What are YMYL Pages?

If you've ever wondered why some websites rank higher in Google search results than others, you're not alone. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a continually evolving area. And even those who work in it can have difficulty keeping up with all the latest changes and updates.

Yet, one thing that hasn't changed is Google's commitment to delivering the best possible results to its users. And one of the ways they do that is by giving special treatment to what they call "Your Money or Your Life" (YMYL) pages. So, in this article, we will look closely at the following:

  • What counts as a YMYL page?
  • Why does Google care about YMYL pages?
  • Best practices to improve your YMYL pages.

What Does YMYL Stand For?

YMYL means "Your Money or Your Life," a designation used by search engines like Google. Using YMYL, Google can identify web pages with sensitive data on finances or physical well-being.

As such, pages with advice on health, financial services, and taxes are YMYL pages. When indexing these pages, Google applies its strict high-quality content standards to ensure that the info presented is accurate and up-to-date.

To further protect people from low-quality YMYL pages, SEOLEverage offers services to improve content—

  • Accuracy
  • Relevancy

These services include:

ServicesBenefits
Deep-dive researchHelp businesses create content that accurately reflects their industry and current trends.
Content optimizationEnsure that the most important details are highlighted prominently.
Link-building activitiesProvide legitimate links that appear in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

Such strategies ultimately help businesses establish trust with customers. And this can be critical for success in competitive search engine results pages.

What Counts as a YMYL Page?

Below are some categories of pages considered to be YMYL. Some include financial advice, medical advice, shopping or product reviews, and pages that offer legal advice. Continue reading to discover more about each of these classifications.

Pages about financial advice

Financial advice is an essential part of many people's lives. Pages about this type of advice a YMYL content. Such pages that include financial advice include investment products and services.

That said, Google takes it seriously. So, when creating a page about financial stability, ensure that all the facts are accurate and up-to-date. As such, you should avoid making claims you can't back up with evidence.

At SEOLeverage™️, they understand the importance of pages about financial advice. And so they can create content that adheres to the search quality evaluator guidelines. Plus, they employ research techniques to ensure that all data about financial advice is relevant.

Pages about medical advice

When creating webpages about medical advice, it's essential to consider E-A-T:

  • Expertise
  • Authoritativeness
  • Trustworthiness

Google's search quality raters use this to determine the quality of search results. This is especially true for YMYL content, which provides medical advice. Or even info about drugs and medical devices.

To ensure you meet the standards for these pages, make all details well-researched. Also, be very cautious when making any claims. In doing that, many websites use third parties to increase trustworthiness and credibility.

For instance, SEOLeverage™️ not only ensures accuracy. Yet, it also helps you strengthen the E-A-T factor with higher semantic richness.

Pages about shopping or product reviews

Classified YMYL websites by Google include pages about shopping or product reviews. All content must be accurate with such pages, as this info can affect lives. As part of the quality rater guidelines, these sites must meet the standards of page quality set by Google.

And with SEOLeverage™️, they ensure your content stands out by conducting thorough research. They also identify if your content meets the standards required for YMYL websites.

Likewise, they can identify any potential issues before they can damage your site’s reputation. Overall, all their work aims to boost traffic to your YMYL website.

Pages that offer legal advice

People often turn to legal advice websites to learn more about their rights. Likewise, they find resources on such pages to help them understand their situation. Hence, these sites need high E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) to rank high.

This requires authoritative sites and sources on topics such as divorce or bankruptcy. Also, you must offer customer service information to show that your website is reliable for legal advice.

Using SEOLeverage™️ can help these websites improve their E-A-T ratings. As such, they provide keyword research and content optimization to create high-quality pages.

Why Does Google Care About YMYL Pages?

Google cares about the trustworthiness of YMYL pages because people rely on these websites for information. Plus, it could affect their finances or their health. As a result, Google has much higher standards for the YMYL page's trustworthiness, authority, and expertise.

To meet these higher standards, YMYL pages must have the following:

  • A top-level domain (like .com or .org)
  • An SSL certificate (which you can get for free from your hosting provider)
  • Correct spelling and grammar

Some reasons why Google has these higher standards for YMYL pages include:

  • People rely on YMYL pages for important information. Google wants to ensure that the data on these pages is accurate and trustworthy.
  • The stakes are high if something goes wrong. Making financial or health decisions based on inaccurate info from YMYL content could have serious consequences.
  • Google wants to be a reliable source of information. If Google directs people to unreliable YMYL pages, it will damage its positive brand reputation.
  • Google strives to give the best user experience. Part of providing a good user experience is ensuring that the details people find through Google are reliable.

Tips To Get Higher Standards for YMYL Pages

How can you do this? There are several options available that you can do, such as:

  • Make sure your sources are credible. If you’re citing statistics or data points on your YMYL pages, link to the source so readers can check it themselves.
  • Keep your content up-to-date. If you have outdated information on your YMYL pages, update it as soon as possible, so searchers don’t get disappointed when they land on your page.
  • Get expert input. If you’re not an expert on the topic of your YMYL page, consider reaching out to someone who is and get their feedback before publishing the page. This will help ensure the accuracy of data in your content.
  • Disclose any conflicts of interest. If you have any relationships with businesses or products mentioned on your YMYL pages, disclose that upfront so readers know there could be a bias in your content.

Conclusion

Being labeled a YMYL website comes with responsibilities. Namely, you need to ensure that your content is accurate and trustworthy. Likewise, our website should be expert enough to offer this advice.

Aside from that, you need to be transparent about your funding source. Plus, include an about page with information about your qualifications. But if all this sounds like a lot to take on, contact SEOLeverage™️ to help you out.