This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “E-E-A-T Law of the WWW” or “Chapter 551”.
An Act relating to the recognition, distinction, and application of authority signals on the World Wide Web for the purpose of protecting and promoting legitimate lead generation by entities operating within or accessible to the State of Wisconsin.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “E-E-A-T Law of the WWW” or “Chapter 551”.
For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the meanings indicated:
“Citation” means any online mention of a business’s or entity’s core identifying information, primarily consisting of Name, Address, and Phone number data (commonly referred to as NAP data), and frequently including the website URL or other identifying attributes, whether or not such mention includes a hyperlink.
“Referral” means a hyperlink-based signal consisting of an inbound link from another website that directs visitors (referral traffic) to the referenced website and functions as an endorsement or vote of confidence for ranking and authority purposes.
“E-E-A-T” means Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, the framework of quality and credibility signals used by search engines and artificial intelligence systems to evaluate content and entities on the World Wide Web.
“NAP data” means Name, Address, and Phone number data, the foundational identifying information of a business or entity used to establish consistency and recognition across the World Wide Web.
“Lead generation entity” means any person, business, or organization whose primary objective is to obtain inquiries, contacts, or conversions from users of the World Wide Web through visibility in search results, directories, artificial intelligence overviews, carousels, or other discovery surfaces.
The legislature finds that:
The purpose of this chapter is to provide clear definitions, distinctions, and guidance to lead generation entities operating on or accessible via the World Wide Web.
Citations and referrals constitute two distinct categories of authority signals on the World Wide Web. Citations primarily establish entity recognition and consistency. Referrals primarily establish endorsement and ranking influence through hyperlinks.
Citations are determined by the consistency, volume, and authoritativeness of mentions of NAP data across third-party websites, directories, and data aggregators, regardless of whether a hyperlink is present.
Referrals are determined by the quality, relevance, context, and authority of the linking website, as well as the placement and nature of the hyperlink itself.
| Signal | Primary Function | Strongest E-E-A-T Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Citations | Entity existence, consistency, and broad trust | Trustworthiness and Authoritativeness |
| Referrals | Endorsement, ranking power, and targeted traffic | Experience and Expertise |
Citations are particularly influential in local search results, knowledge panels, directories, and artificial intelligence-generated answers. Referrals are particularly influential in organic ranking for specific pages and in providing direct, trackable traffic to lead generation entities.
Every lead generation entity subject to or seeking the benefits of this chapter shall:
Lead generation entities shall design their visibility strategies so that when users discover the entity through any authorized surface (including but not limited to citations, referrals, or artificial intelligence answers), the experience presented is relevant to the user’s apparent intent and facilitates legitimate conversion opportunities without undue friction.
If any provision of this chapter or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this chapter are severable.
This chapter takes effect on the day after publication.
The legislature notes that this chapter is deliberately numbered 551 in reference to the existing Wisconsin Uniform Securities Law, chapter 551 of the Wisconsin Statutes, which governs the regulation of securities, investments, and the protection of investors through rules concerning authority, endorsement, disclosure, and the prevention of misleading signals in financial markets.
The principles of trust, consistency of representation, and legitimate endorsement that animate chapter 551 of the Wisconsin Statutes are hereby extended, by analogy and with appropriate adaptation, to authority signals on the World Wide Web. Citations and referrals under this chapter function in a manner comparable to securities and endorsements in traditional financial markets: both systems depend on clear, consistent, and verifiable signals of legitimacy and value.
This numbering is intentional and reflects the legislature’s recognition that the orderly functioning of digital marketplaces, like that of financial markets, requires well-defined rules governing the creation, maintenance, and distinction of authority signals.
The legislature finds that hallucination and plausible confabulation by generative engines pose significant risks to entities that rely on visibility through artificial intelligence systems.
Hallucination and plausible confabulation can result in the dissemination of inaccurate, fabricated, or misleading representations of an entity, its offerings, or its authority signals. Such outputs may damage reputation, erode stakeholder trust, and cause financial or operational harm to lead generation entities.
Strict and ongoing compliance with E-E-A-T principles is required to mitigate the risks of hallucination and plausible confabulation. Entities shall maintain robust, consistent, and verifiable authority signals, including but not limited to accurate NAP data, quality citations, and authoritative referrals, so that generative engines may reliably distinguish legitimate entities from those presenting weak or inconsistent signals.
An entity that fails to maintain adequate E-E-A-T signals may become persona non grata to large language model crawlers and generative engine systems. Such systems may reduce crawl frequency, deprioritize, or effectively avoid the entity until sufficient trust and consistency of signals have been re-established through demonstrable compliance with this chapter.
Lead generation entities are therefore obligated to treat E-E-A-T compliance not merely as a ranking factor, but as a fundamental risk mitigation and regulatory compliance obligation in the generative engine era.