YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)
Content that can affect a reader's health, finances, safety or wellbeing.
Key takeaways
- YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) is content that can affect a reader's health, finances, safety or wellbeing.
- Have YMYL content written or reviewed by qualified people, and say who they are.
- Avoid: publishing anonymous financial, legal or medical advice.
What is YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)?
YMYL pages are held to a higher EEAT bar. Google's guidelines require especially clear authorship, sourcing, and accuracy for these topics.
YMYL topics are defined in Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
Why YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) matters for EEAT in 2026
Content that can affect health, money, safety or wellbeing is held to the highest standard, because errors can cause real harm. Google's raters scrutinise these pages most closely.
For a wider view of where this fits, see our full EEAT glossary or explore the Strategy and Audits service we run for clients.
How to apply YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) on your site
Knowing the concept is only half of it. Work through these steps in order to put YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) into practice on your own pages:
- Have YMYL content written or reviewed by qualified people, and say who they are.
- Cite authoritative primary sources for every important claim.
- Review and update the content regularly as guidance changes.
Common mistakes to avoid
Most sites that struggle with YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) fall into the same traps. Check your pages against each of these before moving on:
- Publishing anonymous financial, legal or medical advice.
- Using outdated figures or regulations.
- Mixing advertising into advice without clear disclosure.
Questions about YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)
Content that can affect a reader's health, finances, safety or wellbeing.
Content that can affect health, money, safety or wellbeing is held to the highest standard, because errors can cause real harm. Google's raters scrutinise these pages most closely.
Start here: have YMYL content written or reviewed by qualified people, and say who they are. Then cite authoritative primary sources for every important claim.
The most common is publishing anonymous financial, legal or medical advice. Another is using outdated figures or regulations.