E-E-A-T in a medical context

In the case of solo practices, E-E-A-T is almost always person-based. The doctor is simultaneously the brand, the expert, and the source of trust. This is a structural advantage: person-based authority can be more clearly documented and is easier for search engines to interpret than institutional authority.

The most important factor here is the author’s personal profile. Every piece of content on the website should be attributed to a specific person, who is listed there with their full name, medical specialty, qualifications, and a photo. A Schema.org person markup makes this information machine-readable. Listings on Jameda, Doctolib, and the Arztauskunft directory, as well as a complete profile with the relevant medical association, provide external validation.

For solo practices, the following also applies: A smaller amount of content with clear authorship is better than a large amount of content with no identifiable source. A single, well-researched article written by the treating physician on a topic within her area of expertise carries more E-E-A-T weight than twenty generic, anonymous texts.

Medical care centers face a more complex challenge. They must establish E-E-A-T simultaneously at both the organizational and individual levels, across multiple specialties. A medical care center with six specialties requires unique author signatures, subject-specific content, and appropriate external links for each department.

The organizational effort is greater, but the starting point is often more favorable than for solo practices: Medical care centers typically have more staff resources, a stronger institutional presence, and often already have external connections through partners and referring physicians.

It is important not to separate the institutional level from the personal level. A strong organization without recognizable physicians behind it generates less E-E-A-T trust than an institution that combines both. A solid organizational profile with fully documented specialists in every department thus forms the foundation for E-E-A-T in medical care centers.

Hospitals have a structurally stronger foundation for E-E-A-T than individual or group practices. Institutional recognition, external links from media coverage and scientific publications, as well as accreditations, provide a solid foundation on which to build.

The challenge for hospitals lies elsewhere: in fragmentation. Many hospital websites feature strong content at the institutional level, but lack clear, individual authorship at the department and specialty level. Patients searching for a specific treatment or procedure end up on pages with no identifiable medical author.

The solution: profiles of chief physicians and senior physicians linked to the respective treatment pages, along with content that is clearly identified as having been written or reviewed by medical professionals.