What is YMYL? Google’s high-stakes content category

“Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) websites face stricter standards for ranking in Google search results than other types of content. 

If you’re looking to build a successful site related to money, physical health, personal safety, or topics that could negatively affect the public at large, your content will need to adhere to stricter standards of accuracy and user value.

In this guide, learn what YMYL is, why you should care about it, how it relates to other content quality concepts like E-E-A-T, and what you can do to ensure your YMYL site doesn’t run afoul of Google’s heightened analysis.

What is YMYL?

YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life.” It refers specifically to content that can impact a person’s health, finances, safety, or well-being.

It’s important to understand that YMYL applies to both individuals and groups of people. Topics related to personal fitness and safety are just as much a part of YMYL as topics related to social well-being and the security of public institutions.

YMYL also applies to the impact of such information beyond the person reading a specific page. For example, if someone gets advice that helps them financially while harming others’ financial prospects, that would be considered a potentially harmful YMYL page that requires additional scrutiny.

Google first introduced YMYL in 2013 as part of its Search Quality Rater Guidelines. These guidelines are used by Google’s team of people known as Search Quality Raters, who review and grade search result listings.

As originally defined, YMYL referred to pages that “have an impact on your current or future well being.” Over the years, that definition has expanded significantly, though the core intent is still there.

To know if your content falls in one of the YMYL niches, ask yourself the following:

Can this content affect someone’s well-being, safety, finances, or major decisions?

If you can answer “yes,” that means Google likely considers it YMYL.

Is YMYL a ranking factor?

No, YMYL is not a ranking factor. But it can affect your ranking.

Here’s how:

1. YMYL content is rated using stricter standards than other pages by Google’s Search Quality Raters
2. If a YMYL site or page fails to meet those standards, it will receive the lowest quality rating by the person rating it
3. According to Google, pages with the lowest rating are “untrustworthy, deceptive, harmful to people or society, or have other highly undesirable characteristics”
4. Although a low-quality rating won’t have an immediate impact, Google uses those ratings to update its algorithms
5. This means that YMYL pages with low ratings will likely be detected and removed from the SERPs in a future algorithm update

One of the ways that Search Quality Raters determine what rating to give a YMYL is by assessing its Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust, also known as E-E-A-T. 

For more about the connection between YMYL and E-E-A-T, see “Why does YMYL matter?” below.

YMYL examples

Defining YMYL is relatively easy, but it’s easier to understand what YMYL is with a few examples.

Google specifies the following four areas of YMYL content in the Search Quality Rater Guidelines:

• Health or safety
• Financial security 
• Society
• Other

These are very broad categories that can be broken down further.

Before doing so, it’s worth noting that within these areas, Google offers examples of both what is YMYL information in these areas and what isn’t.

The sections below dive deeper into what these broad topics cover with examples of both YMYL and non-YMYL content.

Health, medical, and wellness

For the health, medical, and wellness space, it’s best to assume anything related to these topics is YMYL, so create your content accordingly.

Health, medical, and wellness topics cover a lot of areas, including everything from life-threatening conditions to lifestyle habits.

Specifically, health-related YMYL pages can include information about:

• Physical disorders, disabilities, or other medical conditions
• Mental, emotional, and behavioral health
• Illness and disease, including prevention measures like screenings, vaccination, and lifestyle factors
• Conventional treatments, including surgery, prescription medication and supplements, and physical therapy
• Complementary and alternative treatments like non-prescription supplements, mind-body therapies, energy healing, holistic practices rooted in cultural traditions, and manipulative therapies (as in therapeutic massage or chiropractic treatment, not attempts at deception)
• Palliative care, hospice care, and compassionate use treatments
• Emerging treatments, clinical studies, and other medical research
• Health centers, practices, or individual medical professionals
• Physical fitness and health-centered activities
• Nutrition and diet

Due to the nature of health, medical, and wellness topics, content in these areas will almost always be considered YMYL.

For example, this New York Times article about how to start kettlebell training is certainly YMYL. The article specifically discusses the health benefits of such training, as well as providing instruction on movements that could be harmful if done wrong.

On the other hand, it’s possible to have content that doesn’t trigger YMYL. 

For example, a Wirecutter review about what kettlebell brands to buy may not be considered YMYL, since it doesn’t get into the health benefits of kettlebell exercises directly.

Unfortunately, the line of what is and isn’t YMYL isn’t always crystal clear. While the kettlebell reviews don’t make health and wellness claims, there is a financial component. 

Buying a kettlebell or two may not significantly harm most people’s long-term financial situation. But reviews of high-cost medical devices—or even lower-cost but recurring medical supplies—likely fall under YMYL because they can impact someone’s long-term financial outlook.

This is why it makes sense to assume all medical and health-related content is YMYL. If you approach it with the level of care Google expects, you’re more likely to emerge at the top of the search results.

Physical safety 

Physical safety relates to situations or conditions that could harm a person or a group of people. It also considers the misuse or destruction of property that can lead to personal harm. 

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Note: Physical safety is distinct from digital and online safety, though the two can impact each other. See “Digital and online safety” below for more on that topic.

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Here are some examples of physical safety topics:

• Location safety: Related to a particular place, such as someone’s home, workplace, or a public area like a park or shopping center
• Situational safety: Related to one’s immediate surroundings and circumstances, particularly when in unusual or uncommon situations like traveling, attending an event, or engaging in unfamiliar activities
• Personal safety: Related to protection of a person’s self from harm by objects, animals, or other people
• Custodial safety: Related to the care of others, including children under the care of a parent or guardian, child care worker, or educational professional; elderly people who receive in-home or institutional care; disabled individuals who need medical care or assistance with daily activities; and anyone else who requires continual or recurring care
• Environmental safety: Related to conditions like weather, temperature, and air quality, as well as exposure to hazardous materials such as asbestos or lead paint, gases like radon or methane, or radiation from both natural sources like the sun and human sources like power plants and lines
• Public safety: Related to things that can affect large groups of people, such as public infrastructure like roads and bridges; large gatherings like parades, festivals, or rallies; and emergency services like medical, fire, or police response (see “Government and civic information” below for more on this)
• Product safety: Related to commodities and services, including those that are inherently dangerous like heavy equipment, sharp tools, hazardous materials, or life-sustaining medical devices; things that could be dangerous if used improperly, such as electronic devices or sports equipment; products with design or manufacturing defects that make them more dangerous than they otherwise would be; as well as the repair, reuse, and recall of such products

Safety is coupled with health in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Like health, safety topics are almost always considered YMYL.

For instance, SafeZone is an app used by some colleges and universities that provides some safety-related information and services to students, faculty, staff, and others who may be on campus.

Information about how the app can help users definitely falls within the boundaries of YMYL content.

Digital and online safety

Digital and online safety relates to the protection and security of one’s electronic data and activities, especially those carried out over the internet or another computer network. 

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Note: Digital and online safety is separate from physical safety, although each one can affect the other. See “Physical safety” above for more about that topic.

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As people’s lives have become more integrated with mobile and “connected” devices, the importance of digital and online safety has become greater. 

It’s become especially important where it overlaps with other YMYL areas, such as:

• Health: Fitness trackers that monitor one’s vital signs or medical devices that can be monitored remotely by doctors
• Safety: “Smart” appliances that can affect one’s environment, lock and unlock doors, or provide security monitoring
• Finance: Biometric and two-factor authentication (2FA) for banking, investment, and alternative finance apps or websites
• Society: Warnings about weather events and natural disasters, as well as emergency broadcasts like AMBER Alerts

Because it can impact these other areas, digital and online safety should always be treated as YMYL. This is true even when a page doesn’t specifically refer to other YMYL topics.

Some of the topics covered under digital and online safety include:

• Login security: Related to credentials for accessing secure apps and websites, including best practices for usernames, passwords, security phrases, and recovery questions and answers, as well as software to manage logins, generate random passphrases, provide 2FA codes, and perform other login-related tasks
• Network security: Related to connecting devices to a local network or to the global internet via wired, wireless, or mobile connections, including the hardware required to make such connections like modems, routers, and network cards or antennas, as well as protective software like firewalls and security-related protocols like SSL/TLS (which enables secure communications for HTTPS websites)
• Data security: Related to stored information, especially things like personally identifiable information (PII), transaction details, and app activity (like access logs and browsing history), as well as the management and protection of such information, monitoring and notification of data breaches, and recovery from and reactions to such breaches
• Spam and scams: Related to attempts to manipulate people via misinformation, deceptive links, malicious websites, or harmful software (“malware”), including protections against such attempts like spam filtering, antivirus software, and how to submit a report
• Device security: Related to any devices that can be accessed or controlled through online connections, including computers, mobile devices, security systems, and “Internet of Things” devices like smart speakers, TVs, appliances, utility meters, temperature controls, and the growing list of other connected devices

For example, the United Kingdom-based charitable organization Childnet provides information and resources for parents, guardians, teachers, and children about how to keep young people and families safe online.

Financial services

Financial security refers to the ability of individuals to provide for themselves and the people who rely on them, in particular their families or others under their direct care. Many of the ways people try to ensure financial security is through the use of reputable financial services.

Not every type of financial service carries the same risk of impacting someone’s financial stability. However, because many financial services can lead to long-term negative impacts—even for accounts with relatively low financial risk—they’re a key part of YMYL.

Risks related to financial services include:

• Loss of account benefits and features if certain conditions aren’t met, such as a required number of direct deposits per month or maintaining a certain minimum balance
• Forfeiture of rewards or bonuses for violating account terms and conditions
• Fees and rate penalties for missing loan payments, exceeding credit limits, overdrafting deposit balances, or otherwise violating account terms
• Forced account closures when account violations occur too many times
• Ineligibility for future accounts due to past account behavior
• Collections and legal judgments in cases where the financial institution seeks recompense 
• Consumer reporting flags at one or more of the primary credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) or at the reporting agency which tracks deposit account and debit history (ChexSystems)

Of course, not all of these penalties will apply to every type of financial service. However, most financial accounts come with some level of risk that can affect a person’s long-term financial stability.

Because of this, it’s important to treat all financial services topics as YMYL, including the following:

• Deposit accounts: Related to checking and savings accounts for personal or business use, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit (CDs), as well as dedicated accounts like health savings accounts or holiday savings plans
• Loans and lines of credit: Related to both secured and unsecured types of credit, including personal loans, loans for a specific purchase or expense (like an auto loan, student loan, or mortgage), home equity loans and lines of credit, credit cards, and store charge cards, as well as very predatory or risky forms of credit like payday loans, leverage in brokerage accounts, or markers at a casino
• Investment and retirement: Related to brokerage accounts that allow trading stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange traded funds (ETFs); tangible assets like precious metals, artwork, and other collectibles; as well as retirement-focused accounts like individual retirement accounts (IRAs), simplified employee pensions (SEPs), and other employer-sponsored accounts like 401(k), 401(a), and 403(b) plans
• Insurance: Related to any type of insurance including health-related insurance plans like medical, dental, and vision insurance; supplemental insurance like accident, disability, long-term care insurance, and life insurance; property insurance for real estate, vehicles, or renters’ personal belongings; insurance related to a profession or industry, like medical malpractice, legal malpractice, or worker’s compensation insurance; and pet insurance
• Transaction platforms: Related to processing payments and transfers, including bank transfer systems like ACH and SWIFT; transaction processing networks like Visa and MasterCard; peer-to-peer apps like PayPal, Venmo, Square, or Zelle; as well as older options like money orders, American Express Travelers Cheques, and wire or remittance transfers via Western Union (or similar providers)
• Cryptocurrency: Related to digital currencies created and maintained by blockchain technology, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, along with various stablecoins, altcoins, and memecoins; also other blockchain-related collectibles and investments like non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
• Accounting and tax preparation: Related to services that help people manage and report their income and expenses, including finances related to employment, freelance or “gig” work, ownership of a small business or sole proprietorship, supplemental income, and investments
• Credit monitoring and repair: Related to activities that help someone recover from a low credit score, including credit counseling, loan consolidation, and credit report disputes, as well as monitoring for things that could hurt one’s credit score like the opening or closing of an account, excessive requests for new credit, and potential identity theft

An example of a website in the financial services sector that must adhere to YMYL is Investopedia, a well-known financial news and educational site that posts breaking stories about the stock market and economic news. It also has a robust resource section on various topics and concepts related to investing and finance.

Legal services and information

The legal services a person uses can have a huge impact on their health, livelihood, and financial situation. Any form of legal service that affects these areas should be considered YMYL.

Although Google doesn’t specifically refer to legal services or websites in its Search Quality Rater Guidelines, it’s possible to determine what types of legal services can fall into YMYL categories by seeing where they overlap with other areas.

For example:

• Criminal defense: Stiff penalties for alleged criminal behavior can have a profound effect on a person’s life and financial stability long after their sentence is served (if convicted), and even acquittal can significantly disrupt a person’s life
• Civil liability: Being named in a lawsuit can result in large fees, penalties, and judgments, as well as cause stress and distract someone from other parts of their life
• Housing: Whether a person owns or rents, house-related legal issues can arise in a variety of formats, from the initial purchase or lease agreement to disputes about maintenance, property lines, and other residence-related problems
• Wills and estates: Drawing up the appropriate documentation to facilitate the desired disposition of property after someone dies can lead to emotional and mental stress, disputes among heirs, and estate-related expenses
• Family law: Changes in family dynamic and structure—such as prenuptial agreements, marriage, adoption, divorce, custody decrees, and emancipation—can lead to significant financial considerations and even safety issues in adversarial cases
• Medical directives: Setting up a living will and a medical power of attorney (also called a healthcare proxy) can provide details that directly impact quality of life and financial stability in the event of an accident, long-term illness, or other severe medical situation

This is by no means an exhaustive list. As with other topics, the YMYL aspect of legal content will depend on how much impact it could have on someone’s health, safety, and financial well-being.

A legal YMYL example is FindLaw, a comprehensive legal website that provides information about case law and offers access to legal forms, attorney search, and a blog on various aspects of the legal profession.

Government and civic information

A healthy society that promotes the general wellness and prosperity of its people must have accurate and current information about its government at every level. For that reason, a lot of government and civic information is considered YMYL.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Government participation: Details on where and when to exercise civic rights and privileges, such as voting, participating in public sessions like city council or school board meetings, and contacting representatives
• Public policy: Information about administrative and enforcement policies that affect other YMYL topics, such as legislation, court decisions, or executive orders related to medical or financial issues
• Social services: Up-to-date information on how to access services related to health and well-being, financial support, energy assistance, child care, early education, housing, and other situation-based benefits
• Legislation and legal code: The text of current laws, regulations, and municipal codes, as well as the legislative status and history of bills in progress and the voting records of representatives
• Reports and data: Accurate descriptions, annotations, and citations of published reports, datasets, statistics, and other research prepared by government agencies and departments
• Government official behavior: The activities of politicians, appointees, and bureaucrats in the execution of their duties, as well as relationships, investments, and situations that could undermine their ability to ethically do the job to which they were elected, appointed, or hired

While interpretations and opinions about these topics can vary widely—and certainly will in a diverse society—it’s important to ensure that subjective statements don’t overshadow concrete and verifiable facts.

An example of a website that offers civic information is GovTrack, an ad-supported website that monitors legislation, votes, committee assignments, and other events and data related to the US federal government.

News and current events

When it comes to news and current events, YMYL content pertains to information about emerging situations and conditions that can affect people’s short- and long-term health, well-being, and financial security.

Not all news is YMYL. Google distinguishes YMYL news from things like sharing the outcomes of sports games or reporting on an accident, which affected those involved but is unlikely to have future impact on other people.

News is also distinct from columns, editorials, op-eds, and other types of opinion writing. Such opinion pieces often comment on current events and provide personal interpretations of those events, but they’re not inherently YMYL.

Where an opinion piece could become YMYL is if the writer encourages dangerous behavior related to any of the YMYL categories. This includes:

• Presenting unscientific medical advice
• Suggesting unsafe activities
• Promoting financial practices that are risky or have a conflict of interest
• Encouraging violence or discrimination against others

Determining what news might be YMYL can be tricky, since it’s not always possible to predict how dangerous a circumstance or event might become.

For example, as noted above, reporting on a sports game is not inherently YMYL. However, depending on the final results of the game (especially high-stakes games), fans and others could participate in spontaneous celebrations or demonstrations that put the safety of people and property at risk—including those not actively participating in those activities.

That said, there are a number of news areas that should be treated as YMYL topics most of the time:

• Extreme weather: Warnings, preparation, and evacuation information about hurricanes, tornados, excessive rain or snow, and extreme temperatures
• Natural disasters: Updates about fires, earthquakes, volcanoes, sink holes, tsunamis, and other large-scale catastrophes
• Infrastructure failures: Alerts about damaged or unsafe public structures and byways, such as washed out roads, collapsed bridges, overflowing rivers, burst water mains, leaking gas lines, and malfunctioning public transportation systems
• Public unrest: Coverage of gatherings that turn violent or which may quickly become so, such as clashes between opposing groups of demonstrators, protests about highly contentious topics, and reactions to law enforcement activity
• In-progress crime: Live reporting on events that arise out of criminal activity (or suspected criminal activity), such as high-speed chases, active shooter situations, and AMBER Alerts
• Consumer safety: Investigative reports on unsafe or defective products, harmful or costly services, and businesses that defraud their customers or put them in danger, as well as scams and deceptive commercial practices
• Economy: Stories on market activity like rising or falling indexes; government activities like changing interest rates, implementing tariffs, or instituting trade restrictions; and individual company announcements like quarterly financial reports, mergers and acquisitions, or any other events that might cause someone to change their financial investments
• Health and medicine: Announcements of new or updated medical guidelines, availability of vaccines (such as seasonal flu or Covid-19 shots), and advice about behaviors that can impact someone’s health

In addition to these and other YMYL topics, news has a time component to it. Google always prefers freshness in the SERPs, but news is even more tied to current and developing events than other types of content. Therefore, news can quickly become outdated and pushed out of the top search results as additional stories are published.

Several news-related sites have already been mentioned above. USA Today is another general news site which often has a mix of both YMYL and non-YMYL content.

Shopping and major purchases

As with financial services, ecommerce sites can have a great impact on someone’s financial stability. This is particularly true for major purchases that have a high cost and can impact the buyer’s health, wellness, or quality of life.

Products related to other YMYL topics are likely going to be YMYL as well, such as:

• Medical devices or supplies needed for ongoing treatment and support
• Prescription medication and supplements
• Fitness equipment and accessories
• Tools, maintenance equipment, and construction materials
• Safety gear and protective coverings
• “Do-it-yourself” legal forms, templates, and manuals
• Online services to manage finances, personal data, or other sensitive information

Considering the potential negative impact of a product’s use is important to understanding whether it should be treated as YMYL. This is especially true when thinking about how a product might be used incorrectly.

For example, when it comes to tools, measuring tape isn’t likely to have a significant impact on health, safety, and wellness, even if used improperly. However, a nail gun is inherently dangerous and becomes even more so when proper safety procedures aren’t followed.

When it comes to significant purchases, financial impact becomes a major consideration in addition to the type of product or service being purchased. The threshold of what might impact someone’s financial prospects differ according to their individual circumstances, but there are some common areas across socioeconomic status:

• Primary residence: Whether leasing or buying, the vast majority of people have significant initial costs related to where they live—such as real estate agent commissions, mortgage origination fees, and inspection fees—as well as ongoing expenses like monthly rent or mortgage payments, taxes, maintenance, repairs, insurance, and utilities
• Child care: The average family with children spends 8%-19% of their income on child care, making it one of the largest expenses for families after housing
• Education: Paying for college, vocational school, or professional development classes can both cost a lot of money and significantly impact a person’s ability to earn money in the future
• Transportation: The cost, availability, and safety of transportation can vary greatly from place to place—people need good information to decide whether to buy or lease a vehicle, or whether to find other ways to get around such as public transportation, taxis, ride-hailing apps, or rental vehicles
• Travel: Having accurate information about travel costs is important for ensuring people can take vacations, visit family, conduct business, or engage in other types of travel without encountering undisclosed fees, unexpected expenses, or fines related to local laws and regulations 

A “major purchases” website example is Zillow, one of many sites that provide house listings. It also connects users with real estate agents, rental properties, and mortgage brokers.

Why does YMYL matter?

YMYL topics matter because Google considers them to have a greater impact on both individual people and society at large. 

And since Google considers them important, SEO professionals need to follow Google’s guidance on how to create content about YMYL topics.

Google requires Search Quality Raters to give greater scrutiny to websites and pages that contain YMYL content. One of the ways it does this is to have raters analyze the Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust (E-E-A-T) of the content.

YMYL pages that don’t meet E-E-A-T standards run the risk of having their content marked as low quality. This can cause the content to get pushed lower in search results, especially after big algorithm updates.

Read on to learn how YMYL and E-E-A-T interact and understand how Google’s algorithm updates seek to improve the quality of search results for YMYL topics.

YMYL content and E-E-A-T

YMYL topics and E-E-A-T are closely linked in Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines.

In particular, Google sets down specific considerations related to E-E-A-T and YMYL topics:

• Expertise: Certain information should only come from subject matter experts in that field, such as information about medical treatments, filing taxes, or investment advice
• Experience: People who share personal experience can be considered trustworthy, as long as they don’t pass off subjective experience as expert advice and don’t encourage unsafe behaviors
• Authoritativeness: Authority can be established by the reputation of the website owner or content writer, along with the extent to which the site or individual is known as a “go-to” resource for that subject
• Trust: Trustworthy information must be accurate and correspond with safe practice and expert consensus

Some of the ways websites that publish YMYL information can demonstrate E-E-A-T include:

• Bylines showing writers, editors, and reviewers (such as medical or legal reviewers) who are experts in the topic
• Biographical profiles supporting the expertise, experience, and authority of the people producing the content, highlighting that they are reliable sources
• Review process and editorial standards that explain how the site ensures accuracy and prevents conflicts of interest via objective quality evaluators
• Accolades and alliances such as awards, recognitions, certifications, peer-reviewed publications, industry associations, and professional affiliations that acknowledge the reputation and credibility of the people and groups behind the website’s content
• Citation of high-quality sources that back up the claims and conclusions made within the content
• Publication and update history that indicates the page maintains fresh information and includes the latest developments

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Note: See “SEO best practices for YMYL pages” below for more information about how to demonstrate E-E-A-T with YMYL content.

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The guidance for YMYL content should be taken into consideration alongside E-E-A-T best practices. 

For example, an ecommerce site that doesn’t provide customer service contact information may not be considered trustworthy, even though the product information it provides is generally accurate.

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Dig deeper: User-first E-E-A-T: What actually drives SEO and GEO

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YMYL, Google algorithm updates, and generative search

Maintaining high-quality YMYL content will become more important as Google continues to update its algorithm to focus on Search Generative Experience (SGE) and AI overviews. 

Every year, Google makes a handful of major algorithm updates (along with many, many smaller ones). These big updates tend to fall into a couple of categories:

• Core updates that affect core functionality within the algorithm
• Targeted updates that target specific parts of the algorithm, such as reducing spam, promoting helpful content, or assessing user experience (UX)

Historically, both core updates and targeted updates have impacted YMYL content at a disproportionate level. Such impact often results in days or weeks of volatility in search rankings, as sites rise and fall based on the assessment of the updated algorithm.

For example, the June 2025 core algorithm update saw significant changes in rankings. Some sites that had been demoted in the search results from previous algorithm updates recovered a little in the new update, but many other sites were negatively affected.

Another example is the August 2018 core algorithm update that later became known as the “Medic” update due to its apparent targeting of health-related content. SEO expert Marie Haynes noted that the update seemed to impact sites across YMYL spaces, however, not just medical sites.

The importance of accurate YMYL content will become even more crucial as Google leans into SGE and AI overviews, which rely on multiple sources and highlight those with the most relevant information related to the search—often to the detriment of click-through rates. 

Other players that use large language models (LLMs) to pull in content and transform it for various uses—such as ChatGPT and Claude—will likely also start looking for ways to make sure the information their products provide is based on principles similar to Google’s YMYL and E-E-A-T.

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Further reading: What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?

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SEO best practices for YMYL sites

Good SEO is good SEO, whether it’s for a YMYL page or any other page.

That said, because of the high stakes and increased scrutiny of YMYL content, some SEO strategies and tactics are even more important if you want your YMYL page or site to rank well.

Here are specific ways you ensure your YMYL content doesn’t receive the lowest rating from Google’s Search Quality Raters.

Generally, YMYL-focused SEO at the website or domain level should focus on:

• Creating well-researched, accurate, high-quality content
• Establishing the experience and expertise of the site’s owners and contributors
• Providing the appropriate contact and informational pages
• Disclosing any legal disclaimers, including monetization
• Perfecting the technical working of the website
• Polishing the UX design and operation

With that in mind, here are some specific strategies to focus on for your YMYL website.

1. Write a clear “about” page (and related pages)

A good “about” page is essential for YMYL websites. It provides clarity about the site’s purpose, and it helps establish the credibility and trustworthiness of the site.

In fact, Google explicitly tells its Search Quality Raters to identify the purpose of a website and determine whether it operates in a YMYL space. “About” pages do exactly that.

A good “about” page should include the following:

• Brand vision and mission
• Company values
• A brief story and history
• The people behind the company
• A high-level description of services
• Testimonials and partnerships
• A call to action, such as signing up for a newsletter

A few other things to keep in mind for your “about” page:

• Put the company or brand name in both the title tag and H1 instead of “About us,” “Our company,” or similarly generic text
• Keep body copy short and clear
• Use high-quality images that don’t appear elsewhere on the site, and add descriptive alt text
• Create supplemental pages for longer prose like “Company history,” “Team,” “Culture,” “Careers,” and so on
• Link to the “about” page (and supplemental pages) in your site’s main navigation menu, not just the footer

After the homepage, your site’s “about” page is the most important page for understanding why your brand exists and how it aims to help people.

The audio technology company Sonos does a great job with its “about” page.

At the top, Sonos provides a clear vision statement with some additional text to describe the boundaries of its product offerings.

The next two sections provide Sonos’ company history in two forms:

• How it started: The brand story from the founders’ perspective
• Innovation: The product story as a visual carousel

Each of these sections provides interactive elements for people who want to learn more about that aspect of the company.

Next is a testimonial from an expert with award-winning experience endorsing the quality of Sonos products.

They don’t overdo it by trying to add a ton of testimonials—just one high-authority statement is enough to convey the message.

Next is another carousel, this time featuring high-quality images of their most recent products in use with a short product name and a minimal description.

(On the live site, the images are videos with natural movement, such as rippling water, shifting shadows, and flickering flames.)

The “about” page also contains a statement about the company culture.

While Sonos’ company values aren’t stated explicitly on the page, the culture statement includes references to the values they promote, such as creativity, inclusion, and sustainability.

Finally, there’s a prompt to sign up for a newsletter.

Technically, this CTA is in the footer, not the main section of the “about” page. However, it doesn’t show up on every page across the site, so it’s clearly being chosen to appear on the “about” page as a way to keep visitors engaged with the brand.

On the whole, the Sonos “about” page does a great job of giving a good overview of the brand’s vision, values, and operations.

2. Make contact information easy to find

Put your contact information in an easy-to-find location. This will signal your YMYL site’s legitimacy by letting users and potential customers know that they can contact you if something goes wrong.

To be frank, sites without contact information are sketchy. People tend to avoid them, and for good reason. Nobody wants to get stuck with a product or service and no way to follow up if there’s a problem.

Because of this, Google tells Search Quality Raters to look for contact information, especially on YMYL sites. 

Contact information should include more than a simple form that goes to an automated inbox. Some things to consider include:

• Email address
• Corporate address and phone number
• Local office or retail location lookup
• Return or exchange policies and procedures
• Support contacts for other types of issues
• Investor relations contacts
• Legal contact
• Chat button to start a conversation with a person or automated assistant 

Not all of this information will necessarily be in a single place. For example:

• Contacts for product and service issues may go on a “support” or “customer service” page 
• Retail stores or service centers may be part of a location finder page
• Investor-related queries may have contact information go on an “investor relations” page
• Legal contacts may be included in a “terms & conditions” page

That said, it’s advisable to have one “contact” page that includes your company’s general contact information, with links to other pages where contact information can be found for specific purposes.

Right at the top of their website, Sonos provides a link to “Support.” This placement is likely due to the fact that most people who contact them directly are looking for help of some kind.

The support page is a standard knowledge base with self-service content. 

One of the options is for customers to get in touch with a customer service representative directly on the “Contact Sonos Support” page.

There are multiple region-based options for contact:

• Phone
• Chat

Customers who need support from a different region can easily find contact information for other regions by clicking the “Show all contact regions” button at the bottom.

Finally—and perhaps uniquely—customers also have the option of emailing the Sonos CEO directly.

Although support contact information is the easiest to find on Sonos’ site, it’s not the only page with contact information.

In the bottom footer of every page is a “Help” column that includes links to several contact-related pages.

• “Shipping and Delivery:” Includes an FAQ on shipping-related topics, including how to get into contact with the shipping department
• “Returns” and “Terms of Sale:” Both links go to the “Terms of Sale” page, which includes a section on “How to reach us for questions or comments”
• “Store Locator:” A map-based location search for where to try and buy Sonos products
• “Contact Us:” A standard contact page with lots of ways to get in touch with the company

The “Contact Us” page in particular is noteworthy:

• At the top is a six-block section that directs people to contact information for specific purposes
• They include community contacts like Sonos listeners and the local nonprofit organizations they work with
• Customer-focused contact information comes first, followed by investor, media, and partnership contacts

Below the topical contact information is the location-based corporate contacts:

• Again, the option to email the Sonos CEO directly is presented
• The headquarters has a distinctive page-wide format
• Other corporate offices are grouped by region (US, Europe, and Asia)

In summary, Sonos does really well at providing contact information where it’s needed and directing people to other options that can help them.

3. Create bios for the humans behind the site

Be transparent about the people behind the content you publish. This is a great way to signal authority and trustworthiness for your site.

Who exactly you highlight will differ depending on the size of your company and what the website represents.

Google notes four main examples of people behind the content of a given webpage:

• Website owner: The person or company that owns the domain created the main content of the page. This is true for most company websites, medical or legal practices, personal portfolios, and other sites representing a single entity.
• Contributor: Content is created by a variety of authors, editors, designers, and other contributors. This includes things like periodicals and group blogs.
• Profile owner: Content is published on a third-party site by a person or company that controls the profile. This includes social media platforms or business profile pages.
• Discussion participant: Many people engage in creating a conversation, usually prompted by an initial question or statement. This includes many forums and community websites.

Websites can have a mix of content from these types of content creators. For example, a company’s website might include:

• Product and support pages created primarily by the company’s employees (they’re considered to be the website owner)
• A blog or resource section with contributions from partners, customers, or others not directly employed by the company
• A community support forum with content largely created by the company’s customers

In each of these scenarios, it’s important for visitors to understand who’s behind the content so they can judge how trustworthy and useful it might be.

Biographical information doesn’t have to be incredibly in-depth. It just needs to provide enough information to demonstrate the experience and expertise of the person it’s about.

For example, the Sonos “Corporate governance” page provides profiles for each of the company’s leaders and members of its board of directors.

Each individual has a pop-up bio that includes information about their current position, as well as a brief history of their professional experience.

The rest of the site doesn’t provide information about the individual people who write each page. That’s okay, because for a company site the ultimate responsibility would flow upward to the corporate leadership.

In contrast, the technology news and review site CNET should (and does) provide page-level authorship information.

For example, this review of Sonos speakers has a clear byline with a link on the author’s name. When clicked, a pop-up bio provides information about the author’s experience and expertise related to the article topic.

(See the “SEO tactics for YMYL pages” section below for more information related to page-level authorship.)

Finally, if your website contains a discussion forum, community knowledge base, or a similar social support area, you may want to consider adding features like verified purchaser status or having another way to let users demonstrate their authority.

4. Provide accessible privacy policy, terms of use, and other legal disclaimers

Post clear legal disclosures to improve the overall trustworthiness of your site.

This includes pages like:

• Terms of use—also called “terms & conditions,” “terms of service,” or “conditions of use,” among other things
• Privacy policy
• Terms of sale
• Copyright policy, including Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) policy
• Age-related disclaimers, such as Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) statements
• Health and medical disclaimers
• Financial and investment disclaimers
• Accessibility statements
• Warranty and warranty limitation information
• Other policies, such as return and refund policies

In particular, make sure any disclosures fit with the expectations of the people visiting the site. Trust and credibility can erode very quickly when people discover “hidden” provisions or realize that “privacy” didn’t mean what they thought it did.

Google directs Search Quality Raters to give a website the lowest quality rating if they find competing statements in website disclosures versus other parts of the site.

When creating your disclosure pages, consider:

• Quick navigation
• Clear language
• Simple design

Coca-Cola takes a frequently asked questions (FAQ) approach to its terms of service page with a linked table of contents for easy navigation.

The individual sections still read like legal disclosures (the reality is that such disclosures are rarely fun reads). 

However, the easier you make it for people to find and digest those disclosures, the less likely you are to have problems with credibility and trust down the road.

5. Disclose monetization wherever it appears on your site

You must disclose any monetary relationships you have on your site. 

This isn’t just for users and Google—it’s likely required by law in your operating area. It may also be required by professional associations like the American Medical Association or the American Bar Association.

Disclosing monetization is especially important for YMYL sites since there may be additional disclosure requirements associated with medical, legal, finance, real estate, and other YMYL topics.

By disclosing financial relationships, you give users and customers a way to assess how much they want to trust your information and recommendations.

Consumer Reports is a well-known nonprofit organization that conducts product testing and reviews. In addition to paid memberships, they use product affiliate links to help support their efforts. They disclose affiliate links on every page where such links appear.

The disclosure statement includes a “Learn more” link that goes to a page about CR’s commercial partners.

Providing this information both on pages where links occur and as a separate disclosure allows Consumer Reports to provide transparency that builds trust with its members and other users.

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Dig deeper: Your guide to easy affiliate marketing for beginners

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6. Implement industry-standard security measures

Keep users’ personal information, transaction data, and other account details safe. This will ensure that they continue to trust and use your products and services, and also prevent reputational harm that could affect credibility in the future.

Generally, every website should aim to protect user data using current cybersecurity standards. Some of the most relevant standards include:

• OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS): An open-source security standard for websites and web-based apps published by the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (WASP)
• ISO/IEC 27001: An international industry standard for information security, cybersecurity, and privacy protection
• NIST Cybersecurity, Privacy and Risk Management Frameworks: A set of frameworks developed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for use by federal agencies and US-based companies
• CSA Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM): Security guidance specifically related to cloud-based websites and apps, developed by the nonprofit membership-based Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)

These standards go far above and beyond basic security advice like using HTTPS or implementing secure payments. Rather, they focus on security across your entire information architecture, including your website.

In addition, YMYL sites need to follow relevant laws and regulations that apply to the topics they cover. For example:

• Financial services must consider standards like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), US federal laws like the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), or even state regulations like New York’s Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Regulation
• Health services need to comply with laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or again the GLBA (which also addresses health insurance)

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Note: The above bullets only mention US laws and regulations. Websites based in other countries and regions should follow the relevant laws in their areas, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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7. Optimize technical SEO

Keep your site running at peak performance so users will trust that you know what you’re doing.

This includes making sure your site’s technical SEO is up to date:

• Make sure your site is discoverable with sitemaps, breadcrumbs, and thoughtful interlinking
• Consider how your site architecture and navigation can be most useful to visitors
• Employ compression, caching, image resizing, and other methods to make pages load faster
• Redirect pages that are deleted or no longer relevant
• Activate HTTPS and other security measures
• Use Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to monitor your site and identify when problems arise

Technical SEO includes a lot of different elements to make sure users get a fast, error-free experience. 

Getting it right will give people the confidence to trust your site and keep coming back.

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Further reading: What is technical SEO? The definitive guide

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8. Use mobile-friendly design

Mobile-friendly design is a must, considering that more than 96% of people who use the internet do so with a mobile device. 

Google began using mobile-first indexing in 2016. Since then, it’s moved to mobile crawling of websites as the default mode.

The Search Rater Guidelines call out what to look for in mobile versus desktop versions of a website. Some of the things the guidelines mentions are:

• Mobile voice search
• Monetization differences
• Visible or collapsed text in mobile views
• Location-based searches (i.e., local search)
• Buttons that activate mobile device features, such as calling a phone number

Failing to take mobile user experience (UX) into consideration is going to put any site at risk of ranking lower in the search results. The stricter scrutiny given to YMYL sites could make it even harder for non-mobile-friendly sites to rank well.

Nationwide Insurance has a very user-friendly mobile design that prompts people to get a quote for whatever type of insurance they want or to perform other actions like paying a bill or getting insurance cards without logging in. 

Of course, customers can log in with the big green button on the top right. Or they can use the hamburger menu at the top left to access the main navigation menu to find where they want to go on the site.

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Dig deeper: Mobile SEO: What it is & how to win with mobile optimization

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SEO tactics for YMYL pages

On any given page containing YMYL content, your focus should be to:

• Ensure the accuracy, freshness, and completeness of the information provided on the page
• Avoid clickbait or easily misinterpreted headlines, unsupported claims, and unverified advice
• Reference authoritative sources (such as reputable news sites or peer-reviewed academic journals) for the facts and conclusions on the page
• Acknowledge the people and processes that shaped the content
• Use relevant examples, images, and user-generated content (UGC)
• Employ structured data to promote accurate machine reading of the page

Here’s how these priorities break down into specific tactics you can follow in your content creation process.

1. Ensure content accuracy

Make sure every fact and conclusion on your YMYL page is accurate. This will help users trust the validity of your claims about your products and services.

This includes making sure that pages are updated with current data, the latest product specifications, and the most recent tests and user reviews.

In the Search Rater Guidelines, Google refers to the main content of a page as the content that “directly helps the page achieve its purpose.” 

Main content can include:

• The page title and headline (H1)
• Body text
• Images, charts, and other graphical features
• Videos
• Interactive elements like calculators, games, carousels, and galleries
• UGC like ratings, reviews, and comments

This in contrast to supplemental content on a page like a navigational menu, footer widgets, ads, and related or suggested pages or posts.

Medical News Today reports on current health and wellness topics. One of the ways they ensure factual accuracy and avoid unwarranted claims is to employ a medical fact checker.

2. Avoid clickbait and unsupported claims

Stay away from statements and opinions that can be misread or interpreted as having a more positive effect than most people are likely to experience.

This goes beyond merely making sure your statements are accurate—even statements that are technically accurate can still be misleading.

Here are some types of statements that could be accurate while also misleading users:

• Clickbait headlines that focus on a salacious, but minor, aspect of a story in order to entice more traffic
• Poorly written titles that can be interpreted in multiple ways, leading to confusion or misunderstandings
• Unsupported claims based on subjective experience rather than rigorous user testing and analysis 
• Unverified advice that downplays or hides potential risks
• Uncommon results that imply everyone who uses a product or service will achieve the same high returns, rewards, or other beneficial outcomes as a small percentage of fortunate customers

Depending on the type of content you publish, such misleading claims could run afoul of laws and regulations, even when they might technically be true. For example, company websites are generally considered advertisements and are covered by Truth In Advertising regulations in the US.

The owners of the now-defunct website ObamacarePlans.com were taken to court by the US Federal Trade Commission for making unsupported claims (as well as outright false statements) on that website and others in relation to their offering of various types of insurance. 

As a result, the insurance and the media companies behind that site had to pay $145 million in a settlement that refunded consumers who fell for those misleading claims.

While not every website might end up with stiff legal penalties, you could still see the site tank in the rankings if you make claims that are misleading or unsubstantiated.

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Pro tip: You don’t have to be a Search Quality Rater to tell Google about sites with misleading content. Anyone can report spammy, deceptive, or low-quality pages to Google.

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3. Cite authoritative sources

Show people where you’re getting your information to demonstrate the quality of your content.

Good content is backed by good research, which is reflected when you cite credible sources. Google understands that, and the Search Rater Guidelines provide examples of how high-quality citations can bolster the E-E-A-T of a webpage.

Another example from Medical News Today shows multiple links to peer-reviewed medical research relating the health benefits of walking.

4. Share contributor information and processes like fact-checking workflows

Let users see the people behind the curtain so they can understand what goes into the process of producing your content.

Sharing details about your contributors and process helps build trust by offering transparency. It also allows users to suggest changes to the process that could result in even greater trust.

On each of its articles, Medical News Today provides:

• Author’s name with a link to their bio
• Fact checker name with a link to their bio
• A link to the site’s editorial process

5. Provide supporting examples, images, and UGC

Use unique examples, original graphics and video, and user-generated content (UGC) such as reviews and testimonials. This will add value to the content of your page that can’t be provided by other websites.

Google places a heavy emphasis on effort and originality in its Search Rater Guidelines. It frowns on practices like scraping or embedding content to be used verbatim on another page.

Creating your own examples and visuals also gives you a way to show your expertise on the topic at hand and build authority with linkable assets.

Medical News Today has a graphic about chickenpox vs. measles that helps people quickly identify the differences between these two diseases.

6. Use structured data 

Create structured data markup to make it easy for Google and other crawlers to process and index the page.

As noted above, the main content of a page is an important concept in the Google Search Rater Guidelines. The structured data that Google supports corresponds with the idea of identifying the main content of a page.

Some of the structured data types Google supports include:

• Articles (including news articles and blog posts)
• Events
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• Job postings
• Organizations
• Profile pages (for businesses or individuals)
• Question & answers (Q&As)
• Recipes
• Software apps
• Vehicle listings

Any of these could relate to YMYL topics, and some form of structured data should be provided for every topic.

Structured data translates to rich results that can appear in the SERPs. You can test the results using Google’s Rich Results Test tool.

Medical News Today includes Article structured data for its articles. The screenshot below shows how this data appears to Google’s testing tool.

YMYL and AI-generated content

You (or an expert you hire) must review and validate any AI content used on your site to ensure its originality, accuracy, and value to your site’s visitors.

Google has long held the stance that automatically generated pages aren’t bad as long as they provide added value. 

In April 2025, Google explicitly added generative AI guidance to its Search Rater Guidelines. In brief, it made two points:

• Generative AI can be a useful tool
• It can also lead to misuse

When it comes to using AI to restate, paraphrase, or outright copy other content, it’s likely going to be rated as having low quality.

With YMYL content, there’s the added risk of generative AI hallucinations that could lead to harmful information or advice.

How to use generative AI with YMYL content (safely)

Don’t use AI to simply generate content and post it on your site. 

Instead, here are some ways you can safely use AI to boost your YMYL content without violating Google’s guidelines and subjecting your content to the bottom of the SERPs:

• Discover gaps: Uncover pesky content gaps with a crawling tool and AI analysis
• Optimize workflows: AI tools are great at analyzing processes and automating repetitive tasks, like notifying people when it’s their turn to create or review something
• Create outlines: Feed in source materials, competitor pages, and any other information you want to include on your page to get a comprehensive outline of the topic, which you can then reorganize to fit your audience
• Cite sources: If you need to find a fact or claim, AI can help you locate the original source and format a proper citation
• Graphic enhancements: Find opportunities for image placement, graphics, and data visualizations that can make your content more engaging
• Style enforcement: Let AI handle some of the more tedious aspects of applying style guide rules
• Link suggestions: Use AI to suggest both internal and external links, especially for your high-converting and most engaging pages 

Note that all of these things still require a certain level of human oversight and fact-checking to ensure the end product is appropriate for other people to read.

And don’t forget that however you incorporate AI into your process, you should be sure to disclose it properly.

Stand out with YMYL content

“Your Money or Your Life” is much more than just a clever phrase that refers to certain types of high-stakes content. It can also mean the difference between website success or failure.

Make your YMYL pages really stand out by learning more about the power of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust.