YMYL
YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) refers to content topics that can directly affect a user's health, financial stability, safety, or overall well-being. Google applies particularly strict quality standards to content in these areas.
YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) refers to content topics that can directly affect a user's health, financial stability, safety, or overall well-being. Google applies particularly strict quality standards to content in these areas.
Why It Matters
Because inaccurate YMYL content can cause real harm to users, Google applies its most rigorous E-E-A-T standards to these topics. Following the August 2018 "Medic Update," numerous sites lacking demonstrable expertise in YMYL fields experienced significant traffic declines. Through 2025–2026, Google continues to tighten quality requirements for YMYL content, with even stricter scrutiny applied to AI-generated content in these categories.
Key YMYL Content Categories
- Health and Medical: Information about diseases, symptoms, treatments, medications, mental health, and nutrition
- Financial: Investment, tax, loan, insurance, retirement planning, and cryptocurrency information
- Legal: Divorce, custody, wills, citizenship, and legal rights information
- Safety: Product safety, disaster preparedness, cybersecurity, and crime-related information
- News and Current Events: Politics, social issues, international news, and other information affecting civic life
- Groups of People: Information about specific groups defined by race, religion, gender, nationality, and similar characteristics
Quality Standards for YMYL Content
According to Google's Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, YMYL content should meet the following criteria:
- It should be written or reviewed by experts. Medical content should ideally be authored or at minimum reviewed by healthcare professionals, while financial content should involve certified financial experts.
- It must provide accurate, up-to-date information. Outdated guidelines, repealed laws, and changed medical recommendations can cause harm to users.
- Sources must be transparently disclosed. Claims and data should cite credible sources, with links to reference materials provided where appropriate.
- The content's purpose must be clear. Whether the content aims to help users or drive sales and clicks should be transparent.
SEO Strategies for YMYL Sites
- Strengthen author profiles. Maintain detailed author pages that specify professional credentials, institutional affiliations, and career history.
- Conduct regular content audits. Review YMYL content at least quarterly to verify accuracy and currency of information.
- Implement expert review processes. Explicitly stating that content has been reviewed by a subject-matter expert significantly improves content credibility.
- Include appropriate disclaimers. Medical, legal, and financial content should clearly state that it does not substitute for professional advice.
Related inblog Posts
How inblog Helps
inblog's law firm and hospital customers use author profiles and E-E-A-T signals to demonstrate expertise in YMYL fields.