YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life,” a classification used by search engines to identify web pages or topics that could significantly impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.
What are YMYL Pages?
YMYL pages cover a wide range of topics that can directly affect a person’s well-being or financial situation. These include:
1. Health and safety information
2. Financial advice and transactions
3. Legal information
4. News and current events
5. Information related to major life decisions (e.g., parenting, education, career choices)
Search engines, particularly Google, hold YMYL pages to higher standards of accuracy, expertise, and trustworthiness.
Why are YMYL Pages Important?
- Higher Quality Standards: YMYL pages are subject to more rigorous ranking factors and quality assessments.
- Expertise Required: Content on YMYL pages should be created or reviewed by experts in the field.
- Trust Signals: YMYL sites need strong E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals.
- Algorithm Sensitivity: YMYL topics are more likely to be affected by major algorithm updates like the Medic Update.
Best Practices for YMYL Pages
1 – Demonstrate Expertise
Ensure your content is created or reviewed by qualified experts in the field. Include author bios, credentials, and links to professional profiles.
Example: For a medical advice page, have content written or reviewed by licensed healthcare professionals and clearly display their qualifications.
2 – Prioritize Accuracy and Updates
Regularly review and update your content to ensure it remains accurate and current. Include “last updated” dates on your pages.
Checklist for content updates:
- Verify all facts and statistics
- Check for changes in laws or regulations
- Update any outdated information
- Add new relevant research or data
3 – Build Trust Signals
Incorporate elements that enhance your site’s credibility and trustworthiness.
Steps to build trust:
- Display contact information prominently
- Include a detailed “About Us” page
- Showcase customer reviews and testimonials
- Display relevant certifications or awards
- Link to authoritative sources
Expert Tip
Use schema markup to provide additional context about your content and expertise to search engines. For example, utilize the “Article” schema type with properties like “author” and “datePublished” to enhance your YMYL content’s visibility and credibility in search results.
Key Takeaways
YMYL is a crucial concept in SEO, particularly for sites dealing with sensitive topics that can impact users’ well-being or finances. To succeed with YMYL content, focus on demonstrating expertise, ensuring accuracy, and building strong trust signals.
Remember, while YMYL standards are stringent, they ultimately serve to protect users and ensure they receive reliable, trustworthy information on critical topics.
Related Terms
- E-E-A-T: Closely tied to YMYL, E-E-A-T is a framework for evaluating content quality.
- Google Algorithm: YMYL considerations are a significant part of Google’s ranking algorithms.
- Ranking Factors: YMYL status influences how Google evaluates and ranks pages.
- User Experience: Crucial for YMYL pages to build trust and engagement.