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Documentation Index

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/seo content evaluates any page against Google’s E-E-A-T framework (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) as defined in the September 2025 Quality Rater Guidelines update. It scores each of the four pillars, applies Google’s own Who/How/Why heuristic from the helpful-content guide, checks AI citation readiness, and flags content that risks triggering scaled content abuse signals. Every audit also includes actionable rewrite recommendations tied directly to the failing sub-factors.

Syntax

/seo content <url>
/seo content-brief <topic>
Examples:
/seo content https://example.com/blog/post
/seo content-brief "best running shoes for flat feet"

Google’s Who / How / Why Test

Before scoring E-E-A-T sub-factors, Claude SEO applies Google’s own three-question heuristic from the helpful-content guide. Every page must answer all three clearly:
QuestionWhat Auditors Look For
Who created it?Visible byline, author bio page, professional credentials. Required wherever readers expect it; non-negotiable for YMYL topics.
How was it created?Process disclosure where readers would reasonably ask — especially for AI-assisted content. Original research, first-hand evidence, lived experience.
Why does it exist?”To help people” rather than “to attract search clicks.” Watch for niche entry without expertise, content churn for freshness signals, content written to a word-count target.
When all three answers are weak, the page is at risk under the core ranking system’s helpfulness signals. The Helpful Content System was merged into Google’s core ranking algorithm during the March 2024 core update; it no longer operates as a standalone classifier.

The Four E-E-A-T Pillars

Experience

Weight: 20%First-hand knowledge and personal involvement with the topic.
  • Original research, case studies, before/after results
  • Personal anecdotes with verifiable specific details
  • First-hand photos, screenshots, or process documentation
  • Unique proprietary data not reproducible from secondary sources
Why it matters: AI can generate expertise-sounding content but cannot fabricate genuine lived experience. The December 2025 core update elevated Experience as the key differentiator in competitive queries.

Expertise

Weight: 25%Formal qualifications, training, and demonstrated topical knowledge.
  • Author credentials, certifications, and visible byline
  • Technical depth appropriate for the target audience
  • Accurate, well-sourced claims with current references
  • Specialized vocabulary used correctly
December 2025 update: Author attribution standards tightened across all query categories — not just YMYL. Anonymous or generic authorship is now penalized even for non-YMYL content.

Authoritativeness

Weight: 25%Recognition by others as a go-to source in the field.
  • External citations and brand mentions from authoritative sites
  • Author recognized as an expert (publications, speaking, industry awards)
  • Content cited by other authoritative sources
  • Consistent publication history in the topic area
Scoring note: Authoritativeness is assessed at both the page level and the site level. A single strong page on a thin-authority domain will score lower than the same content on an established domain.

Trustworthiness

Weight: 30% — the most heavily weighted pillarOverall reliability, transparency, and absence of deceptive practices.
  • Contact information, physical address, privacy policy, terms of service
  • Transparent corrections and visible date stamps
  • Secure HTTPS with valid SSL certificate
  • Customer testimonials and reviews
  • No hidden ads, clickbait, or deceptive practices
YMYL note: The September 2025 QRG update expanded YMYL to include political topics, democratic processes, and civic trust — all now require the highest Trustworthiness bar.

September 2025 QRG Alignment

The September 2025 Quality Rater Guidelines update introduced two changes directly audited by /seo content:
  1. YMYL expanded to political and social topics. Pages covering elections, democratic processes, or civic trust are now held to the same standard as health and financial advice.
  2. AI content assessment formalized. Raters now explicitly assess whether content appears AI-generated. AI-generated content is acceptable if it meets Search Essentials and demonstrates genuine E-E-A-T; it is penalized when used to scale low-value pages (QRG §4.6.5 scaled content abuse, §4.6.6 low-effort main content).

AI Content Assessment

AI-generated content passes the /seo content quality check when it:
  • Demonstrates genuine E-E-A-T signals (specific facts, author attribution, process disclosure)
  • Provides unique value not available on competing pages
  • Has visible human oversight and editing
  • Contains original insights beyond commodity information
  • Has author attribution even when AI-assisted
Claude SEO’s position, aligned with Google’s Search Essentials: AI origin is not inherently penalizing. The question is whether the content is helpful.

v2 Content Quality Additions

Version 2 (Phase B) shipped four new content quality tools that run automatically inside /seo content:
  • Filler detector — identifies sentences that add word count without adding informational value, keyed to QRG §4.6.5 and §4.6.6
  • AI-pattern humanizer — flags recurring AI output patterns (generic transitions, vague lead sentences, hedge-stacking) and suggests specific rewrites
  • Claim-verification scanner — checks factual claims against a primary-source changelog (data/google-updates.json) and flags outdated assertions
  • Expired-domain heritage check — queries WHOIS to detect whether the domain was previously used for unrelated content, which can create inherited trust penalties

Content Metrics Reference

Word counts are topical coverage floors — not targets. Google has confirmed word count is not a direct ranking factor. These minimums indicate adequate coverage depth:
Page TypeMinimum Words
Homepage500
Service page800
Blog post1,500
Product page300+ (400+ for complex products)
Location page500–600

AI Citation Readiness

/seo content includes a GEO-layer score that measures how ready the content is to be cited by AI Overviews and AI Mode. For a full analysis, use /seo geo — but /seo content surfaces the headline signals:
  • Clear, quotable statements with specific statistics and source attribution
  • Answer-first formatting for key questions
  • Strong H1→H2→H3 heading hierarchy
  • Tables and lists for comparative data
  • Entity clarity: brand, authors, and key concepts clearly defined

/seo content-brief <topic>

/seo content-brief generates a research-backed content brief before a page is written, giving writers a competitive advantage from the first draft. It covers:
  • Primary and secondary target keywords with placement rules per section
  • Search intent classification (informational, commercial, transactional, navigational) and the SERP format Google rewards for this query
  • Competitor analysis — top 5 ranking pages scored on depth, formatting, SEO, and UX; three gap types identified (topic gaps, depth gaps, quality gaps)
  • Section-by-section heading outline with word count targets, format notes (table, list, definition box), and Featured Snippet targets
  • Internal link recommendations — 3–5 specific targets pulled from the site’s actual sitemap
  • Unique angle and information gain — the exact new value this piece adds that no current ranking page provides (proprietary data, case studies, original synthesis — never “more detail”)
  • E-E-A-T requirements — the specific trust signals this content needs given its topic
/seo content-brief "best project management software for remote teams"
/seo content-brief https://example.com/existing-page   # improve-existing mode
The brief follows strict meta tag rules: title 50–60 characters with primary keyword first, meta description 130–150 characters in active voice ending with a call to action.

FLOW Framework Integration

For prompt-guided content optimization, use /seo flow optimize <url> and /seo flow win <url>. FLOW’s 21 optimize-stage and win-stage prompts complement E-E-A-T analysis with evidence-led AI prompts for BOFU conversion and topical authority building.

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