Your Money or Your Life, or YMYL content is a term that has evolved to represent a genre of online content relating to topics that could potentially have an impact on a person’s financial, physical or mental well-being.
With people regularly turning to search engines for answers to a range of topics regarding finance and health, it must be ensured that any content produced is written by experts and is of course, up to date. Without this expertise in place, there is a chance that misinformation could spread, having real-world consequences.
As an award-winning agency that regularly produces content, we know what constitutes YMYL content and why good E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust) is crucial for both businesses and consumers. This blog will take you through the need-to-know information about YMYL content and any challenges that you may face.
What is YMYL Content? Where Did it Come From?
Diving a little deeper, YMYL content, as defined by Google, is ‘pages or topics that could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety’.
This concept was first introduced by Google as a quality control measure for the search engine results pages (SERPs), with the hopes that it would improve the experience and better rank content that is more reliable.
It was first referenced within Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. These guidelines are used by Google’s search raters – real people who essentially evaluate the quality of the search results.
Since their introduction to the public, the guidelines have provided valuable insights into the ways in which Google works and what factors go into a page ranking well in the SERPs.
YMYL content can encompass a variety of categories that relate to a user’s life, which is why a higher level of scrutiny is often put on this type of content by Google. For a page to rank well, it must adhere to E-E-A-T standards (also first referenced in the guidelines) that ensure information provided to users is accurate and doesn’t include misinformation.
The topics that can influence a person’s life are considered YMYL content.
Health & Medical Information
As you would expect, health and medical advice is perhaps one of the most essential topics where YMYL content is held to the highest standard. This would include any information that is presented to the user about medical symptoms, diagnoses, wellness, medications and potential treatments – each of which is content that a user may see as actionable and therefore poses a risk of harm.
Financial Information
SERPs are full of sources that cover financial topics, whether it be insurance, payroll or banking. When it comes to specific topics such as investing, retirement planning, taxes and loans (to name a few), misleading information has the potential to seriously impact a person’s life, with financial consequences sometimes being long-term.
Legal Topics
Legal topics can range from immigration and divorce to criminal law or estate planning. As you’d expect, legal information being provided to users must be accurate and not misleading, but when referring to YMYL content it is a category that must be held to the highest standard.
News & Public Information
When producing news and information for the public, journalists must adhere to ‘The Editors Code of Practice’ set out by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) which ensures factors such as accuracy, privacy and harassment are considered. Within this code of practice, there are also clauses that set out rules relating to financial information and crime; therefore, it’s crucial that YMYL content is accurate and produced with integrity – especially when relating to topics such as politics and current events.
These are just a few examples of categories that could impact somebody’s physical, emotional, or financial health and are therefore considered YMYL content. However, it must be made sure that businesses that operate within or adjacent to that category are extremely careful in how they present information online.
Why YMYL Content Matters for Businesses
The concept of YMYL content is much more than something created by Google as quality control, and for businesses, it goes beyond simply meeting guidelines. YMYL content offers a vital opportunity for businesses to build trust and engage with their audience. If inaccurate or misleading content is created and released, they could fail to meet the standards expected of them.
Producing YMYL content on any topic comes with an element of risk for every business, meaning the stakes behind each piece of published content are high. To establish (and retain) credibility, or even grow authority in the SERPs, YMYL content can be crucial in demonstrating industry expertise and building trust with an audience. With this, Google is far more likely to rank content that demonstrates accuracy and reliability. However, this is about more than just compliance. It’s about providing information that shows a business takes its audience seriously and wants to offer long-term value.
On the flip side, businesses that fail to meet the standard expected of YMYL content can see a decline in search visibility, which may cause further damage to factors such as reputation and consumer confidence.
Why YMYL Content Matters for Consumers
For consumers, YMYL content can be more than informational, it can be the foundation for major life decisions. With the mixture of categories that YMYL content fits into, the accuracy and reliability of a piece of content can have a direct impact on a user’s well-being and understanding of a sensitive topic, whether they’re looking for legal advice, planning retirement or researching medical symptoms.
Consumers rely on trustworthy information to help them make informed decisions. Simply put, if content demonstrates expertise, clear information and transparent guidance that includes reputable sources, a consumer is more likely to trust the page they are reading.
The digital landscape is unfortunately flooded with misinformation and opinion-based writing, therefore, Google being able to distinguish useful and credible YMYL content from harmful advice is more important than ever.
Google’s Guidelines and E-E-A-T
Due to the sensitive nature of YMYL topics, Google applies stricter quality standards to the content. At the heart of these standards is E-E-A-T, or Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust. This concept sits within Google’s Search Rater Guidelines and is what ultimately evaluates the quality of your content and its ranking.
To put it plainly, E-E-A-T is not an optional inclusion for YMYL content. Google’s algorithms, quality raters and most importantly – users, need to be shown clear signals that any content being produced is created with expertise, backed by evidence and published on a trustworthy platform. If content does not meet these expectations, Google will penalise content by prioritising high-quality content and deprioritising your content’s visibility in the search results.
How to Improve YMYL Content with E-E-A-T
Ensuring E-E-A-T signals are present throughout YMYL content will not only position you as a reliable and authoritative source in the eyes of Google and your audience, but it will also increase your chances of ranking well – as your content is providing genuine value to users.
Although the categories of YMYL content are important and at times filled with industry expert jargon, making improvements to what is being produced can be simple. The following are simple tips that will help improve or keep your YMYL content ranking well:
- All content should be written or reviewed by qualified professionals
- Link to reputable, trustworthy sources
- Make sure the credentials of professionals are visible on the page
- Keep content up to date – especially in fast-paced, ever-changing industries like finance or healthcare
- Include author bios on written content
- Add customer reviews or testimonials to your site to enhance trust and authority
YMYL content plays a huge role in today’s digital marketing landscape and regardless of the category that is being covered, the information being provided is critical in shaping the decisions that audiences make.
Due to the type of content that is covered, a higher level of responsibility is on the business producing it to ensure communication is clear, accurate and driven by expertise. Not only does this offer the best chance of positioning themselves as industry leaders and building trust with their audience, but it will also encourage brands to stand out amongst the competition in the SERPs.
Looking to take your YMYL content to the next level?
At MRS Digital, our award-winning SEO and integrated digital marketing services can help your business gain better results and level up its rankings. Get in touch to explore how we can help.
