What does YMYL mean?
The term comes from Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. In essence, they say: some topics have a high risk of harm because content about them could significantly impact the health, financial stability or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society. Google calls these topics “Your Money or Your Life”, or YMYL for short.
A topic can be YMYL for two reasons. Either the topic itself is dangerous, as with self-harm or criminal acts. Or it could cause harm if the content is not accurate. Google’s examples include the symptoms of a heart attack, how to invest money, what to do in an earthquake and who can vote.
Which topics count as YMYL?
The guidelines (version of 11 September 2025) distinguish four types of possible harm:
- Health or safety: topics that could harm mental, physical or emotional health, or any form of safety, including safety online.
- Financial security: topics that could damage a person’s ability to support themselves and their family.
- Government, civics and society: topics that could affect groups of people, trust in public institutions or elections.
- Other: further topics that could hurt people or negatively affect the welfare of society.
YMYL is not a switch but a spectrum. Google distinguishes clear YMYL topics, topics that are definitely not YMYL and everything in between. Most topics are not YMYL. A recipe or a travel report does not have to meet the same standards as a text about medication or mortgages.
YMYL and E-E-A-T: trust is decisive
E-E-A-T is closely linked to YMYL. The abbreviation stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. In its guidance on helpful content, Google writes that its systems give even more weight to content with strong E-E-A-T for YMYL topics. Trust is the most important of the four. The other three contribute to it.
To put this in context: E-E-A-T is not a single ranking factor and not a score that can be measured. Quality raters assess search results against these criteria, but according to Google their ratings are not used directly in ranking. They help Google check whether its algorithms deliver good results.
What YMYL means for SEO and GEO
For websites with YMYL topics, a well-optimised text is not enough. These points have proven their worth in practice:
- Show the authors: who wrote or reviewed the text, and with what qualifications? A profile showing their professional background builds trust.
- Cite sources: studies, guidelines, laws and public authorities back up statements. Unsubstantiated promises of healing or returns do harm.
- Keep it current: a visible date of the last review and regular updates show that the content is maintained.
- Be transparent about the provider: legal notice, contact options, licences and certificates should be easy to find on the website.
- Reviews and mentions: what third parties say about a company shapes its image more than its own presentation.
The same applies to AI search. Google names no additional requirements for AI Overviews and AI Mode beyond those for normal search. Anyone who works carefully on YMYL topics also lays the foundation for GEO.
YMYL in a website relaunch
Trust signals are easily lost in a relaunch. Author profiles are not migrated, notes on expert review drop out of the new template, specialist texts are shortened or merged. For YMYL websites this weighs more heavily than for others. In our SEO relaunch support, we therefore check before go-live whether specialist content, author details, doctor profiles and structured data have been carried over completely.
Do you run a website on health, financial or legal topics and want to know where you stand? Then get in touch with us or read more about our search engine optimisation!
