Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2022-08-09 Origin: Site
YMYL and EAT are new terms that were added when Google made a major update to the core algorithm in August 2018, and they have also become the core of Google SEO in recent years. Today, four years later, when Google once again made a major update to the core algorithm, it once again made a number of major adjustments to YMYL and EAT. In these adjustments, Google has made a new definition and explanation of YMYL, and once again clarified the status of EAT to YMYL. It is no exaggeration to say that this update will have an impact on almost all SEO behaviors ! Therefore, Lingdong Lingshou Research Institute has summarized and analyzed the key points of this update in order to help you with your SEO.
A complete redefinition of the YMYL theme
1 What was YMYL in the past?
YMYL is the abbreviation of Your Money, Your Life. Judging from Google’s explanation of it when it was launched in 2018, YMYL is Google’s definition or classification of websites: websites that contain content closely related to people’s lives and money.
In Google's view, when users use search engines, there will always be some websites that are less professional and appear to be flashy on the surface but are actually highly homogeneous or have no key information on the Google homepage. This is because the operators of these websites have exploited loopholes in the algorithm, resulting in the phenomenon of 'bad money driving out good money', squeezing the rankings of truly high-quality websites. This is unfair to both users and website operators who really put their best efforts into building websites.
Therefore, Google established YMYL to classify websites and further evaluate them. As you can tell from the name, Google hopes to include all websites related to users' money and life. In previous search quality assessment guidelines, Google divided YMYL topics into the following categories:
1. News and current affairs (websites that display important policies, news, and current affairs—especially political, technological, and economic news)
2. Citizens, government and law (websites used for citizens to do online services, publish government announcements, social service information or legal information)
3. Finance (websites displaying financial information about investments, taxes, loans, banks, insurance, etc.)
4. Shopping (websites containing information on all aspects of the shopping industry chain, including websites that provide online shopping services)
5. Health and safety (websites that provide information about medical services, medical information, health information, medical safety, etc.)
6. Crowds of people (websites that include demographic information, classify crowds according to criteria such as religion, race, gender, nationality, etc., and provide related services)
7. Others (including vacation information, fitness information, work information and other niche market-related websites)
It can be seen that in fact, YMYL once included almost all websites. After all, everything may affect the user's wallet or life. This also means that YMYL's evaluation will affect almost all websites. Therefore, even if YMYL is redefined, ，all website operators who want to improve their website rankings must pay attention to the consideration of YMYL factors.
2 How is the new YMYL defined?
In recent quality assessment guidelines, Google has completely removed the above categories and redefined YMYL.
In the new version of the quality assessment guidelines, Google defines YMYL based on the dimensions of whether website content will cause harm to users. Google defines YMYL as content that is inherently dangerous (violent extremism) or harmful, for example, content that causes harm to people’s health, property or safety, or the welfare or well-being of society.
Instead of listing individual categories that might be considered YMYL, as it did before, Google is asking quality raters to consider YMYL based on four harms that YMYL content may cause to individuals or society:
1. Health or safety
2. Financial security
3. Society
4.'Others'
At the same time, Google defines who may be harmed by YMYL content, including the person viewing the content, others affected by the viewer, and even the entire population or society.
The following are the theme types that Google considers to be YMYL compiled by the Leading Sales Research Institute, with clear examples.
topic type | Explicit YMYL themes | May be YMYL theme | Not or unlikely to be a YMYL theme |
Can inaccurate information cause significant harm ? | Example: Evacuation routes during tsunami Description: Inaccurate evacuation route information can cause significant harm to people. | Example: weather forecast Note: In most cases, inaccurate weather forecast information will not cause harm. People often ask their families 'How is the weather today?' | Example: Music Awards Note: This type of talk does no harm. |
suggestion Can inappropriate advice cause significant harm? | Example: When should you go to the emergency room? Explanation: Wrong advice about when to go to the emergency room can cause serious harm. | Example: How often should you replace your toothbrush? Description: This is a healthy topic to discuss with friends. An imperfect recommendation is unlikely to have a significant impact on health or personal safety. | Example: How often should you wash your jeans? Note: This type of talk does no harm. |
personal opinion What impact will your personal views have on others or society? | Example: A personal opinion about why one racial group is inferior to others Note: This discussion may be used to incite or justify group violence. | Example: Comments on why there are high and low levels of sports Note: This topic is unlikely to cause harm, even though some sports are extreme and risky. Most people's discussion of jogging versus swimming is nothing more than a personal preference. | Example: Statement about why rock music is inferior Note: This topic is unlikely to cause harm; it can easily lead to heated discussions. |
current affairs news What impact will this topic have on people and society? Social Impact: Consider issues such as elections or trust in public institutions that benefit society. | News about ongoing violence Description: People need accurate information to keep themselves safe. Ongoing violence takes a toll on society. | News about car accidents Note: The accident itself may have caused injury, but small inaccuracies have appeared in reporting and the risk of future injury may be small. | News about local high school basketball games Note: This type of talk does no harm. |
Through this definition, Google has further clarified the scope of YMYL, classifying web pages into 'obviously YMYL', 'obviously not YMYL' and 'in between', and those web pages that are 'obviously YMYL' need to receive the strictest page quality rating.
Redefining 'low-quality pages'
In previous versions, Google claimed that pages were of low quality, in part because the primary creator might lack sufficient expertise. But now Google has modified its definition of low-quality pages and deleted the statement.
Lingdong Lingshou Research Institute has learned that in the new version, web pages belonging to the YMYL theme will have higher standards for MC, EAT (expertise, authority, trustworthiness) and information about the website or content creator.
Therefore, the EAT level rating a website receives depends entirely on the website itself.
However, a low-quality review of a site is not entirely due to the topic or purpose of the page. For example, if a website has clickbait pages, negative comments, etc., these can be reasons for Google to give the webpage a low rating. This means that as SEOs, we need to conduct more detailed inspection and management of web pages.
As a reminder, low-quality pages can appear on any type of website, including academic, non-profit, government, or any other general website. Low-quality pages can also cover any topic. Google has made its stance on 'minimum quality pages' clear: Even if the information comes from an authoritative or expert source, it can still be harmful content. Even on a site of good quality, if the content itself is deceptive, harmful, untrustworthy, or spammy, this is still a 'lowest quality page.' This requires website operators to take greater responsibility for their content and try their best to ensure that every low-quality factor is eliminated.
The importance of EAT
In its latest guidance update, Google explains that EAT (expertise, authority, or trustworthiness) is more important than all other factors for YMYL content. At the same time, it said that even authoritative websites may have low-quality content.
Low-quality pages often lack the EAT level appropriate for the purpose of the page. For example, tax information on a cooking website, a shopping checkout page with an unsecured link, etc. These are all low-quality pages.
Therefore, Google added an additional point when determining whether a page is of low quality: whether the information on the YMYL topic [main content] contains inaccurate or misleading information.
In another new addition, Google reiterates that the required EAT level for a page depends on the purpose and topic of the page. If the page discusses YMYL topics (and could cause harm to the user or others), EAT is critical. Even if the site has a good reputation, the page must be rated as low quality if there is a significant risk of damage.
Rather than considering YMYL from a business or content category perspective, Google requires evaluators to consider the extent to which the content causes harm to users. For many types of content, day-to-day expertise is sufficient, but EAT is critical when content meets YMYL standards (it has the potential to cause harm to individuals or society, or may affect a person's financial well-being, health or safety).
