YMYL Pages

What Are YMYL Pages?

YMYL pages refer to webpages containing content that can significantly affect a person’s health, safety, finances, or welfare. YMYL is the shortened form of Your Money or Your Life. 

Webpages can be considered YMYL if they affect:

• The person who viewed the content
• People who are affected by the person who viewed the content
• People who are affected by the actions of the person who viewed the content

Google categorizes two types of content as YMYL. 

1. Content that is considered harmful. For example, content that promotes self-harm or crime.
2. Content that could cause harm if it turns out to be inaccurate. For example, content that educates an audience on how to invest money, or what to do in the case of an earthquake or a heart attack.

To be more specific, YMYL pages typically fall into the following niches:

• Insurance
• Inversión
• Loans and credit
• Diet and nutrition
• Housing and real estate
• News and current events
• Financial advice or services
• Legal advice or information
• Education and career guidance
• Health and medical information
• Government-related information
• Investments and retirement planning

With that said, Google has higher page quality requirements for YMYL pages. Google also requires YMYL content to have strong (E-E-A-T) signals. So, unless you have some experience and authority on the topic, it can be hard, or even impossible, to rank for YMYL keywords.

Importance of YMYL Pages

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages can have lifelong impacts on the individuals who access them. This prompted Google to consider them critical pages that must be more closely controlled. 

Before the classification of YMYL pages, any site with strong SEO could rank for many of these keywords. Similarly, credible sites with expertise on the subject matter may see lower rankings or even struggle to rank if their content is not properly optimized or when they have already been outranked by these low-quality sites.  

This meant that sites with incorrect or low-quality content written by inexperienced bloggers without any tangible expertise could rank for content that can impact a person’s life. 

To avoid such, Google categorized some niches and content as YMYL and now requires websites that publish such content to demonstrate high levels of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).

This effectively took the low-quality content, as well as that created by inexperienced bloggers, off the search results page for YMYL keywords. At the same time, it improved the chances of expert-led content ranking on páginas de resultados de búsqueda. 

This effectively removed low-quality content and articles created by inexperienced bloggers from the search results for YMYL keywords. At the same time, it improved the chances of expert-led content ranking on search results pages. 

SEO Best Practices for YMYL Pages

YMYL pages have higher standards than other types of content. Thankfully, many of its requirements are closely linked to your E-E-A-T signals, particularly trustworthiness.

So, ensure to refer to this guide on optimizing your content for E-E-A-T. Then, follow the best practices listed below.

1 Ensure the Page Has High E-E-A-T

YMYL pages require high levels of E-E-A-T to rank well. To start, ensure they are created by experienced authors and editors with relevant expertise.

Trustworthiness is also the most important aspect of E-E-A-T. So, ensure your content and site demonstrate high trustworthiness signals. Do not fake it. Otherwise, it will affect your other E-E-A-T signals, even if they are top-notch.

2 Cite Credible and Authoritative Sources

Always back up claims with references from trusted institutions. This reinforces the accuracy and reliability of your content and signals to search engines that your information is verifiable and well-supported.

3 Include an Author Bio

YMYL pages should have author boxes and pages. These boxes and pages should include the author’s photo, name, and additional information about their experience and expertise. Where possible, you can include their contact information. 

4 Keep Your Content Updated and Accurate

YMYL pages can become outdated overnight. For example, a medical fact can change as new discoveries are made. Similarly, a legal page may require updates when new laws are passed, bills are submitted, or legal rulings are made. 

Ensure to keep up to date with the latest information and developments in your niche and update your pages as required. 

5 Use Clear and Professional Language

Visitors typically require a bit of seriousness and professionalism when visiting YMYL pages. Make sure to keep such pages as professional as possible. Avoid slang, excessive jargon, or an overly casual tone unless it suits the audience. 

Your content should also include appropriate headings, bullet points, short paragraphs, and appropriate media that improve readability.

6 Include Disclaimers Where Appropriate

Many visitors treat YMYL pages as professional advice. This can cause issues for your YMYL page down the road, including from disgruntled visitors who may file legal charges when your medical, financial, or legal advice does not give them the intended results.

To prevent such, make sure to include legally-crafted disclaimers on your site. These disclaimers should clarify the purpose and limitations of your content and remind visitors that the information on your site should not replace professional advice. 

7 Moderate and Fact-Check All User-Generated Content

If you allow visitors to leave comments, opinions, or reviews on your site, then make sure to review them for accuracy and appropriateness. This is important as other visitors may take these comments as add-on advice to yours. Spammers may also use them to promote their products to your audience. 

Such content can harm your site’s credibility and, in some cases, may violate Google Search Essentials guidelines. So, to avoid potential issues, make sure to actively moderate and review such content.

8 Comply with Legal and Regulatory Standards

Many YMYL niches have laws, rules, regulations, and requirements that their practitioners must follow. For example, many countries and regions have regulations as to whether an attorney can solicit clients, and restrictions as to how they can go about it. 

Similarly, medical personnel are usually bound by privacy laws, while pharmaceuticals may have to follow regulations as to where and how they advertise their medicines. 

Overall, ensure to familiarize yourself with relevant laws and regulations and follow them to the letter. This protects your business and improves your visitors’ trust in your site.

9 Be Transparent About Your Business and Funding

Many YMYL sites are owned by established organizations, including governments, rather than a single or small team of bloggers. Make sure to be upfront about your ownership and source of funding.

This builds trust with visitors and search engines. It also allows visitors to identify potential or actual bias, along with subtle advertisements and promotions that can influence their decision-making process.