What are YMYL and E-E-A-T and 10 ways to improve your site according to these factors

What is YMYL?

YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) are those website topics that can affect the financial well-being, mental and physical health of users. These topics are important because information can affect people's lives.

Examples of YMYL website topics are:

• Medicine
• Finance
• Health and psychology
• Online shopping
• News
• Education
• Service sites
• Nutrition
• Insurance
• Real Estate

When it comes to YMYL SEO, E-E-A-T plays a vital role. If someone relies on false medical advice or makes financial decisions based on unreliable information, it can have negative consequences for their health or finances.

Google provides examples of YMYL topics that help you appreciate the importance of E-E-A-T in creating trustworthy content. Clear YMYL topics include information about natural disasters, news about ongoing violence, and tips on buying prescription drugs. There are also topics that may or may not fall under the YMYL category, such as weather reports or news about a car accident. However, factors such as experience, credibility and reliability should still be considered when providing such information.

How to promote YMYL-themed sites on Google?

Increase user confidence comply with all Google requirements for YMYL-themed sites:

• Create a company description
• Provide detailed contact information
• Include information about employees
• Do reviews on products or services
• Place information about the company's certificates, awards and licences
• Make feedback possible for users
• Describe your products and services in detail
• Provide accurate information about the cost of goods and services
• Provide guarantees

What is E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness) is a system that Google uses to evaluate the quality and trustworthiness of websites. It's like a guide that helps you assess whether a site is trustworthy.

Let's take a look at the four components of E-E-A-T and how they relate to content.

Experience

Having practical experience in a particular field is crucial to creating quality content. It shows that the writer understands the topic not only in theory, but also in practice. For example, when reviewing a product or service, the author's personal experiences and insights can be helpful and build trust with the audience.

Expertise

Expertise refers to the level of knowledge and skills that the content author possesses. This goes beyond personal experience and includes qualifications and a deeper understanding of a particular topic. This can include education, professional certifications, or a track record of creating high-quality content in a particular field.

Authorship

By "authority" Google means reputation. The stronger your reputation among experts in a field, the higher your authority. Authorship is closely related to expertise and content or website. It involves establishing authority and being recognised as a trusted source of information in a particular industry or niche. Factors that contribute to authority include author reputation, website reputation, and recognition and endorsements from other authoritative sources. Being recognised as an authority in a given field increases the credibility of the content and enhances its value to users.

Reliability

Reliability is an important aspect of E-E-A-T. It is about the reliability of the content itself. Content should be accurate, factual and backed by verified sources. Building a trusting relationship with users is essential to maintaining a positive reputation.

It can be said that E-E-A-T is a framework that evaluates the experience, expertise, credibility and trustworthiness of content creators and websites. With these factors, Google aims to provide users with quality search results.

Does E-E-A-T affect ranking?

Yes, E-E-A-T is a ranking factor in Google's search engine, but with a little nuance as there are fewer specifics on how it works in this algorithm.

Google values sites that have a high E-E-A-T ranking. A high E-E-A-T can increase user trust and increase the likelihood of conversions on your site. Generally, users prefer sites that provide quality and reliable information more.

It's worth noting that Google updates their guidelines periodically. In the past, they introduced EAT and later expanded it to E-E-A-T to include the "Experience" aspect.

Who are assessors and how do they evaluate websites?

In simple words, an assessor is a person who goes to a website and according to the instructions checks the page of the site on a checklist for the presence of this or that information, compliance with the requirements of search engines and user requests. These criteria cannot be evaluated by search engine robots.

The instructions for assessors specify the factors to pay attention to and how to evaluate them. The results of assessors' evaluations affect how sites are ranked in search engines. The assessments made are analysed using big data (Big Data). When this data is analysed, it is possible to identify signs of quality content and functionality of websites. These attributes are then taken into account when updating search engine algorithms.

The assessor's assessment goes into a database, which is then analysed by experts using data analysis. On the basis of this analysis, they form criteria for evaluating the quality of the site, which are then evaluated already by automated search engine algorithms.

10 ways to improve your website according to YMYL and E-E-A-T

1. Quality content

The most important thing is to make content that people will want. Content should be useful. Give advice, answer questions, bring up relevant topics.

Relevancy means a match between the content and the user's needs, interests, or search intent. It's important that content is relevant. It should answer user queries and provide relevant information. By providing content that is highly relevant to the user's query.

Google has released updates to ensure that content is relevant, original, useful to users and written by people for people. It's important to audit your content regularly to make sure it's relevant. Even if your content was once useful, it may now contain outdated information. Constant evaluation and updates are necessary to ensure that your content remains valuable and relevant to users.

2. Content authorship

Does content that is published by an “admin” or some guy without any information about him inspire confidence in you? The credibility of the information is immediately in question and does not inspire trust.

Google advises adding the author's name to any content you publish.

Ideally, it's best to add the details of every person who creates content for you – whether it's blog posts, articles or Q&A pages.

If the author is an expert in the field they're writing about, it's definitely worth mentioning this point. You can create an additional page with the author's biography, works and useful facts about the topic.

We recommend a few points that you can mention the author:

Here are some important elements of a good biography page:

• Full name
• Photo
• Rank/position.
• A detailed biography

Additionally, you can include contact information such as email or social media. All of this makes it easy for Google and users to find out who created the content and evaluate their individual E-E-A-T.

3. Contact Information

Can a visitor or customer easily find your contact information and get in touch with you? Don't forget that the E-E-A-T is evaluating your website as a whole. Place contact information, such as a phone number or email address, in a prominent place on your website. For example, in the header or sidebar to make it easily accessible to users. Be sure to make sure the information is listed correctly and all links work.

4. Use trusted sources

When creating content, make sure that the information is credible. For this, use only reliable sources. Refer to official sources, studies, articles. You can use expert posts on social networks and blogs.

Choose sources based on the topic of your content. They can range from official databases to expert YouTube videos.

5. Optimise or remove old content

Information that was useful in the past may not be relevant at all now. Don't be afraid to remove content that has become outdated and irrelevant.

However, deleting content won't be the only option. Content optimisation plays a key role in achieving high rankings and attracting a targeted audience. This includes using relevant keywords, structuring content with headings and subheadings, optimising meta tags and unique, informative content that answers users' questions and needs.

Keep up with industry news and trends: stay on top of the latest developments and emerging trends in your industry. Use this knowledge to create timely and relevant content that touches on current topics of interest.

A few tips to help optimise your content and increase E-E-A-T:

• Add a more authoritative person to write content.
• Structure headlines and subheadings
• Include quotes from experts, data, sources or citations.
• Make simple edits to improve readability, grammar, spelling and structure.
• Enhance visual appeal by adding photos, diagrams, screenshots (and optimise these images).
• Add videos for users who prefer multimedia over text alone (which can also increase user engagement and time spent on your site).
• Go deeper into the topic to make it more detailed.
• Write a new and improved title.
• Optimising and improving content definitely takes a lot of time, but it will really improve the site and contribute to YMYL.

6. Build a positive brand reputation

Reputation is crucial for Google E-E-A-T search engine optimisation. A good reputation will only help your business grow.

Here are some key steps to build a strong brand reputation according to E-E-A-T principles:

Expertise:

• Demonstrate expertise by providing accurate, reliable, and relevant information
• Demonstrate the credentials, qualifications and experience of your team or contributors
• Publish well-researched content backed by credible sources, research and data

Authority:

• Build credibility by positioning yourself as a trusted source in your industry
• Develop branding and elaborate website design
• Establish partnerships with other companies

Credibility:

• Demonstrate transparency by clearly disclosing your sources and affiliations
• Show that you are trusted and do quality work through customer testimonials
• Use robust privacy measures

User Experience:

• Optimise the usability of your website by providing a smooth and intuitive browsing experience.
• Focus on mobile responsiveness, fast page load times and easy navigation.
• Engage with your audience through flexible communication channels and address their concerns promptly.

Reputation Management:

• Keep an eye on reviews and testimonials related to your brand
• Respond professionally to any negative reviews or criticism
• Actively engage with your audience by answering their questions and providing useful information.

7. Track and utilise user-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) is a type of content created by website users themselves. It can be reviews, comments, photos, videos, publications, and other forms of content that users themselves create. Proper use of UGC can be a plus to user trust.

If you want to make a purchase online, make sure you look at reviews. This is one of the key factors when buying online. Therefore, it is important that your customers endorse the brand and share their opinions. If satisfied customers share photos and tag your brand, it can UGC and improve the E-E-A-T of your website. Use this content for your website, blog or social media.

8. Backlinks

Backlinks, also known as external links or backlinks, are hyperlinks that lead to your website from third-party resources. This means that other websites include links to your website on their pages.

Getting backlinks from reliable sites is an important element of your SEO strategy. It also shows that your business knows its business in your industry.

Think of backlinks as the online version of word of mouth. You'd be more likely to trust a brand if a friend of yours recommended it, right? Similarly, you're more likely to trust a site recommended by another site you trust.

The more quality backlinks you accumulate, the higher you will climb in Google's search rankings. Now there are many ways to earn those backlinks. But for starters, you should just start by creating good content that people will find useful.

9. Track your traffic

Having even one page with a low E-E-A-T can completely ruin your site's reputation. It is important to keep an eye on articles with low E-E-A-T rankings because they can negatively affect the overall reputation of your site.

Generally, articles with low E-E-A-T ratings have low traffic. To solve this problem, you can use webmaster tools to scan your site and identify such articles. If you come across any pages that are not giving you traffic, then it is time to take action. You can either work on improving these pages or, as a last resort, consider removing them.

10. Publish new content on a regular basis

It's no secret that Google values websites that regularly publish fresh, relevant, and accurate content. In fact, the frequency of publishing content and updates plays an important role in establishing and maintaining your website's authority. There is no definite number of articles, but you need great content and a consistent publishing schedule.

We advise you to take into consideration our following recommendations:

• Focus on quality over quantity. While it's important to post regularly, prioritise the quality of your content. Make sure each article contains valuable information, meets the needs of your audience, is well researched and accurate.
• Conduct regular content audits. Periodically review existing content to identify outdated information, inaccuracies, or opportunities for improvement. Update content accordingly to reflect the latest facts, figures, trends or industry changes.
• Keep up with industry news and trends. Stay up-to-date on the latest developments and emerging trends in your industry. Use this knowledge to create timely and relevant content that touches on current topics of interest.
• Create a content publishing schedule. This is a plan that will outline how often you will publish new content. Consistency is key, so set realistic goals that you can consistently achieve.
• Explore different content formats. Don't limit yourself to text articles. Experiment with different content formats such as videos, podcasts, infographics or interactive elements to touch on different topics and appeal to a wider audience.