E-A-T, YMYL & Beneficial Purpose Explained
Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines explained. Their meaning for Search and why they are important for SEO!
Google is mysterious and secretive about how it works and what changes after each algorithm update. The SEO community is constantly alert about potential algorithm updates and trying to figure it out of how to save their page rankings from sinking.
But sometimes Google is giving, some small clues that help the SEO’s to better understand how Google works and how to improve their rankings. Some of these clues came back in 2015 when Google released the full document of its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, a PDF document of over 160 pages.
The Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines serve as a reference for Google’s human search evaluators. The search evaluators or search quality raters at Google are the people who rate the performance of Google’s ranking algorithm and help study the impact of an update.
Google contracts with over 10,000 search quality raters worldwide to evaluate its search results. Raters are given actual searches to conduct, drawn from real searches that happen on Google. They then rate the quality of pages that appear in the top results — hence the “quality rater” name.
The document is full of insights that will give you a great amount of SEO wisdom on what makes a high and low-quality web page! Please remember that the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines only give us clues, not definitive answers, on Google’s ranking factors.
While Google released a condensed version of the guidelines in 2013, until 2015, Google had never released the full guidelines that the search quality raters receive in their entirety.
Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines document is full of wonderful SEO knowledge, that will make SEO’s more broad-minded about how search works. The document guidelines contain three pillars to how Google looks at web pages and how they differentiate high-quality content from low-quality:
- Beneficial Purpose (The identity of a website)
- YMYL (Your Money or Your Life)
- E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), or Page Quality
In this article I will try to explain what does Beneficial Purpose, YMYL and E-A-T mean and how they apply to the content of a website.
Let’s discuss below what you need to know about each of them.
Beneficial Purpose: The identity of a website
The purpose of a page is the reason or reasons why the page was created. Every page on the Internet is created for a purpose, or for multiple purposes.
Google specifically mentions in the guideline, in section 2.2 titled: “What is the Purpose of a Web Page?”, that “Websites and pages should be created to help users.”:
The purpose of a page is the reason or reasons why the page was created. Every page on the Internet is created for a purpose, or multiple purposes.
Most pages are created to be helpful for users, thus having a beneficial purpose. Some pages are created merely to make money, with little or no effort to help users. Some pages are even created to cause harm to users. The first step in understanding a page is figuring out its purpose.
Why is it important to determine the purpose of the page for Page Quality (PQ)rating? As described in Google SQEG:
- The goal of Page Quality (PQ) rating is to determine how well a page achieves its purpose. In order to assign a rating, you must understand the purpose of the page and sometimes the website.
- By understanding the purpose of the page, you’ll better understand what criteria are important to consider when evaluating that particular page.
- Websites and pages should be created to help users. Websites and pages that are created with intent to harm users, deceive users, or make money with no attempt to help users, should receive the Lowest Page Quality (PQ) rating.
Any page to be labelled as high-quality must fulfils the user’s intent and must be user-centered serving them as a useful resource. To give us an idea of what these help pages are about, Google mentions:
As described in SQEG, common helpful or beneficial page purposes include (but are not limited to):
- To share information about a topic.
- To share personal or social information.
- To share pictures, videos, or other forms of media.
- To express an opinion or point of view.
- To entertain.
- To sell products or services.
- To allow users to post questions for other users to answer.
- To allow users to share files or to download software
If a webpage is created with the intent to harm users, deceive users, or make money with no attempt to help users, should receive the Lowest Page Quality (PQ) rating.
Mentioning the ‘beneficial purpose’ again in section 3.2, the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines states that beneficial purpose is the first step in evaluating a page’s quality. Google mentions, “Remember that the first step of Page Quality (PQ) rating is to understand the true purpose of the page.”
You have to understand that you cannot succeed in Google’s search rankings unless you have a user focus approach. You must focus on delivering the best possible user experience.
YMYL: Your Money or Your Life Content
Any page or topic that could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, is called a “Your Money or Your Life” page, or YMYL.
According to Google, any page including content that can affect someone’s happiness, health or financial stability is called a “Your Money or Your Life” page, or YMYL.
Google is particularly sensitive about YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics because low-quality YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages could potentially negatively impact a person’s happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.
Stakes are very high in the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics of content. If you are in this type of niche, you have to make extra sure that the information that you provide does not adversely affect the readers.
Google specifically mentions in the guideline, in section 2.3 titled: “Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Pages”, what constitutes YMYL topics.
The following are examples of YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics, as described in Google SQEG:
- News and current events: news about important topics such as international events, business, politics, science, technology, etc. Keep in mind that not all news articles are necessarily considered YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) (e.g., sports, entertainment, and everyday lifestyle topics are generally not YMYL). Please use your judgment and knowledge of your locale.
- Civics, government, and law: information important to maintaining an informed citizenry, such as information about voting, government agencies, public institutions, social services, and legal issues (e.g., divorce, child custody, adoption, creating a will, etc.).
- Finance: financial advice or information regarding investments, taxes, retirement planning, loans, banking, or insurance, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases or transfer money online.
- Shopping: information about or services related to research or purchase of goods/services, particularly webpages that allow people to make purchases online.
- Health and safety: advice or information about medical issues, drugs, hospitals, emergency preparedness, how dangerous an activity is, etc.
- Groups of people: information about or claims related to groups of people, including but not limited to those grouped on the basis of race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity.
- Other: there are many other topics related to big decisions or important aspects of people’s lives which thus may be considered YMYL (Your Money or Your Life), such as fitness and nutrition, housing information, choosing a college, finding a job, etc. Please use your judgment.
If your website falls within one of these areas you’ll want to take extra care that you’re supporting this content with things like references, expert opinions, and helpful supplementary or additional content.
Google makes frequent reference to YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages within the quality guidelines and repeatedly stresses the importance of holding these types of sites to a higher bar than others.
The bottom line when it comes to YMYL (Your Money or Your Life), make sure that any content on your website will help the users. Take great care of your users and Google will reward you for that.
E-A-T: Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness
High quality pages and websites need enough expertise to be authoritative and trustworthy on their topic.
E-A-T or Page Quality stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness and is used to determine a webpage or websites overall quality value. E-A-T is mentioned over 180 times in the Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, so you can understand that it plays a significant role in the guidelines.
To be considered as a high-quality page, there must be a high level of E-A-T — Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Pages with low quality or an inadequate level of E-A-T will be marked as low-quality pages.
Google says that E-A-T is very important! E-A-T is said to be important for all content, but especially for the content that has the potential to impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety, the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages.
- The expertise of the creator of the Main Content (MC).
- The authoritativeness of the creator of the Main Content (MC), the Main Content (MC) itself, and the website.
- The trustworthiness of the creator of the Main Content (MC), the Main Content (MC) itself, and the website.
Google wants to make sure that websites producing high-quality content are rewarded with better rankings and websites that create low-quality content get less visibility.
Now let’s look at each of these factors (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) separately.
Expertise
This refers to the creator of the Main Content (MC) on the page.
To be an expert is defined in the dictionary as being “very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area”. You need to demonstrate your expert skills or knowledge in your field. However, possessing this knowledge alone is not going to increase your Google rankings. You need to be an expert in your field.
For YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics, this is about the formal expertise, qualifications, and education of the content creator of the Main Content (MC). For example, an ophthalmologist is more qualified to write about eye problems than someone who’s read a few posts about the subject. As stated in Google SQEG:
“Formal expertise is important for YMYL topics such as medical, financial, or legal advice.” — Google SQEG
As described in Google SQEG, for non-YMYL topics, relevant life experience and “everyday expertise” is accepted:
“Some topics require less formal expertise. […] If it seems as if the person creating the content has the type and amount of life experience to make him or her an “expert” on the topic, we will value this “everyday expertise” and not penalize the person/webpage/website for not having “formal” education or training in the field.” — Google SQEG
Google also says that “everyday expertise” is enough for some YMYL topics. For example, someone with back pain problems is better to answer questions like “what does it feel like to have back pains?” Someone living with the problem is better placed to answer this than a qualified doctor with years of experience. As described in Google SQEG:
“It’s even possible to have everyday expertise in YMYL topics. For example, there are forums and support pages for people with specific diseases. Sharing personal experience is a form of everyday expertise.” — Google SQEG
Authoritativeness
This refers to the Main Content (MC) creator, the content itself, and the website on which it appears.
To have authority is defined in the dictionary as “having generally recognized authority”. You need to demonstrate that the person writing the blog or other page content is an authority in your field. Being an expert is great, but it’s only the beginning.
As described in Google SQEG, raters are told to search the web for credible information about the website:
“Use reputation research to find out what real users, as well as experts, think about a website. Look for reviews, references, recommendations by experts, news articles, and other credible information created/written by individuals about the website.” — Google SQEG
Raters are told to look for sources that were not written by the owner of the website as described in Google SQEG:
“When searching for reputation information, try to find sources that were not written or created by the website, the company itself, or the individual.” — Google SQEG
Wikipedia looks like a good source of information that Google mentions, as stated in Google SQEG:
“Wikipedia articles can help you learn about a company and may include information specific to reputation, such as awards and other forms of recognition, or also controversies and issues.” — Google SQEG
Trustworthiness
This refers to the Main Content (MC) creator, the Main Content (MC) content, and the website.
To have trustworthiness is defined in the dictionary as “the ability to be relied on as honest or truthful”. Proven trustworthiness is really important. Google measures your website trustworthiness by analyzing your backlinks.
Raters are told to look at whether the website states who is responsible for published content. This is particularly important for YMYL queries, as described in Google SQEG, but applies to non-YMYL queries too:
“YMYL websites demand a high degree of trust, so they generally need satisfying information about who is responsible for the content of the site.” — Google SQEG
It is very important to have contact information especially for e-commerce websites as well as for websites that are in the YMYL topics, as described in Google SQEG:
“If a store or financial transaction website has just an email address and physical address, it may be difficult to get help if there are issues with the transaction. Likewise, many other types of YMYL websites also require a high degree of user trust.” — Google SQEG
Raters are told to take into consideration the content accuracy, as described in Google SQEG:
“For news articles and information pages, high quality MC must be factually accurate for the topic and must be supported by expert consensus where such consensus exists.” — Google SQEG
Encyclopedia Pages, such as Wikipedia are part of the Raters consideration about the content accuracy, as stated in Google SQEG:
“A Wikipedia article on a non-YMYL topic with a satisfying amount of accurate information and trustworthy external references can usually be rated in the High range.” — Google SQEG
What Is High-Quality Content?
Characteristics of High-quality pages.
Whatever content you create must have a purpose. A High-quality page should have a beneficial purpose and achieve that purpose well.
According to the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, high-quality pages are those that have:
- High level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
- A satisfying amount of high-quality MC, including a descriptive or helpful title.
- Satisfying website information and/or information about who is responsible for the website. If the page is primarily for shopping or includes financial transactions, then it should have satisfying customer service information.
- Positive website reputation for a website that is responsible for the Main Content (MC) on the page. Positive reputation of the creator of the Main Content (MC), if different from that of the website.
The highest quality pages will have a very high level of E-A-T, according to Google’s guidelines.
Your top priority should be creating content that your readers wants or needs and offers true value to them. A user-centered content that serves them as a useful resource.
The more high-quality pages you have the more beneficial it will be for your website and it will help you better rank in Google’s search results.
What Is Low-Quality Content?
Characteristics of Low-quality pages.
Low-quality content is, as you’d expect, the exact opposite of high-quality content. Low-quality pages may have been intended to serve a beneficial purpose. However, according to the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, if a page has one or more of the following characteristics, the Low rating applies:
- An inadequate level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).
- The quality of the MC is low.
- There is an unsatisfying amount of MC for the purpose of the page.
- The title of the Main Content (MC) is exaggerated or shocking.
- The Ads or SC distracts from the Main Content (MC).
- There is an unsatisfying amount of website information or information about the creator of the Main Content (MC) for the purpose of the page (no good reason for anonymity).
- A mildly negative reputation for a website or creator of the Main Content (MC), based on extensive reputation research.
Low-quality pages could hurt your Google rankings. If your content is inaccurate, has no purpose, or includes elements that hurt the user experience, it’s unlikely that Google will feature your website prominently in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
In short, low E-A-T means non user-centered and helpful content, or in other words low-quality content. Low-quality content means bad SEO. And bad SEO means you’re missing out on valuable traffic due to low rankings.
Final Thoughts
Some final thoughts for the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines document.
Every page on the Internet must have a beneficial purpose. Websites and pages should be user-centered and serve the users as a useful resource.
E-A-T is important for SEO! E-A-T is characteristic of a High-quality page and it’s something that you should constantly improve — especially if you cover YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics.
The E-A-T principles — Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness, are vital to have an opportunity to improve quality and rankings.
“A high-quality website must fulfils the user’s intent, must be user-centered and serving them as a useful resource. Websites should be created to help users!
Always keep in mind that Google’s standards are constantly changing as the users’ way of search changes! As Google says they won’t be updating the public document of Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines with every change, but they will try to publish big changes to the guidelines periodically.
Keep on SEO!
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