Your Money or Your Life
“Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) pages are website pages that offer medical advice (COVID-19 has made almost every website a medical YMYL site), legal advice, financial advice, etc. If it affects a person’s health, wealth and overall happiness, then Google considers the web page a YMYL page: 
- An online store asking for your credit card number
- A clinic page listing symptoms for COVID-19
- A consultant providing marital advice
- A financial institution blogging legal suggestions
High-ranking YMYL pages will show a high level of E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness). So now, the safer a user feels while visiting your page and the more the content meets the search query, the more it will meet the needs of E-A-T. Google is doing this because so many sites try to game the system.
Who decides if you meet E-A-T requirements? Quality raters and actual users. If they are happy, Google is happy.
E-A-T isn’t all that Google is looking for as it assesses your website for YMYL rankings. Here are a few other factors:
- High-quality content. Content of over 1,000 words, which is well written without grammar or spelling mistakes, and thoroughly covers your topic.
- Reputation. A positive online and real-world reputation. According to Google, “For a YMYL website, a mixed reputation is cause for a Low rating.”
- Connections. Good resources including external links, FAQs, etc.
- High-quality website. A well-built website with a responsive, user-friendly design.
Old information, outdated facts and content, old sourcing and broken links will rate you lower. In other words, keep it fresh. And the “it” is content. Google hates brochure-ware. You cannot set it and forget it, because it is your money or your life.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
