On Google, there are many different types of content, from sports and gaming to the latest news and entertainment. However, there are certain types of content online that are certainly more important than others, as there is pretty much everything you can imagine within the Google ether.
No matter what industry you’re in and the content you produce, it is being judged and assessed by Google in some way or another, but if there’s one thing that they want, it’s to rank the most valuable, trustworthy, and relevant information at the top of the search results.
That’s where YMYL comes in, and you begin to see that the varying types of information that you’re taking in need to be presented by the most trustworthy source. Here, we take a deeper look at what you should know about YMYL in SEO for your benefit moving forward.
What is YMYL?
In regards to YMYL, this is an acronym that stands for “Your Money Your Life”. This saying within the SEO industry refers to the content you see on Google that can have a huge impact on a person’s money or their life.
YMYL is potentially the most important content on the SERPs, as it can help people make or dismiss massive decisions within their day-to-day. Google themselves have stated, “We have very high page quality rating standards for YMYL pages because low-quality YMYL pages could potentially negatively impact a person’s happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.”
This proves how seriously the human evaluators at Google take this content when looking at each individual page, along with what message it represents, whether it’s true, and whether the information provided can help a person make the correct decision. This type of information can save someone’s life, so it has to be monitored closely and regularly.
The Different Types of YMYL on Google
When you look closer at the different types of YMYL content on Google, it may surprise you that more industries fit into this category than you first thought.
Although Google themselves haven’t given us the blueprint for the exact industry or genre of content that qualifies as a YMYL website, we can certainly make calculated assumptions. However, these are the topics that we would consider to be under YMYL scrutiny:
- News and current events
- Health and safety and medical advice
- Finance
- Civics, government, and law
- Shopping
- Groups of people
- Healthcare and rehabilitation
As we stand today, these are the topics that we believe to be most aligned with Google’s statement. They could all impact a person’s happiness, health, financial stability, or safety, whether that be just one of them or all at once; thus, they have to be more closely looked at by Google’s page quality rating standards.
Why Does YMYL Matter in SEO?
So, if you can take anything from this, it would be that YMYL pages are significantly more important than most of the pages we see today on Google. Therefore, if you’re either an SEO expert with a team of content writers or a YMYL business yourself, you have to be sure what you’re writing is true, high-quality, and trustworthy information for the consumer.
Google is essentially trying to keep the user safe from seeing any content that can mislead or harm users. Let’s say you’re a company providing this type of information and are potentially misleading or harming your readers. You’re then going to be damaging your trust and reputation as a business, ultimately leading to no one trusting your business for serious advice.
Although YMYL isn’t directly a ranking factor for Google’s rankings, if they see that you’re not following these guidelines, it will never have a good impact on your rankings, as they will know you’re not providing high-quality content.
You should always prioritise quality YMYL information, and not even just for SEO, but just for your readers because they deserve to get access to trustworthy information, as it can affect their financial well-being and health, and as a company, you need to have the integrity to do this.
How Can You Use E-E-A-T to Improve Your YMYL Content?
E-E-A-T is another acronym that stands for “Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness”. YMYL and E-E-A-T are two of the most important considerations that Google human evaluators use in the page quality rating standards.
E-E-A-T is essentially a set of guidelines for your pages that Google evaluators assess by looking at the experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of the company writing them.
Therefore, if you can combine a high-quality piece of content with the E-E-A-T, you’ll be highly regarded. However, how can you actually implement E-E-A-T within your YMYL content to reap the best results from Google’s quality rater guidelines? Let’s take a look:
Hire Expert Content Writers For SEO-Based Performance
As business owners, you are total experts in your field of work and your industry expertise and knowledge will be extremely valuable.
However, using expert content writers who have had experience structuring, planning, and executing valuable information for YMYL and E-E-A-T will give your business a much higher chance of success on Google when you collaborate both your efforts together.
Vet and Cite Your Sources
When searching for information that is going to be placed within your content, you need to be thoroughly confident that what you’re providing is true and reputable.
The best way to do this is by choosing the most renowned websites to source your information from, along with double and triple-checking your facts before publishing and adding external citation links so your audience can always fact-check you.
Make Sure the Content is Written With Value
This point ties in with hiring expert content writers who have worked in multiple YMYL industries, as using a professional tone for YMYL content is more suitable sometimes, not all the time, as you may think.
As the SQ guidelines specify, even informal forum type content can be suitable for YMYL topics as a form of ‘everyday expertise’ (this was actually one of the driving factors in adding the extra E for experience to EAT). The main takeaway from this is to provide value, no matter the tone of voice.
Clear Up Any Misconceptions
There are always two sides to every argument or point made, so clearing up the other sides of the story and presenting why your evidence is clear and accurate is paramount. Striving for clarity, accuracy, and sincerity should be carried out in every piece of writing.
YMYL in Summary
Ideally, overall, if you’re in YMYL sectors, you should be trying to create content that aligns with E-E-A-T principles, as becoming a trustworthy figure in your niche can not only boost your search engine rankings, but you will also find that you’ll be receiving a lot more business from your target audience.
If you want a team of SEO experts with dedicated content writers who have worked with ‘Your Money Your Life’ content for years, reach out to us today by calling 0151 662 0152 or filling out the ‘Get a Quote’ form in the top right-hand corner of our website, and we’ll see if we’re the right fit to work together. Take your YMYL content to the next level with Quirky Digital by getting started with your free SEO audit from us today.
