As the internet evolves with new technologies and hallucination-prone AI overviews, users have had to understand that not all websites are created equal. Some websites are more trustworthy than others, and this discrepancy can be a real problem when it comes to sensitive topics like health and finance. That’s why Google created the term Y-M-Y-L.
YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life”. These are “topics that could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society”, Google says.
Organisations within YMYL niches need to show Expertise, Experience, Trust, and Authoritativeness (EEAT) factors on their website to build trust with users and search engines.
Keep reading to learn more about YMYL, why it matters for SEO, and how you can optimise your YMYL website to increase your EEAT score.
Jump To:
- What is YMYL?
- Why is YMYL Important for SEO?
- How to Know if Your Website is YMYL
- How Do You Optimise YMYL Websites?
- Advice for Optimising YMYL Websites & Checklist
- Examples of YMYL Niches
What is YMYL?
YMYL, or “Your Money or Your Life”, is a phrase used by Google to describe topics that could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society.
YMYL and EEAT are tightly aligned. EEAT refers to the Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness displayed by webpages.
While EEAT is not a specific ranking factor in itself, Google advises that EEAT can create a solid foundation atop which to place YMYL content. This is because Google’s systems and Search Quality Raters do give more weight to trustworthy YMYL content.
You can learn more about EEAT and how to deploy it on your website by checking out our article: What is E-E-A-T in SEO & Why is E-E-A-T Important?
Why YMYL Matters For SEO?
If Google determines that your website or organisation falls within a YMYL topic, it will heavily punish you for having bad EEAT.
This is because Google knows that most people trust the top result of a search, so Google wants to make sure that those top results are not misleading, dangerous, or ill-informed.
Therefore, understanding whether your website is in a YMYL niche is crucial for survival on SERPs. Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines describe three categories that every website falls into:
- Clearly YMYL Topic — e.g. Advice on when to go to A&E
- May be YMYL Topic — e.g. Personal opinion on why one exercise is inferior
- Not or Unlikely YMYL Topic — e.g. A music video
How to Know if Your Website is YMYL
Google advises its own evaluators to consider six types of topics which might indicate whether a website is YMYL, and the questions to ask about those topics. You can get ahead of the game by working from their playbook and asking the same questions about your website first.
How To Optimise YMYL Websites?
YMYL websites need to be optimised by applying EEAT throughout the site pages.
There are many different methods to do this, but the main thing to understand is that Google doesn’t want to rank websites created by people or businesses that have no idea what they’re talking about.
Therefore, when applying EEAT throughout your website, ask yourself: “How can I make my website look like it’s created by someone with experience, expertise, trustworthiness, and authoritativeness within my niche?”
Essential Pages & Information Checklist
- About’ Page
- ‘Meet the Team’ Page
- Author bios on blog posts
- Company Address
- Contact Details
- Policies
- SSL Certificate
- Testimonials & Reviews
- Cite sources and make references within blogs
- State the beneficial purpose of the website or business
- Well-structured site layout
- Encouraging CTAs
- Social media
- Google Business Profile
About Page
Creating an About page for the business or website is a great way to help your users understand how your website can help them. This is where you should put information about why the website or business was founded, who it was created by, when it was created, along with your mission and values. Basically, give the most relevant information anyone would want to know when considering using your website/business.
Meet the Team page
While the About page covers the whole business/website, your Meet the Team page should contain general biographies of your staff. It doesn’t have to contain all the team – maybe you only put the senior management team on – but this makes your website/business look more legitimate.
It’s a good idea to add qualifications & experience within the biographies – showing the experience and expertise of your team to users. Don’t forget to add professional photos.
Author Bios on Blog Posts
Every blog post should be finished with a small biography of who wrote the content. This shows the user that the information conveyed in the article was created by someone with experience within this area and is therefore trustworthy.
Company Address & Contact Details
Put your company address and contact details on your contact page and/or in your footer. This shows users and Google that this is a real business with real people.
Policies
Adding policy pages to your footer shows that you abide by data protection laws, along with other regulations. It is advisable that every website has a Cookies Policy, Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, and (if the website creates a lot of blog content or news articles) an Editorial Policy.
SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate shows a user whether the connection on the website is secure, or whether the information a user inputs could potentially be viewed by unwanted parties.
Testimonials / Reviews
Real, positive testimonials and reviews convey a message of trust and expertise to users. This also improves the chance of a user submitting an enquiry or making a conversion, as they will trust the product or service more.
Cite Sources/References within Blogs
Make sure blogs are citing other trustworthy sites that back up any claims you make via links, as this connection will be seen by SERPs as a sign of trustworthiness and expertise.
State the Beneficial Purpose of the Website or Business
The first thing a user wants to know when they land on a website homepage is “what do they do?” It should be very easy to find out what your business or website does, in layman’s terms, on the homepage.
Well-Structure Site Layout
A structured, professional website will always look more trustworthy than an unstructured, spammy mess. Consider using white spaces, headings, subheadings, clear CTAs, and well-spaced content. This is especially true for mobile versions of webpages.
Encouraging vs. Vague CTAs
CTAs (Calls To Action) are some of the most important features on any webpage you make. They are the text which encourages action from the user, often found on buttons. Good CTAs can turn hesitant users into enthusiastic customers, while bad CTAs can confuse users and worsen their experience.
Use strong, clear verbs like “Discover”, “Join”, “Buy”, or “Start” to encourage users to act without causing mental friction. Don’t be overly wordy and vague; describe exactly what’s going to happen once the user clicks.
Social Media
Becoming active on social media and linking to these channels from the website shows users that you are a real, active business.
Google Business Profile
Update your Google Business Profile and try to actively get reviews. Google Reviews help Google and users understand whether a business is genuinely helpful to their clients and customers.
Examples of YMYL Niches
There are many different examples of YMYL niches. Below, we’ve included sites within the niches as examples.
- Health or Safety
- Financial security (this includes crypto and gambling)
- eCommerce & Shopping
- Surveyors
- News & current events
- Groups of people or society (LGBT, race, ethnicity)
- Government and civics
YMYL Content SEO at Wildcat Digital
If you think your business falls under YMYL niches, get help from our expert SEO content writers at Wildcat Digital. We have experience writing for a wide range of YMYL niches, including healthcare, finance, education, eCommerce and more. Get in touch today to begin increasing leads and conversions through improved search rankings, organic traffic, and a better overall user experience.
YMYL Frequently Asked Questions
What Does YMYL Mean?
YMYL refers to topics that could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society. YMYL organisations need to display their own Expertise, Experience, Trustworthiness, and Authoritativeness around their topic in order to rank well on search engine results pages.
How Does YMYL Affect SEO?
When Google identifies an organisation or website as being YMYL, it scrutinises that website a lot more thoroughly and punishes untrustworthy webpages harder. YMYL websites must use smarter SEO practices to build their EEAT level to rank highly in SERPs, which requires more time and focus.
How Do I Know If My Industry is In a YMYL Niche?
To know if a topic is YMYL, Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines asks evaluators to assess whether the following types of harm might occur:
- Health or Safety: Topics that could harm mental, physical, and emotional health, or any form of safety, such as physical safety or safety online.
- Financial Security: Topics that could damage a person’s ability to support themselves and their families.
- Government, Civics & Society: Topics that could negatively impact groups of people, issues of public interest, trust in public institutions, election and voting information, and any other informational topics about government, civics or society that impact people’s lives.
- Other: Topics that could hurt people or negatively impact the welfare or well-being of society
Paul Pennington
SEO Account Director
