Why this signal matters for Google
"Over 20 years of experience" is the most copied line on the web, and the least proven. It sits on the homepage of the plumber, the accounting firm and the dental clinic, often word for word. Readers skip it. What they read is a precise figure with a starting point: "electrician since 2004, running my own business since 2011". The difference comes down to three details. The number is exact, not rounded. It has a date, so it ages on its own and is still true next year. And it belongs to a person, not to a faceless "we". Years of experience are not a degree: nobody issues them. That is exactly why they have to be more precise, or they weigh nothing.
Google has its search results reviewed by human evaluators. Their working manual, the Quality Rater Guidelines (QRG), is public, and section 3.4 asks them to judge expertise on a single question: does the person who produced the content have the knowledge or skill the topic requires? Years spent practising a trade answer that question directly, as long as they are visible and believable. Section 2.5.2 also sends evaluators looking for who is responsible for the website and who created the page. A line saying "15 years of experience" on a homepage with no name fails both checks. The same line in the bio of a named author, with a start year, passes both.
On a YMYL topic, meaning a page that can affect the reader's health, money or safety, section 3.4.1 notes that a high level of expertise may be required. Ten years in a clinic do not replace a medical degree, but they say something the degree cannot: how many patients were seen, which cases were handled, which changes in practice were followed. The right place to tell that story is each author's personal bio, with key periods rather than one total: "2009 to 2016 in a hospital, private practice since 2016". On the law firm websites I audit, "over 20 years of experience" is almost always there. The year of bar admission, which would prove it in one click, almost never is.
Generative engines do not count your years, they cross-check them. An AI assistant asked whether an osteopath is experienced looks for facts it can find in more than one place: a start year on the website, the same year on a professional profile, a founding year in the business registry, signed articles going back to that date. A rounded, undated total matches nothing. A date does. You can also hand it to machines directly: the foundingDate property from the schema.org vocabulary, inside your organisation's JSON-LD code block, states the year the business was created. It does not replace the visible sentence; it confirms it.
The NeuroEEAT scoring grid (0-10)
Rate how precise and checkable your years of experience are, from empty slogan to dated proof.
| Score | Description | Concrete indicators |
|---|---|---|
| 0-2 | Slogan | No mention, or a rounded line on the homepage ("over 20 years of experience") with no name, no date and no specific field. |
| 3-4 | Number with no anchor | A number of years is written, but attached to the company or to a collective "we". Nobody can tell who, in what, since when. |
| 5-6 | Dated and named | Each author or owner states the year they started in the trade and their field. The total recalculates itself. Nothing yet points to an outside source. |
| 7-8 | Verifiable | The dates on the site match the professional profile, the licensing board or the registry. Key periods are spelled out (employment, founding, specialisation). A stranger can check in one click. |
| 9-10 | Structured and confirmed elsewhere | Dates visible, identical everywhere, repeated by third parties (press, directories, registry) and declared in code (foundingDate, marked-up author bio). The progression of the career is readable, not only the total. |
How to audit it on your site
Five checks to find out whether your years of experience prove anything or just fill space.
- 01
Hunt for the rounded line
Search your own site for "years of experience". Note every occurrence with no name, no date or no field. Each one is a slogan waiting to become a fact.
- 02
Check who owns the number
For each mention, ask: whose years are these? A firm founded in 2019 that claims "40 years of experience" is really adding up two partners' careers. That is not false, but it has to be said that way, with both names.
- 03
Swap the total for a date
A total expires, a date never does. "Since 2008" is still true in 2030; "18 years of experience" written today is wrong in twelve months, and nobody remembers to fix it. Section 2.5.2 of the QRG sends the evaluator looking for who is behind the page: a date on a named bio answers.
- 04
Compare with your outside footprint
Put the start year shown on your site next to the one on your professional profile, your licence record or your business registration. A two-year gap gets noticed and casts doubt on everything else.
- 05
Measure the level the topic demands
On a page that advises on a treatment, an investment or a dispute, check that the experience shown is in that exact field. Twenty years in bookkeeping do not cover employment-law advice. That is what section 3.4.1 demands on sensitive topics.
How to activate or improve it
From a copy-pasted slogan to a dated career that a reader, an evaluator and an AI can all cross-check.
Write a true number
- Replace every "over X years" with an exact figure and a start year: "since 2012", not "over 10 years".
- Attach the number to a named person, in their bio, not only to the company on the homepage.
- Name the field: "12 years in family law" says more than "12 years of experience".
- If the business is young, say so plainly and give the founders' experience instead.
Tell the key periods
- Break the career into periods: training, employment, founding, specialisation, with the years of each.
- Line those dates up with your professional profile, your licensing record and the business registry, to the month if you can.
- Add one checkable fact per period: a named employer, a public project, a dated publication.
- Update the bio once a year, on a fixed date, and change the page's updated date with it.
- Put the experience line right next to the advice it backs, not only on the About page.
Make the dates cross-checkable
- Declare the founding year in your organisation's JSON-LD (the foundingDate property) and career dates in each author's Person markup.
- Get third parties to repeat your dates: an interview, a trade directory, a press article that says "founded in 2004".
- Show progression: a 2015 article and its 2026 update on the same topic prove continuity better than any total.
- Keep a trail of versions: web archives, real publication dates, so a fact-checker can follow the thread.
- Name the person on your team who signs off on every experience figure before it goes live.
5 common mistakes to avoid
Sector specifics
Clinic or practitioner
Years of practice complement the degree, they do not replace it. Write them by period and by field: "sports physiotherapy since 2011, including five years in a hospital". Section 3.4.1 expects demonstrated expertise here, and a true, checkable number of patients or cases per year says more than any total of years.
Law firm
The year of bar admission is the simplest proof there is: public, dated, searchable in the bar's directory. Show it in every lawyer's bio, with the practice area. "Lawyer since 2009, criminal defence since 2013" beats "an experienced team" every time.
Tradesperson or neighbourhood shop
Here the founding year is a direct trust argument: a customer wants someone who will still be around for the warranty. "Founded in 1998, same address since 2005" can be checked against the business registry and the Google listing. Use the same date everywhere, directories included.
Young company or SaaS
A company created last year has no years to show, and saying so is more credible than hiding it. Give the founders' experience, per person and per field, and the dates of projects already shipped. Two dated careers beat a "we" that leaves people guessing.
Signals to activate in parallel
Years of experience carry weight when other signals confirm them:
FAQ
How to showcase your work experience on a website?
In each person's bio, with a start year, a specific field and an outside source (professional profile, licensing board, registry). Avoid the rounded total on the homepage: it expires and belongs to nobody. A line like "in accounting since 2008, self-employed since 2015" does the whole job. Then place that line next to the advice it backs.
How do I present my work experience?
As periods and facts, not as a single number. Break the career down: training, first job, founding, specialisation, with the years. Add one checkable fact per period, such as a named employer or a public project. The reader sees the progression, the evaluator finds something to verify, and the total becomes a consequence rather than a slogan.
How do I describe relevant experience?
Match it to the topic of the page. Twenty years in bookkeeping are relevant on a tax page and irrelevant on an employment-law page. State the field, the years and the type of cases handled, and leave out the rest. Section 3.4 of the QRG asks whether the creator has the knowledge or skill the topic requires; relevance is the whole question, not the size of the number.
How many years of experience do you need before it counts?
There is no threshold. Google's evaluators are not told to count years; they are told to check whether the person knows the topic and whether that can be verified. Three well-documented years in one narrow field can be more convincing than twenty vague ones. On sensitive topics, section 3.4.1 may require formal training on top; experience then adds to the degree rather than replacing it.
Does 'over 20 years of experience' count for Google if nothing backs it up?
Barely. An undated, unnamed total cannot be checked, so an evaluator applying section 2.5.2 cannot connect it to anyone, and an AI assistant cannot cross-check it with anything. Turn it into a start year on a named bio, match it with your professional profile and registry, and the same claim becomes evidence.
Case study
Before · a slogan with no proof
After · a dated, cross-checkable career
Illustrative figures showing the typical progression of the signal. They do not come from a real client case and must be replaced with your own measurements before any external communication.