YMYL

What is YMYL?

YMYL stands for Your Money or Your Life and refers to topics where unreliable information could harm people’s health, finances, safety or wellbeing. Google uses the term in the guidelines for its quality raters and sets a higher bar for this content. It is not a separate ranking factor.

Why is YMYL important?

• A higher bar: for these topics, demonstrable trustworthiness counts for extra.
• Reader trust: anyone reading about money or health wants to know who wrote the information.
• More exposure to drops: weak, unreliable YMYL pages lose visibility faster.

Examples of YMYL

• Medical information about symptoms or medication
• Explanations of mortgages, investing or tax
• Legal advice and the checkout of an online store

How do you handle YMYL content?

Show expertise on YMYL pages: an author with demonstrable knowledge, clear sources, up-to-date information and full company details. Preferably leave writing on such topics to a specialist (content marketing). See also E-E-A-T.