How Google’s Your Money, Your Life (YMYL) Guidelines Impact Professional Services Content Marketing
In the eyes of the world’s leading search engine, Google, some topics that are covered online can have a bigger impact on people’s lives than others. Google’s “Your Money, Your Life” (YMYL) content guidelines make sense – when specific content can directly influence a person’s health, well-being or financial stability, what the search engine presents to searchers can result in meaningful consequences.
That’s why the search engine takes a more thorough approach to evaluating links for search results that relate to:
- Health
- Financial Stability
- Safety
- Wellfare
- Well-being
The search engine has “very high Page Quality rating standards” on these topics “because low quality pages on such topics could potentially negatively impact a person’s health, financial stability or safety, or the welfare or well-being of society.” Google states that “pages covering clear YMYL topics require the most scrutiny for Page Quality rating.”
Many businesses in the professional services realm deal directly with topics that fall into YMYL categories. To attract leads and create a client base, content marketing can be a highly effective way to generate trust and build authority in your industry. But when you’re creating content on YMYL topics, there needs to be a higher level of oversight that ensures accuracy and prevents harm to the content consumer.
Content marketing can be a great tool for your business, but only with a sound strategy behind your efforts. With YMYL guidelines in mind, here’s how to create an effective content marketing strategy that addresses these topics.
First: What Does YMYL Cover?
To define YMYL, Google states that these are topics that could significantly impact or harm any of the following:
- The person who is viewing the content
- Other people who are affected by the person who viewed the content
- Society or groups of people who are affected by the actions of those who viewed the content
The reason why the content could potentially be harmful may be that the content itself is harmful – for example, content that depicts criminal activity or self-harm. Another reason is that, if the content is inaccurate, the person who adheres to the content’s information could negatively impact themselves or others.
For a better understanding of what could be an YMYL topic versus what’s not likely to be an YMYL topic, Google provides the following examples.
| Clear YMYL Topic | Not or Unlikely YMYL Topic |
|---|---|
| Evacuation routes for a natural disaster | Award winners |
| When to go to the hospital | How frequently to wash a clothing item |
| Personal opinion about why a racial group is inferior | Personal opinion about why a movie is inferior |
| News about ongoing violence | News about a local high school sporting event |
| A physically risky social media challenge | A music video |
| Prescription drugs | Review on school supplies |
In-between these clear examples, there may be some gray area in what a YMYL topic may be. If you’re having trouble distinguishing, Google advises to think about whether or not someone would seek out trusted experts about a topic in order to prevent harm, or if minor inaccuracies about a topic could cause harm. Otherwise, a topic is likely to not be a YMYL topic.
How to Adhere to Google’s YMYL Guidelines
If you are posting content on a subject that meets YMYL qualifications, there are certain key guidelines you’ll need to adhere to in order for your content to rank on search engines. By taking the time to only publish accurate information regarding YMYL topics, and by showing details that reinforce your credibility, Google will be more likely to view you as a trusted source when deciding what to showcase in results. Make sure to do the following with your YMYL content.
1. Provide High-Quality, Reliable Information
First, if you’re going to publish anything covering YMYL topics, your organization has a responsibility to your clients and the general public to protect them. Before publishing any YMYL content, ensure you:
- Thoroughly research and fact-check all YMYL content
- Only publish information that is accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date
- Avoid stating any deceptive or misleading claims
When you’re creating and publishing YMYL content, it’s helpful to approach the content from a journalistic perspective. In addition to having a qualified writer create the content, get extra eyes on the finished product to edit it for accuracy. If there are any questionable claims, make sure to fact-check them with a reputable source, or, even better, with multiple sources.
You can also use outbound links throughout your content that show consumers where you sourced your content from. Try to use only reputable sites, such as .gov sites, .edu sites and local and national newspapers with their own teams of fact-checkers as your sources.
2. Demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T)
Google uses a few key credentials when determining the quality of content: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness, also known as E-E-A-T.
E-E-A-T characteristics are especially important for YMYL content. Some ways to demonstrate E-E-A-T in your YMYL content include:
- Showcase your firm’s and subject matter experts’ credentials and industry recognition. Add author bios to blog posts that include qualifications, such as education and certification. Feature industry membership icons on your site. If an editor fact-checked an article, add their name and credentials to the authorship bio, as well.
- Build external credibility signals, like media mentions, awards and partnerships. Google algorithms look at both the number of sites linking back to your website, as well as the quality of those sites when determining credibility. High-quality backlinks from sites like formal associations, respected newspapers and other trustworthy organizations can help your own site’s standing.
The more you can demonstrate on your site that experts are powering your content and that other sites trust your content enough to link back to you, the more you can improve your E-E-A-T in Google’s view.
3. Prioritize User Safety & Well-Being
Extra safeguards surrounding your YMYL content can help prevent harm and protect user safety, while also helping to elevate E-E-A-T. These actions include:
- Consider the potential impact of the content on clients. Disclose relevant limitations or risks.
- Recommend seeking personalized professional advice when appropriate.
- Promote responsible decision-making and client well-being in the beginning, end and throughout the article.
It’s also a good idea to have your compliance/legal team edit any YMYL content before it’s published. This can help protect you in terms of legal action, while also helping ensure your content is E-E-A-T-worthy for Google.
Tips for Applying YMYL Best Practices
Putting YMYL guidelines into action may look different for various YMYL content types. The following are some tips that apply to diverse YMYL content.
Medical/Health & Financial/Legal Guidance
- Partner with qualified experts to create and/or edit your content.
- Add bylines with titles for both creators and editors.
- Add bios with photos for creators and editors.
- Verify any facts, figures and claims you make.
- Recommend professional consultations.
- Use disclaimers.
- Present balanced perspectives.
- Use quotes from qualified professionals, and add professional titles to subject matter experts quoted.
- Link to sources.
- List references at the ends of articles.
- Display the most recent date the article was updated and fact-checked.
News & Current Events
- Add bylines with titles for both creators and editors.
- Add bios with photos for creators and editors.
- Strive for impartiality.
- Fact-check claims.
- Use credible sources.
- Confirm statistics and quotes.
- Cross-check references.
- Link to sources.
- List references at the ends of articles.
- Display the most recent date the article was updated and fact-checked.
Product reviews
- Thoroughly test the product you’re reviewing so you can provide a thorough and trustworthy review.
- Disclose affiliations.
- Base recommendations on objective criteria.
- Highlight both pros and cons to promote impartiality.
- Add product reviewer credentials and bios.
With YMYL, it’s worth investing in the services of high-quality creators and editors before publishing content. Enlist your own compliance/legal team to look at content before you hit publish, as well.
Otherwise, the risk of promoting potentially harmful or inaccurate YMYL content could cost your organization in terms of both legal fees, as well as reputational damage and credibility impact.
The Bottom Line on YMYL
Prioritizing YMYL excellence is an investment that protects your clients and your firm’s reputation. By using Google’s guidelines in your approach to every YMYL article, you’ll position your professional services business as a trusted industry leader.
Need guidance or expertise in creating YMYL content for your firm? Contact 321 Web Marketing for a free content marketing consultation.
