Google recognises that some types of content have the ability to affect people's lives. Because of this, they create a category called Your Money or Your Life, or YMYL for short. This is content that can impact a viewer's happiness, health, safety or financial security. Since Google looks at YMYL content differently, it naturally flows on to affect search engine optimization (SEO) of any websites that fall under the category. In this presentation, we explore: - What is YMYL - What does 'Beneficial Purpose' mean? - How does E.A.T affect SEO and what does it mean? - Examples of YMYL content - How to optimise YMYL websites You can learn more here: http://pearldm.com/ymyl

1. YOUR MONEY
OR YOUR LIFE:
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
By Shane Black

2. Back in 2015, Google’s Search Quality
Evaluator Guidelines gave us a rare glimpse
into what makes the search engine’s
algorithms tick. They also introduced us to
Your Money or Your Life, or YMYL, as well as
two other critical insights that factor into how
Google defines page quality:
1. Beneficial Purpose
2. (EAT) Expertise,
Authoritativeness,
trustworthiness
3. (YMYL) Your Money
or Your Life

3. The value the page represents to the user. For
example, an instruction manual for a new piece of
tech is going to score more highly in terms of
beneficial purpose than a few flowery paragraphs
telling everyone how great the tech is.
BENEFICIAL PURPOSE

4. Expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness. Quite
simply, what are the credentials of the author, and
what qualifies them to offer advice on this topic?
(EAT) EXPERTISE,
AUTHORITATIVENESS,
TRUSTWORTHINESS

5. This is the real high stakes content. This is content
that could seriously impact the future of the
reader or viewer in terms of their happiness,
health, safety, or financial security.
(YMYL) YOUR MONEY
OR YOUR LIFE

6. WHAT DO THE SEARCH QUALITY
EVALUATOR GUIDELINES SAY
ABOUT YMYL?
Google didn’t come up with the name Your Money or Your
Life for no reason.

7. HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THIS
IS REALLY THE CASE?
Anyone who has worked in SEO or content marketing for a
while has a degree of insight into how Google operates.

8. WHAT ABOUT MORE RECENT
UPDATES?
The more recent updates to Google’s algorithm have been
the source of major confusion for publishers.

9. OPTIMISING PAGES FOR
EAT AND YMYL
Ok, so we’ve covered quite a lot of ground so far and
we’ve analysed what EAT and YMYL really mean, as well
as Beneficial Purpose.

10. EXAMPLES
OF YMYL

12. EXAMPLES OF YMYL
Let’s look at YMYL first as this is going to feed into EAT and
play a serious role in how EAT affects your pages.
NEWS:
If your content is covering weighty topics such as international
affairs or other genuinely newsworthy fields, this is going to be
YMYL. If it is considered ‘frivolous’ or less immediately critical to
the global or local stage, it may not be designated YMYL.
LEGAL AND GOVERNMENT:
We live in a democracy and an informed electorate is an
important part of that democracy. If your content provides
information that could influence voting or other civic processes,
this is going to be considered YMYL.
FINANCIAL ADVISE OR INFORMATION:
This we’ve already covered – financial advice can have a huge
impact on a person’s life. Sure-fire YMYL.
RETAIL:
This is where it gets a little tricky. Some retailers purport that their
products are life-changing for one reason or another. If this is the
case with your line of products, you are likely to find your content
marked as YMYL. However, this is something of a grey area.
PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC HEALTH:
If you are offering any advice or information related to the health
and safety of your audience, it is highly likely that you will receive
a YMYL designation.
SOCIAL GROUPS OR DEMOGRAPHICS:
Content that provides information related to specific social
groups or demographics will be considered YMYL. This includes
groups related to race or ethnicity, sexuality, gender, nationality,
disability, age, armed forces status, faith or religious beliefs,
among other factors.
MISCELLANEOUS:
The above list is pretty far from exhaustive. There are many other
factors that could land you with a YMYL designation, including
offering information about employment or accommodation,
education, fitness, and more.

13. Remember that you are not trying to avoid a
YMYL designation, even though, at times, it may
feel as if you should. Instead, you simply need to
know when your content has the potential of
receiving such a designation as you will need to
be extra careful with optimisation.

14. PRACTICAL OPTIMISATION
FOR DESIGNATED PAGES
So, now that you have decided whether or not your
content will be considered YMYL, it’s time to get
optimising. The first thing you need to do is choose
Your Authors very carefully.

15. With your content authors chosen, you need to
begin building their biographies. Create author
pages with information on who the authors are
and what their backgrounds are, as well as listing
their academic and professional credentials.
AUTHOR BIOS

16. Don’t be tempted to cast your expert author as a
jack-of-all-trades, either. After scoring big results
with a wonderfully written piece about lower back
pain, you might commission your expert to write
about a recent change in housing legislation in
your area – perhaps for a different website.
DEPLOY YOUR
EXPERTS IN THEIR
RESPECTIVE FIELDS

17. So, the content is written and ready to go. What
comes next? As always, you need to fact check.
However, with YMYL content, you need to fact
check extra hard. Even the experts make mistakes,
and this can throw your content way off the mark.
CHECK YOUR FACTS

18. If you decide to enhance your income with affiliate
links or paid advertisements on your pages, good
for you. This is a great way to make some extra
money from your web pages. However, don't
forget that Google will hold these links to a high
standard too.
TAKE EXTRA CARE
WITH AFFILIATE
LINKS

19. You may also decide to run user-generated
content on your pages. This is a great way to
engage your audience and to build up the content
on your site.
ALSO, BE CAREFUL
WITH USER-GENERATED
CONTENT

20. So, now you know a bit more about Your Money
or Your Life content and how it works – and now
that you recognise how important it is to make
sure those expertise, authoritativeness, and
trustworthiness signals are firing on all cylinders
– what’s next?

21. THANK YOU!