable themes, needs, and concepts.
In all this, yes, the way you are perceived also matters: you are not just a domain, you have to become a recognizable entity, permanently associated with a field. The clearer you are about this, the more points you earn.
You need to build visibility that goes beyond your website: branded search, spontaneous mentions, semantic relationships. Only then can you be mapped, evaluated, and included.
The real change in perspective is this: SEO is no longer just about pages, but about perception. If your brand is searched for, mentioned, or linked to a certain topic or product, then Google can trust it. If, on the other hand, you are isolated, invisible, or lacking in consistent signals, you will remain outside the results that matter—especially generative ones, such as AI Overview and AI Mode.
Even the classic logic of link building is becoming more complex. A useful link is no longer a “strong” one, but credible, consistent, and contextual. Branded anchors are worth more than exact keywords. A mention in a guide counts more than an exchange between low-quality pages. And every SEO strategy must now answer a concrete question: Can Google trust this e-commerce site?
And then there is another fundamental point: reputation is built category by category, topic by topic. Google does not assign authority en bloc. If you sell supplements but only work well in the sports line, you will only stand out there. Each area requires specific work, with targeted content, links, and citations. And it is precisely this surgical precision that is the real revolution in SEO today.
This is what Ivano Di Biasi predicted in his book Link Building back in 2017. And today, as we also mentioned at SEOZoom Day, Google has finally connected all the dots and put together the search engine it has been designing since 1998, in which all signals—internal, external, social, etc.—work together to reinforce information and determine visibility.
EEAT applies to everyone, not just YMYL sites
But why has Google made this shift and ‘broadened’ the scope of EEAT—which, let’s remember, is officially NOT a ranking factor, but a framework that guides the evaluation of the quality of sites and pages for quality raters—and apply those parameters everywhere, even if you sell shoes, pet food, or camping equipment?
The key point is simple: every website has an impact on user choices. If you sell a product, you are influencing a decision. And if that decision is based on incorrect, incomplete, or dubious information, Google wants to avoid it. So it evaluates you too, using the same yardstick.
This means that your site must not only “work well.” It must be reliable. It must demonstrate that it knows what it is talking about. That it has a recognizable voice. That it is not a clone. And this applies to everything: from blog content to legal pages, from product listings to external reputation. It is not just about whether the product listing is correct. It matters if the site that publishes it is considered a reliable source. If the brand is well known. If there is signed content. If there is an editorial identity. And if there are external signals that confirm all this.
The problem is that many e-commerce sites have a “silent” approach: they sell, but they don’t talk. They don’t explain, they don’t expose themselves, they don’t create relationships. And for Google, this means a lack of authority. It’s not enough to be useful: you have to prove that you are, with content, bylines, experience, and recognizability.
In concrete terms, you can no longer work only on the on-site part. You have to think like a publisher. You have to become a source. And you have to build a recognizable presence, step by step.
Google, AI Overview, and trust as a new filter
The most visible change is in the new AI responses, which Google calls AI Overview or AI Mode (not yet active in Italy): systems that do not list results but summarize a response by drawing on a few selected sources, rewarding only those considered authoritative.
For now, purely transactional e-commerce sites are almost never included, but commercial blogs, industry portals, and hybrid sources are beginning to appear. Google doesn’t include you because you wrote better; it includes you because it recognizes you. Because it has already evaluated you as a reliable source on that topic. And if you don’t have strong external reputation signals—branded search, citations, informative content, semantic presence—you simply won’t be considered.
If you’re not working to become that kind of source, you’re already falling behind.
Entities, brands, and reputation: the real signals that matter
For some time now, Google has no longer been thinking in terms of pages, but in terms of connected concepts. And you, with your e-commerce business, need to become relevant, mapped as a subject: with a name, a field, relationships. You need to appear in queries, in other people’s content, in industry conversations.
If your brand is searched for, mentioned, or linked to a type of product or need, then you exist in Google’s semantic graph. Otherwise, you’re just one website among many. SEO has gone from being keyword-based to entity and context-based and reputation-driven. And for e-commerce, this has huge practical implications.
You need to publish content that links your name to the topics you deal with. You need to be searchable by your brand name, not just by “hiking backpack.” You need to be mentioned by others, linked to by authoritative sources, and present in comparisons. And yes, your blog can also do a lot in this regard: it’s the space where you build your voice, your editorial identity, and your weight in the industry.
Google measures all of this. And it uses it to decide whether you are a useful source. If you don’t do this, your e-commerce will never have stable visibility. If you do, you can become much more than an online seller: you can become a reference point. How can you change perceptions? By publishing content designed for EEAT. By signing articles. By hosting experts. By working on your blog. By getting quoted by reliable sources. By curating your social media profiles. By activating relationships. Every action that strengthens your brand identity contributes to making you more recognizable. And today, that’s what real SEO is all about.
Why e-commerce businesses are not (yet) perceived as authoritative
Many e-commerce sites fail to stand out because they send confusing, weak, or inconsistent signals. It’s not a question of “penalties”: it’s an implicit selection process. Google, like any artificial intelligence system, only gives visibility to those who have earned trust. And this trust is based on concrete clues: original content, a clear identity, consistent citations, branded searches, and relevant links.
The truth is that many e-commerce sites appear as artificial entities: product descriptions identical to those of all the others, zero signs of presence in the market, fake links, and a lack of editorial content. Secondly, they struggle to build external identity signals: the brand is not searched for, does not appear in conversations, and is not mentioned by third-party sources.
Google reads all this algorithmically: it does not trust sites that appear isolated, artificial, or impersonal. And for an e-commerce site, this translates into silent exclusion from the results that matter.
Algorithmic distrust of commercial content
Google starts from a very clear assumption: commercial content is more prone to forcing, duplication, and manipulation. This is not a prejudice, it is a calculated risk. That’s why, when faced with a site full of product listings, recycled descriptions, and texts optimized solely for selling, the algorithm goes on the defensive. To avoid risks, Google tends to favor more neutral or informative sources when responding to a search intent.
Your e-commerce site, therefore, starts with a handicap: it has to prove that there is real expertise behind that content. That you are not just a retailer, but someone who knows what they are selling. And to do that, you need informative content, practical guides, explanations, comparisons, videos, and blogs. Not because they “help SEO,” but because they show that you are competent.
A product page that explains why to choose that model, who it is suitable for, how to use it, how it differs from others — is worth much more than a perfect but anonymous product page. Google does not trust content designed to sell. It trusts those who, before selling, help you understand.
The limits of classic link building for e-commerce
For years, the shortcut most used by e-commerce sites was massive link building: links from generic blogs, paid guest posts, artificial directories. The goal was simple: increase quantity. But Google no longer looks at numbers. It looks at the context. And above all, it looks for consistency.
Ivano Di Biasi said it clearly: “A website that no one searches for, no one mentions, yet receives many links is a suspicious signal to Google.” And that’s exactly what happens with too many e-commerce sites. Fake, purchased, off-topic links. The algorithm understands this. And it doesn’t just ignore them: in some cases, it interprets those signals as manipulative.
The solution is not to stop link building, but to change your approach: build reputation before links. When your brand is recognizable, searched for, and mentioned, then backlinks really work. And they must be consistent and credible: branded links, thematic articles, deep links to informative content or category pages.
Lack of brand and identity signals
This is probably the most serious mistake.
A brand that is not searched for, mentioned, or linked to spontaneously has no weight in Google’s semantic map. Your e-commerce site may sell excellent products, but in the eyes of the algorithm, it is not relevant. And therefore, it does not appear. Brand signals are what prove that you really exist in the market. It starts with branded queries: if people search for your name, it means they know you.
Then there are citations: if you are mentioned by other sites or users, you are entering into conversations. Then there are natural links, reviews, social media presence, visible contributors, and signed content.
If all this is missing, the message you convey is: nobody knows me. And if nobody knows you, Google won’t take the risk of showing you. AI Overviews make this filter even more selective: they are based precisely on signals of trust and external reputation. Without brand signals, branded links, or spontaneous mentions, “you can’t run a credible and secure link building campaign.”
How to build authority for an e-commerce site
Google does not trust by default. Trust is not declared, it is built. And if you want to gain visibility, you have to stop thinking like a salesperson and start behaving like a source. This applies to every e-commerce business: small, large, niche, or generalist. Authority has become a prerequisite for existing in search—and it can only be built through real, distributed, and consistent signals.
You have to earn that place by putting together many actions that tell who you are. Not what you sell, but what kind of entity you are. You need to publish content that helps, deepens, and tells a story. You need to be linked from consistent sources in natural contexts. You need to segment your authority, working topic by topic, product by product. And you need to show who you are: with signatures, faces, stories.
There is no single formula, but there is a precise logic: become useful, become recognizable, become referenced. Only then will Google begin to treat you as a reference worthy of attention. And only then can your e-commerce aspire to a solid, stable, sustainable position.
The role of branded links and spontaneous citations
Not all links have the same value. Today, Google looks less at quantity and much more at the context in which you are cited. The strongest signal is the branded link: a link that contains your brand name, inserted in coherent and informative content.
A credible link does not need technical strength: it needs meaning. You can talk about your site as much as you like, but if no one else does, Google will remain skeptical. On the contrary, if a vertical blog talks about your products and mentions you in a natural way, that link is worth much more—even compared to a “strong” but out-of-context backlink. And sometimes, even a mention without a link is more useful than a forced link on a dry keyword.
Segment authority by topic and product
The most common mistake is to think that authority is a “general” trait of a website. But Google evaluates you on individual segments, one at a time. Are you strong in the trail shoe sector? Great. But don’t expect visibility if you start selling camping tents without building anything on that front.
That’s why authority needs to be segmented. Each category of your site must have its own content, specific citations, targeted links, and a clear semantic presence. A blog helps you do this: you can publish guides, comparisons, and insights that reinforce one topic at a time. This way, your brand becomes visible not only for “what it sells,” but for “what it knows.”
Think modular: a vertical strategy for each topic area. Each segment is an island that you have to build from scratch, linking it to your name. Don’t look for general shortcuts. Work topic by topic. Only then will Google start to see you as a real point of reference.
Useful, expert, and recognizable content
Google doesn’t trust product sheets, as we’ve already mentioned. What it looks for when evaluating a brand is informative content that demonstrates expertise. This is where the entire editorial ecosystem comes into play: guides, blogs, FAQs, signed articles, and technical insights.
Every piece of useful content is a building block for your reputation. A practical guide can become the most linked page on your domain. A comparison can generate branded keywords. An article written by an expert positions your site as a reliable source.
An anonymous e-commerce site, on the other hand, no longer works. Google wants to know who is behind the content — and so does the user. Giving a face to your texts is one of the most effective ways to convey trust. There is no need to invent artificial figures: real people with names, roles, and a verifiable presence are enough. The founder, the product manager, a technical collaborator: anyone who can credibly represent the brand.
Google evaluates this aspect in the context of EEAT. And AI Overviews select content published by sources with a recognizable face. Showing who you are is not a quirk: it’s a strategy.
Real experience and lived content
An e-commerce site that really knows what it sells is able to convey trust in every detail. It doesn’t just replicate the supplier’s technical data sheet: it tells a story, shows, interprets. Every page is an opportunity to show that behind the site there is someone who has tested and consciously chosen what they offer.
An original description, with real photos, a paragraph signed “our test” or “our advice,” makes all the difference. Google picks up on these signals, and the user perceives them too. It’s proof that you’re not selling by chance: you’re making informed suggestions.
This approach is reinforced with complementary content: short videos on how to use the product, buying guides, real comparisons, technical explanations. But also with the experience of others: detailed reviews, user images, spontaneous content. When you integrate them directly into your product pages, they show Google and AI that what you sell is real, used, and appreciated.
If everything can be copied today, the real value is what only you can demonstrate.
The link between authority and branded search
Of all the signals that an e-commerce site can generate, searches related to the brand name are among the most relevant for Google. And the strongest of these is easy to spot: searches by name. When users type in the name of your e-commerce directly, Google interprets this as a sign of trust. The more your brand is searched for, the more it is considered worthy of visibility.
This mechanism has also become central to AI Overview, which selects recognized sources. If your name never appears in queries, that’s a bad sign. But if it’s increasingly associated with specific categories, products, or issues, you’re building a reputation that Google can read and reward.
It’s not just about branding. Branded searches are a strategic KPI that measures the strength of your mental positioning. They indicate whether people recognize you, remember you, and choose you. And you can—in fact, you must—work to grow them.
Monitor branded queries as a trust KPI
Branded searches are one of the clearest indicators of your perceived authority. If no one searches for your name, you’re probably invisible outside your website. If, on the other hand, searches are increasing, it’s a sign that something is happening. And on the SEO side, that makes all the difference.
With SEOZoom, you can easily track this data. Just start a domain analysis to monitor all keywords that contain your brand name. The system shows you the query volume, seasonality, trends, and month-by-month evolution. And if you use projects, you can keep an eye on the growth of branded queries on an ongoing basis.
Don’t just look at the raw numbers. Analyze the type of queries as well: are they just navigational searches, or are there informational combinations? Are users searching for your brand with a clear intent (“Brand name + reviews,” “Brand name + return,” “Brand name + category”)? All of this tells you how present you are in people’s minds and in what contexts.
When branded queries grow, Google implicitly assigns you more trust. It’s like saying, “If everyone is looking for this site, it’s probably relevant.”
Stimulate branded search with strategic activities
Branded searches don’t happen by accident. They grow when your name begins to circulate credibly, on consistent channels and in consistent contexts. To stimulate them, you need targeted actions, not just SEO, but also communication. Branding and SEO go hand in hand here.
Here are some effective levers:
- Digital PR: get people talking about you in newspapers, blogs, and trade magazines
- Content strategy social: use your brand name in formats, columns, videos, and organic campaigns
- Strategic partnerships: appear alongside other well-known brands (even in complementary sectors)
- Naming-driven campaigns: design activities where the brand name is central, in titles, creative content, and content
Of course, the company blog also plays a crucial role: every signed article, every thematic guide with a clear editorial focus, every comparison between products can become a point of access to generate curiosity about the brand and stimulate further research. The goal is not just to “make yourself known,” but to make yourself sought after.
Every time your name appears in a relevant context, the likelihood of someone searching for you increases. And every branded search that arises is an additional signal for Google. You don’t have to wait for it to happen: you can design activities to trigger these queries naturally.
Branded + navigational: the strongest signal
Not all brand-related searches have the same value. The most interesting ones are combinations of the brand name and a specific category or product. Examples? “XYZ running shoes,” “Brand name sports supplements,” “Brand X hiking backpacks.”
For Google, these are proof that you have been associated with a real need. The user isn’t just looking for you because they know you: they’re looking for you as their preferred solution to a specific problem. It’s a sign of branding, semantic positioning, and operational trust—all rolled into one.
These queries don’t come out of nowhere. They’re the result of a well-crafted strategy, built over time with relevant content, naming-driven campaigns, and thematic articles that associate the brand with the product. Here too, SEOZoom allows you to isolate, analyze, and monitor their growth.
If you manage to generate branded + navigational queries, you’ve taken a leap forward: you’ve entered the user’s mind as a recognized and relevant option. At that point, you’re hard for Google to ignore.
How AI Overview changes SEO strategy for e-commerce
SEO is no longer just about SERPs. Today, an increasingly significant part of visibility comes through concise answers generated by Google’s artificial intelligence. AI Overview does not list results, but chooses a handful of sources from which to draw answers. And only sites that Google considers reliable, relevant, and “safe” make it onto that list.
This has a direct impact on e-commerce. If your site is not recognized as a brand, if it is not a visible entity, if it is not linked to valid information content… it will be left out. It is no longer a question of climbing the rankings: it is a question of being selected. And to be selected, EEAT is no longer a competitive advantage — it is a prerequisite.
SEO strategy must therefore evolve. It is not enough to work on product pages or focus on low-competition keywords. You need to build a solid semantic presence. You need to become a point of reference. And you need to do this with content, signals, and structure.
The influence of presence in the Knowledge Graph
The Knowledge Graph is Google’s mental map, an archive of subjects, brands, companies, concepts, and connections between them. If your brand is present in the graph, you have a huge advantage. It means that Google “sees” you as a relevant subject, not just as a website. And that changes everything.
AI Overview almost always draws from entities in the Knowledge Graph. Not only because they are well-known, but because they are semantically linked to topics, questions, and content. Being in there means you are more likely to be selected. And even if you can’t “sign up” for the Knowledge Graph, you can work to boost your presence.
How?
- Use structured data to communicate who you are, what you do, and what products you offer (Schema.org: Organization, Product, WebPage, etc.).
- Maintain a detailed “About Us” page with verified and consistent information.
- Create content that associates your brand with specific topics, using key names and concepts in a systematic way.
- Activate consistent social media profiles, linked from your website and connected to each other
- Get citations from trusted sites, especially in relevant thematic contexts
Google builds your semantic identity based on these signals. The clearer, more consistent, and more widespread they are, the easier it is for you to be mapped. And once you enter the Knowledge Graph, you also become visible to AI.
Source selection in AI Overview
Google does not publish an official list, but the criteria emerge by looking at the results. Those who appear have authority, accuracy, and a strong relational context.
In practice, Google selects sources that do not embarrass it. No suspicious sites, no hasty content, no invisible companies. Only those who can be shown with confidence.
For an e-commerce business, this means you need to build an ecosystem: you can’t just think about your website. You also need to take care of everything that happens around it. You may not have entered AI Overview yet, but that doesn’t mean its external signals are being ignored. On the contrary, building a solid context—made up of citations, informative content, and branded queries—is what positions you as an entity. And it is this entity that may one day be selected.
Overviews read the site, but above all they read the context. If you are absent, transparent, or generic, you will not be considered. But if you are already building a strong semantic network, you could be the next to enter — when Google broadens its horizons.
To understand if you are eligible to appear, carry out a targeted analysis:
- Is your e-commerce mentioned by other editorial sites?
- Does the brand appear in mixed queries (brand + category)?
- Do you receive links on branded anchor?
- Is there content that positions the brand as an information reference?
How to prepare e-commerce pages to enter AI results
Even if visibility comes from entities and reputation, pages still matter — and how.
As we’ve said, purely transactional pages such as product listings do not currently appear in AI Overviews. But that doesn’t mean they’re irrelevant. A well-built page that also contains informative elements can be interpreted as part of a trusted ecosystem.
If you want to increase your chances of being selected over time, work on your categories, related editorial content, and semantic structure. Not to “appear immediately,” but to build a presence that Google will recognize and include — when (and if) it opens these overviews to sites like yours.
Here’s what you can do, specifically:
- Enrich your product listings: use comparison tables, frequently asked questions, explanatory paragraphs, extra content (videos, tutorials, usage examples)
- Link each product to editorial content: guides, in-depth articles, reviews, comparisons
- Use advanced structured data: Product, Review, AggregateRating, FAQ, HowTo
- Make your company identity visible on every page: who you are, why you should be trusted, where you ship from, how to contact you
- Optimize for semantic readability: consistent titles, clear sections, microcopy designed to answer questions
Remember: Google chooses who can respond best. And a page built just to sell, without real content, is ignored. But if you can make it useful, informative, and comprehensive, then it can be selected—and become your best entry point into the new SERP.
Building consistent signals of trustworthiness: a practical guide
A reliable e-commerce site is one that consistently conveys a network of credible signals: who you are, what you do, the context in which you operate, what content you link to, and what relationships you have outside your organization. In other words, it always communicates the same thing: “I’m here, and I know what I’m doing.” It says this through content, links, branded queries, citations, and consistency. Google measures everything — and if there is no unity, there is no trust.
For this reason, every element of your online presence must tell the same story. Your website, the content you publish, the links you receive, the queries about you, the citations you get… everything must converge towards a single identity: yours. And it must do so in a structured, not random, way.
Building trust today means doing less, but doing it better. Every activity must have a specific goal and contribute to strengthening your reputation as a brand. If you generate noise, you will be ignored. If you build clear and consistent signals, you will get on Google’s and AI Overview’s radar.
The point is not just to appear trustworthy. It’s to be trustworthy — in a way that the engine can understand.
First step: create awareness around your brand
Even before links and SEO content, there is a question you need to ask yourself: does anyone know you exist? Without external visibility—searches, citations, mentions—you remain off Google’s radar, so the first thing you need to build is awareness.
You can do this in many ways, but the most effective levers are those that generate controlled exposure:
- Editorial campaigns: articles on blogs, magazines, vertical sites that talk about your brand in an organic way
- Digital PR: launches, initiatives, stories that are worth mentioning in thematic publications
- Strategic collaborations: co-marketing, bundles, events or co-signed content with already recognized brands
- Social media activities integrated with naming: reels, formats, videos, or columns that use your name repeatedly
The first goal is clear: get people to search for your name. Every branded query that arises is a strong signal. And every spontaneous mention helps Google understand that you really exist in the market. Without this first step, links don’t work. They’re noise, not reputation.
Signals that make a site trustworthy in Google’s eyes
Trustworthiness is not a feeling: it is a set of concrete elements that allow Google and users to recognize a site as secure, transparent, and professional. Every e-commerce site should present a series of information that attests to its legitimacy in a clear and accessible manner.
It all starts with the “About us” page, which is often overlooked but is actually crucial for communicating the company’s identity. Showing real faces, telling the story of the project, and explaining values are elements that strengthen the bond with the user and increase trust.
The contact page must be complete, verifiable, and detailed: physical address, VAT number, phone number, email. An e-commerce site without a visible location or legal references risks appearing opaque, unreliable, and therefore excluded from Google’s positive ratings.
Policies—privacy, terms and conditions, returns—must also be easily accessible and clearly written. There is no need for incomprehensible legal texts: clarity is what is needed. You need to demonstrate that the shopping experience is protected and managed responsibly.
These signals are not only valuable for communication: they are exactly what Google looks for in sites to include in generative responses or rankings for sensitive queries. A site that communicates its identity poorly, even if technically flawless, will remain on the sidelines.
How important are technical and perceived security
It is not enough to protect the site technically: you also need to make the user feel that the environment is secure. This is where the dual dimension of trust comes into play: objective and visual.
On a technical level, the adoption of the HTTPS protocol is a basic prerequisite. The entire site must be served securely, not just the checkout. The absence of a valid certificate is a deterrent for users and a negative signal for Google.
But security must be communicated. During the purchase process, it is essential to clearly display the logos of the payment systems accepted—PayPal, credit cards, well-known circuits—so as to transfer some of their trust to your site.
Including badges such as “SSL Secure,” “Secure Payments,” verified reviews, and reassuring phrases next to the shopping cart all contribute to making the shopping experience less risky, more reliable, and more controlled. Every visual detail reduces anxiety and raises the conversion threshold.
An e-commerce site that looks well-maintained, transparent, and secure is much more effective — for users and for Google. The perception of reliability is an integral part of ranking.
Second phase: activate consistent inbound links
Once the brand starts to circulate, you can start to really build your backlink profile. But be careful: quantity doesn’t matter here. What matters is semantic quality and contextual consistency.
Google does not reward sites with more links, but those with credible links. A link is credible if:
- it comes from a thematically related site
- it is included in informative and natural content
- it uses a natural anchor, preferably branded
- it points to a page with real, useful, contextualized content
Links on dry keywords, generic guest posts, and random directories are no longer useful. Or worse, they send a suspicious signal. What you need are:
- thematic links from sources in your industry
- branded links on anchors with the brand name
- deep links on category content, blog articles, guides, or comparisons
Guest posting can still be useful, but only if selected carefully. Any content you publish externally should be valuable even without links. If it can’t be published on its own, it’s just noise.
Step three: monitor and optimize signals
Once you’ve launched your strategy, you need to measure what’s working — and where to intervene. To do this, you need tools and clear KPIs. The goal is to understand whether you’re becoming visible because you’re becoming credible.
With SEOZoom, you can:
- monitor the performance of branded queries
- analyze inbound links: anchors, context, growth rate
- view pages mentioned, related categories, mentions obtained
- compare your evolution with that of your industry competitors.
But you can also use other tools:
- Google Search Console, to identify new brand-related queries
- BrandMentions or similar tools, to monitor mentions and co-occurrences
- Ahrefs, to get a complete view of your link profile
Observe the signals over time. If branded queries increase, you are building memory. If citations grow, you are entering into conversation. If links improve in quality and context, you are gaining trust. If nothing happens, you are not doing something right.
Remember: reputation cannot be optimized. It is built, proven, and measured.
Mistakes that undermine trust in Google’s eyes
Building authority is a slow process, but losing it — or never gaining it — can happen in an instant. Some common practices send the wrong signals, which reduce the credibility of the site instead of strengthening it.
This is the case with manipulative link building: backlinks from generic sites, off-topic guest posts, dry anchor keywords without context. This is an approach that Google recognizes, ignores, and sometimes penalizes, especially if the site does not have a consistent and recognized reputation.
Duplicate or mass-produced content—copied product descriptions, generic articles, unsigned texts—also undermine trust. Not only do they not help with ranking, but they also communicate the absence of a real editorial identity.
Finally, anonymity is a hindrance. Ecommerce sites without an “about us” page, clear references, faces, or signatures appear impersonal and unreliable. Google looks for recognizable entities linked to traceable people and contexts. Transparency is one of the strongest signs of perceived reliability.
EEAT beyond Google: social media, AI, and multichannel reputation
In 2025, EEAT is no longer a concept exclusively linked to Google Search. Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trust have become cross-cutting parameters that influence brand perception on every platform. From social media to conversational search engines, reputation is built—and measured—everywhere.
A user may discover a product on Instagram, read a guide on Perplexity, check reviews on YouTube, and type the brand name into Google before making a purchase. In this multi-step journey, each touchpoint strengthens or weakens the brand’s positioning. And Google itself — through AI Overview — takes into account signals generated outside the site.
EEAT has become a distributed digital brand identity.
To stand out in new search spaces, you need to build consistency, recognizability, and trust across every channel. Content, faces, responses, reviews: everything communicates who you are.
How social media can strengthen trust and reputation
We are talking about this a lot, also in terms of multichannel and content everywhere. Social media is an experience accelerator, an authority amplifier, and a source of signals that Google learns to read. A brand that shows behind the scenes, responds to comments, and publishes authentic tutorials is perceived as real, competent, and accessible.
Formats such as Reels, Shorts, and TikTok allow you to showcase product usage, tell stories, and generate interactions. Even a simple live stream where you answer customer questions becomes valuable content that helps build trust.
And then there’s social proof: customer-generated content, tagged reviews, public comments.
An e-commerce site that encourages these interactions, shares them, and values them not only strengthens the community but also demonstrates—in practice—the validity of the promised experience.
Prepare for AI engines and conversational search
Tools such as Perplexity, ChatGPT with browsing, or Google’s new AI Mode select a few reliable sources to provide direct answers. And to be among these sources, you need much more than good SEO.
AI engines choose in-depth, authoritative, consistent, and structured content. They recognize trusted entities and cite names associated with a solid reputation. Presence in the Knowledge Graph, quality backlinks, and clarity of company data are all elements that matter.
Optimizing for EEAT today also means “putting your brand in a position to be chosen” tomorrow, when answers will be increasingly concise, conversational, and selective. Those who manage to build truly useful, recognizable, and well-distributed content will be among the selected sources. The others will simply be left out.
A checklist to really get started
Translating EEAT into practical actions requires method, awareness, and attention to detail. To help e-commerce managers measure their starting point, it can be useful to follow a simple and concrete checklist. There is no need to start from scratch: you just need to know where to start.
Here is a series of measures that can strengthen the perception of experience, competence, authority, and reliability. Each point represents a step towards more solid visibility—and a more readable reputation for Google.
This grid is not a to-do list to be completed in one go, but a reference point for guiding priorities. The goal is not just to improve a few metrics: it is to become a recognizable, authoritative, and consistently present source across all channels. This is how you build lasting visibility.
FAQs on EEAT and e-commerce
As EEAT becomes an integral part of e-commerce ranking, practical questions are increasing from those who manage or promote online sales sites. Doubts are often related to the very nature of the framework: since it is not a directly measurable metric, it can seem elusive or theoretical. In reality, its effects are clearly evident, especially in AI Overview and in organic results related to informational searches.
Many operators in the sector feel disoriented: how can you demonstrate authority if you sell products? How do you build trust when working on product listings and categories? And then, in concrete terms, what actions really have a positive impact, what behaviors should be avoided, and above all, how to measure progress over time.
The reality is that those who manage e-commerce today are called upon to work more carefully on trust, because they are at a disadvantage compared to editorial or informational sites. The answers are not always obvious, because authority is not built through technical intervention, but through signals distributed across multiple levels: content, identity, links, citations, search queries, and semantic presence.
Everything revolves around one point: how to transform reputation into concrete visibility? Here are the most useful and direct answers to guide you, understand what is working and where to intervene.
- How can I improve the authority of my e-commerce business?
Start with three things: real informative content (not duplicated), a clear identity (who you are, who writes, why you should be trusted), and consistent external signals (links, citations, branded searches). Work on each category as if it were a niche in itself, build editorial relationships, sign your content, and get people talking about you. Google trusts those who are searched for and cited, not just optimized.
- Should manipulative links always be avoided?
Yes, if they are unrelated to your reputation. Links only work when they reflect a credible context: thematic website, natural anchor, informative content. If they come from generic blogs, paid guest posts, or PBNs, they risk sending inconsistent signals. They don’t improve your authority: they damage it.
- What is the difference between a mention and a branded link?
A mention is a citation of the brand name, even without an active link. A branded link is a hyperlink with text anchor that contains your brand. Both are useful signals: the mention indicates recognition, the link reinforces trust. If they are consistent and natural, they are worth more than a link on a forced keyword.
- How important is branded search for e-commerce?
It’s extremely important. If people search for your name, Google understands that you are a recognized entity. It’s one of the strongest signs of trust and affects your visibility, even in AI results. If no one searches for you, you’re off the radar. If branded queries are growing, you’re building reputation.
- How do I know if my brand is recognized by Google?
Analyze three things:
- Autocomplete on Google (does your name generate suggestions?)
- Growing branded queries (you can check these with SEOZoom)
- Presence in other people’s content (mentions, co-citations, editorial links)
Appearing in relevant contexts is what allows Google to connect you to those topics — and treat you as a source.
- Does EEAT only apply to blogs?
No. It applies to the entire site: product pages, homepage, category pages, about us, blog, external links, social media presence. A blog is a great place to start building your reputation, but it’s not enough on its own. You need a coherent ecosystem.
- Can I appear in AI Overviews even if I have an e-commerce site?
Not at the moment. Google’s AI Overview does not show direct sales pages, even for commercial queries. Even large e-commerce sites are excluded. The only way to gain visibility in AI results is to publish strong informative content (guides, articles, comparisons), but this content must exist outside of purely transactional logic. It’s not about size: it’s about role. If you’re not a source, you won’t be chosen.
- How long does it take to see concrete results?
It depends on where you start. If you already have a searched-for brand, some informative content, and external citations, you can see the first signs within 2–3 months. If you’re starting from scratch, it takes time and consistency. But the right signs will come: growing branded queries, appearances in AI results, and improvements in rankings on informational queries.
