Definition
YMYL stands for Your Money or Your Life. The term comes from Google's search quality rater guidelines and describes topics where inaccurate information could cause real harm, such as medical advice, financial decisions, legal questions and safety. Raters are asked to apply higher standards of trust and expertise when evaluating these pages.
For example, an Aarvi Skin article on treating eczema, or on combining prescription retinoids with other products, touches on health, so it falls under YMYL. It should be reviewed by a qualified professional, cite credible medical sources and avoid claims it cannot support.
Why it matters
Search quality guidelines hold YMYL topics to a higher standard, and AI assistants often answer health and finance questions cautiously for similar reasons. If your brand works in these areas, sourcing, author credentials and accuracy matter most. Unsupported claims can reduce trust from readers and systems alike, and an assistant repeating an inaccurate claim from your page can cause harm. Careful, well-sourced content is the safer path.
What to do
- Identify pages on your site that cover health, financial, legal or safety topics.
- Add qualified authors or reviewers and cite credible primary sources on those pages.
- Review YMYL pages on a schedule to keep claims accurate and current.
Common questions
What topics count as YMYL?
Google's guidelines include topics that could significantly affect health, financial stability, safety or society, such as medical information, investing, taxes, legal advice and news about major events. Whether a specific page is YMYL depends on its content and potential for harm, not just its industry.
How should brands handle YMYL content for AI search?
Treat accuracy and credibility as requirements. Use qualified authors or reviewers, cite reliable sources, date and update content, and avoid overstated claims. Assistants vary in how they handle these topics, but clear, well-sourced information is more likely to be represented correctly.