YMYL - your money or your life!
If you work in health, wellness or finance, you're in what SEO geeks call a "Your Money Or Your Life" industry. An industry where you have to get the parameters just right to rank high in Google's search results.
But what is YMYL - and what impact does it have on how you should practice SEO? I'll explore that in this article.
(This article was first published in 2019, but was last updated in August 2024.)
What are YMYL pages?
YMYL stands for "Your Money or Your Life". It refers to content that can have a direct impact on a person's life, health, finances or safety. From financial advice to health information, from legal recommendations to safety guidelines, YMYL content carries a heavy responsibility for accuracy and reliability.
In the eyes of search engines, especially Google, YMYL content is therefore treated with an extra degree of scrutiny. The quality of such sites is strictly assessed, with a particular focus on factors such as experience, expertise, authority and credibility, also known as E-E-A-T. This means that sites that fall under the AMYL category must maintain a particularly high standard of accuracy and reliability in their content.
Examples of YMYL pages
As mentioned, YMYL sites - or rather the content of the sites - can have a direct impact on a person's life, health, finances or safety. Specifically, this includes sites that deal with:
- Financial services and advice: Includes everything from banking, loans, and investments to tax advice, retirement planning and insurance.
- Health information: Covers websites that offer medical advice, information on diseases, treatments, medicines, nutrition and mental health.
- Legal advice: Includes information on legislation, legal rights, and advice on issues such as divorce, custody, criminal law, wills and property rights.
- Safety and security recommendations: Advice on personal safety, home security, online security and fraud prevention. Information that needs to be protected from real threats.
- Major life decisions: Information and advice on life-changing decisions such as buying a house, education, career changes and major investments. Decisions that shape people's future.
- News and current events: Covers important news about politics, economics, natural disasters and international events that have a direct impact on people's lives.
- Government and social services: Information on social assistance, healthcare, education and government programs. So information is essential for navigating society's services.
Understanding the role and importance of YMYL is important for anyone who wants to create content that not only informs and engages, but also builds trust and authority in their field. It's about delivering content that is not only valuable and useful, but also stands as a trusted source for those seeking guidance and answers in important areas of life.
How to navigate the YMYL landscape
A particularly important criterion for online visibility for a YMYL site is to meet Google's famous "E-E-A-T model". This is one of the most important keys to success in the YMYL landscape.
In short, E-A-A-T is about being able to show that:
- That you have tons of experience in your field - either by demonstrating hands-on experience or personal insights.
- That you are the expert by showing your professional understanding with well-researched and detailed content.
- That you have the authority to talk about and offer services within your industry.
- Your business and website are trustworthy and safe to navigate through transparent, honest and responsible content - for example through citations and updates.
You can read much more about E-A-A-T in my article on the 4 criteria.
How to improve your YMYL website
Why don't we get to the heart of the matter?
First and foremost, you can never go wrong by swearing by Google's helpful content guidelines as if they were your bible. Their quality guidelines are all about improving the user experience for their customers, so a thorough understanding of them can always help.
But beyond my initial mainstream advice, in the following, I'll provide concrete tips on SEO practices for YMYL sites.
Spray experience and credibility all over the place
You need to show that you've got both E's, the A and the T in E-E-A-T with a killer about-us page. In other words: spray experience and credibility all over it! Already have an about us page? Then see how many you can check off on my checklist:
- Show who is behind the company.
- Tell us about your years of experience in your industry.
- Link to the awards you have won and the publications or articles you have written about your field.
- Show that you're a member of associations, membership organizations and whatnots that express that you are an integral part of your profession.
- Tell us about the positive news articles that have been written about your company.
- Also get into the story behind the business - and how it started.
Service pages are not nearly enough
A website should be more than a showcase for your services. It's about creating a holistic experience that goes hand in hand with what you offer.
It's not enough to just have pages that talk about your services. We're talking about adding something extra - something that makes your visitors feel enriched and informed. Think of it as giving a little extra without expecting anything in return. This is where you can really make a difference.
Imagine you own a dental clinic. Obviously, you would offer information on how to book an appointment for a dental cleaning. But what about taking it a step further? How about offering advice to the cola-drinking customer on how to avoid yellow teeth?
These are the kind of valuable tips that show you go the extra mile for your customers. It's not just about selling a service - it's about creating an experience that makes people feel comfortable and informed.
Publish articles in recognized trade journals and write guest articles
With relevant publications in recognized trade journals and other types of online magazines, you can really show that you are an expert in your field.
If you have publications from your university days lying around, you can also use them to shed light on your expertise.
Other options include hiring other industry professionals with a good reputation to co-author an article - or experimenting with guest blogging on other quality sites to spread your name and your business.
Have visible contact information
What's more untrustworthy than a sender you can't get in touch with?
Your contact information should be as easy to find as a lighthouse on a dark night. It should be clearly displayed on your website so that your visitors can always navigate directly to it - no matter where they are on the site.
There are also other ways to tell Google that your dental practice has experience, expertise, authority and credibility. You can use "structured data" in the form of Schema.org. It may sound a bit long-winded, but it's not.
Schema.org can be seen as a "vocabulary" in code and is a way to define and present content on your site - to help Google understand what your content actually means.
With structured data, you can tell Google very quickly how long your business has existed, that it's a dental clinic and who owns it.
You can even point out - that your dental assistant, who is on your "about us page", works at your clinic on Strandvej 63, is educated at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Panum and is the same person who has a writer profile on tandlaegebladet.dk.
You can do this by filling in some pre-defined markups with your information and inserting them into the code on your website. For example, you can use this Schema Markup Generator.
Protect your reputation like a bear protects its cubs
Boost your company's reputation and generate good publicity! One way to do this is by poking the press. But remember! ... There's a difference between paid press coverage and a journalist writing an article because you actually gave them something to write about.
In most cases, Google knows the difference - and doesn't weigh both equally on the value scale.
Also, put effort into getting positive reviews on Google, Facebook and Trustpilot - and not least writing customer cases on your website just like we have on the success stories page.
Good word of mouth from sources other than the company itself is a sign of authority. If other people trust the company, Google also finds it easier to trust it.
Post, tags, del, likes, stories and so on
Yes, we can't get away from social media anymore, but there has been a shift in the last few years. Namely, social media is no longer just a platform for sharing content, but also a unique way for your brand to interact directly with your audience and build a strong, credible presence.
For example, you can do this through...
- Contests: By running contests on social media, you can encourage customers to share your post or story in order to participate.
- Hashtag: Create and promote a unique hashtag for your brand. This will make it easier for people to find and engage in conversations around your brand.
- Influencers: Collaborating with influencers can convey your brand message and values to a wider audience.
- User-generated content: Encourage customers to share their own experiences with your product or service. This can be through reviews, testimonials or simply by sharing pictures of them using your product.
Interactive stories and posts: Use features like polls, questions or quizzes in your stories or posts to engage your audience and get direct feedback.
Regular interaction: Reply to comments, share and like content from your followers.
Get rid of anything that might seem shady
Think about it. Are there features on your site that might seem shady or like spam? For example, are there pop-ups that can't be clicked away, display ads that make your content jump and dance, or comment boxes filled with spam comments?
Get rid of them all - and that goat is shaved.
Show your site's purpose!
There should be no questions about the purpose of the website. The purpose should be clear without any hidden agendas.
When Google Quality Raters visit your website, they judge what your pages' purpose is - whether it's clear and concise - and whether each page fulfills that purpose.
Keep creating value
Remember to regularly publish valuable content on your website.
By pushing out lots of relevant and useful new content in the form of blog posts, videos, landing pages and infographics, you show that you are current and trying to create value for your readers. Just like Amplify has in the form of this article.
For webshops: are the terms and conditions, refund policy etc. clear and concise?
If you have a webshop, it is essential to be transparent with information about terms and conditions, shipping costs, refund policy, delivery information and so on.
Especially when payment cards are involved, transparency and security must be top-notch.
That's why (and for many other reasons) it's important that your site is SSL-certified.
Zoom in on all trust marks
In general, you should constantly ask yourself why people should trust your business when they encounter your website. Are there enough trust signs?
A trust mark can be both internal and external links, for example. Internal links show how much time and effort you've put into your website, while external links show that you've done your homework. All of which Google Quality Raters will notice and reward.
Zoom in on all trust marks
Are you looking for an SEO agency that can help you boost your website's YMYL? Then reach out to Amplify.
You can find our contact details right here.
Thank you so much for reading!
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