Last Updated on 4 months by Selen Cetin
E-E-A-T and YMYL are two important concepts for SEO, and it is significant to understand them correctly. E-E-A-T consists of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness concepts and is included in the guidelines that Google creates for search page quality evaluators. YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life.” It is used for content that could potentially affect people’s health, safety, or financial status. Both concepts are not a direct ranking factor for Google, but they provide important clues that influence ranking. For this reason, it is important to understand both concepts correctly and to apply them completely. Both E-E-A-T and YMYL are important and necessary for SEO, so there are many strategies to be considered and implemented. Working with SEO agencies to improve your website’s SEO is the most beneficial option. In this article, we discuss in detail what E-E-A-T and YMYL pages are, their importance for SEO, and how they can be improved.
What is E-E-A-T?
The E-E-A-T model is part of the search quality evaluator guidelines, and people benefit from this content to determine how high-quality the search results are. People who use these guidelines are also known as quality assessors. E-E-A-T is an abbreviation of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Previously known as E-A-T, the concept of experience was later incorporated into these guidelines. If there is no direct ranking factor, it is concepts that are useful and should be known in terms of SEO. Detailed information about the concepts is discussed below.
1. Experience
It is important that websites have quality and comprehensive content. The emergence of quality content is due to the experience of the person producing the content. When the content producer has first-hand experience with the relevant topic, the content is created in a much richer way. Therefore, Google is more likely to crawl the content and find it comprehensive.
2. Expertise
Another factor that search quality evaluators consider is expertise. It is important whether the authors who make up the content have expertise on the relevant topic. Authors with expertise are called qualified writers who provide more reliable information.
3. Authoritativeness
Another concept that takes its place among the terms E-E-A-T is authoritativeness. This concept represents how you have a reputation in the industry. Search quality is one of the important factors considered by the evaluators, and it is determined by these people how competent the content produced by the website is in the sector. If the contents of a health website are created by doctors and provide accurate information about diseases, that website can be called competent in the sector. These contents are also content that is likely to get backlinks, so the evaluators consider all these factors. It is possible to learn how competent a website is with SEO tools.
4. Trustworthiness
Doubtedly, among the concepts of E-E-A-T, the most important is trustworthiness. It is important that your website be trusted by search quality evaluators. For this, you need to be clear about who is writing the content, make the necessary controls to make the content based on the truth, and base your content on reliable sources. It is essential to pay attention to these details so that your website is not called an unsafe link.
What is YMYL in SEO?
YMYL in SEO means “Your Money or Your Life.” It is a concept used for content that can have an impact on the future financial situation, health, and safety of users. YMYL in SEO is based on the guidelines that Google prepares for quality evaluators, just like E-E-A-T. As an outside eye, evaluators evaluate all contents according to certain criteria. YMYL pages can contain content covering many different topics, such as news, current events, health, shopping, and finance. In terms of content, it contains all the titles that touch on human life.
Why are YMYL Pages Important?
YMYL pages are of great importance because they have the potential to directly impact human health. In a simple question about health, the wrong information you get from someone who is not an expert in the field is can mislead you and affect your health negatively. Google search page quality evaluators do this with it in mind. If an unreliable web page that provides false information stands out, it can have devastating effects. Google is also taking measures to prevent this. In terms of YMYL in SEO, quality and reliable content come to the fore, which is why it is also important for SEO.
Examples for YMYL in SEO Contents
YMYL in SEO content is being created on many different topics. You are advised to review the following examples to see their contents and how they may affect future health, safety, and financial situations.
1. Health and safety
YMYL in SEO stands out, especially in health and safety content. Any content that offers medical advice, gives detailed information about diseases, and affects the physical, psychological, and emotional state of the individual is included in this scope. Missing and incorrect contents prepared by a non-specialist can adversely affect the health of individuals. For this reason, identifying unreliable websites is important both within the scope of YMYL and within the scope of E-E-A-T.
2. Legal
Websites that provide legal issues, social services, legal services, and advice are included in this scope. In terms of SEO in YMYL, writing about legal issues should also be created by experts in the field.
3. Financial
Financial content is content that provides information in areas such as financial services, advice, investments, taxes, and banking. Incorrect and incomplete content has the power to threaten the future financial situation of individuals.
4. News
All kinds of news, international events, politics, and science in fields such as the content produced in this category are included. When such YMYL in SEO content is not reliable, it can lead people to gallantry and cause unintended consequences.
5. Shopping
The YMYL pages in the Shopping category include online shopping websites. Unsecured connections may result in the theft or fraud of card and identity information.
How to Improve Your Site’s E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T and YMYL in SEO are not direct ranking factors but have the power to influence ranking. These concepts also give websites tips on how to improve themselves. A few strategies used to improve the E-E-A-T index of a website and, therefore, the YMYL pages are as follows.
1. Provide Author Info
Author information is of great importance for both YMYL pages and E-E-A-T guidelines. This is to confirm whether the author is a legitimate source of information. The more experienced, expert, and reliable the author is in the field, the more it is perceived in the content it produces. For this reason, authors should be included on the website. Authors’ biographies and expertise should be shared transparently. This information contributes to the successful creation of both E-E-A-T and YMYL in SEO contents. An expert in a field may have no interest in or ability to write. In this case, it will be enough for them to check the content written by talented writers.
2. Create High-Quality Content
For both E-E-A-T and YMYL in SEO content, comprehensive, high-quality content must be produced. These pieces of content should provide answers to the questions people ask, be easy to read, and satisfy the reader. The content that best answers the query that the person writes on the search bar is featured by Google. For this reason, you need to pay attention to creating your content with care. This content should be original, up-to-date, comprehensive, and written by real people. Content that was once up-to-date and useful may not be viable today. For this reason, it is recommended to check the high-quality content created in the past regularly. It is also possible to use SEO tools such as SEMrush to create YMYL in SEO content. Especially for getting popular content ideas, the subject research tool can be very useful.
3. Use Authoritative Sources
One of the golden rules of being successful in both E-E-A-T and YMYL in SEO content is to use reliable sources. When content is created from a trusted source, it offers accurate and comprehensive information, and that is what Google wants. It is necessary to link to the relevant places in the contents created for the purpose of providing trust. It is most important not to hesitate to link to official sources and articles, as well as blog posts. The links provided are of great importance, especially for YMYL in SEO content. It is useful to take advantage of the expertise of a content agency to provide the right links to the right content.
