What are YMYL Pages?
YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages cover or touch on topics that can potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety. These pages are critical because the information they provide can significantly influence users' decisions and well-being.
Examples of YMYL Pages
- News and Current Events: Pages about international events, politics, science, etc.
- Civics, Government, and Law: Pages with information about voting, legal issues, social services, etc.
- Finance: Pages about investing, taxes, banking, etc.
- Shopping: Pages that facilitate online purchases or provide shopping advice.
- Health and Safety: Pages about medical issues, treatments, drugs, hospitals, etc.
- Groups of People: Pages discussing groups of people by nationality, race, status, etc.
- Other: Pages about fitness, nutrition, housing, job searching, etc.
Why are YMYL Pages Important?
YMYL pages are vital because they can directly affect a person's well-being. For instance, incorrect medical advice can harm someone's health, and poor financial advice can lead to significant monetary loss. Google has higher standards for these pages to ensure that they provide reliable and accurate information.
Google's Standards for YMYL Pages
Google aims to serve high-quality information to protect users' well-being. They have stringent standards for YMYL pages, emphasizing the need for accurate, authoritative, and trustworthy content. Low-quality YMYL pages could negatively impact a person's happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.
Best SEO Practices for YMYL Pages
1. Be Patient
YMYL content may take longer to rank well in search results. New websites, in particular, will need time to build authority and trust. Focus on consistently producing high-quality content and follow best practices to improve your rankings over time.
2. Get Mentions on Reputable Websites
Getting mentions on reputable websites is crucial for ranking YMYL content. Recommendations from expert sources or professional societies can significantly enhance your site's reputation. Use tools like Ranktracker’s Site Explorer to identify top-quality, reputable websites and build relationships to earn mentions.
3. Invite Real Experts for Interviews
Collaborate with real experts in YMYL topics to create content. Interviewing experts ensures that the information is accurate and trustworthy. Use a skilled copywriter to shape the interview into engaging, high-quality content.
4. State Information About the Website Owner and Writers Clearly
Google requires YMYL pages to demonstrate high standards of E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). Include detailed bios for writers and information about the website owner or company. This transparency helps establish credibility and trust with both users and search engines.
5. Focus on High-Quality, Valuable Content
Ensure your content provides genuine value to users. Avoid low-quality content strategies like keyword stuffing or using AI-generated content without proper human oversight. Strive to produce content that is significantly better than existing resources on the topic.
6. Keep Content Updated
Regularly update your YMYL content to ensure it remains accurate and relevant. Outdated information can harm your credibility and negatively impact your rankings. Establish a schedule for reviewing and updating content as needed.
FAQs
What are YMYL categories?
YMYL categories include topics that can impact a person's money or life, such as:
- News and Current Events
- Civics, Government, and Law
- Finance
- Shopping
- Health and Safety
- Groups of People
What is E-A-T and why is it important for YMYL pages?
E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is a crucial quality characteristic used by Google's quality evaluators to determine a page's quality rating. High E-A-T is essential for YMYL pages because Google has very high Page Quality rating standards for these types of content.
For example, medical advice should be written by individuals or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation. The content should be produced in a professional style and regularly reviewed and updated.
By adhering to these best practices and focusing on creating valuable, accurate, and trustworthy content, you can improve the chances of your YMYL pages ranking well and providing real value to users.
