A new study by SE Ranking reveals insights into how Google handles AI-generated content in search results for sensitive “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) topics.
The research analyzed over 1,200 keywords across health, finance, legal, and political categories and found that Google takes a notably cautious approach when providing AI Overviews (AIOs) for these subjects.
Key Findings Highlight Google’s Cautious Approach
The study found significant variations in AIO presence across different YMYL categories:
- Legal queries triggered AIOs most frequently (77.67%)
- Health-related searches followed closely (65.33%)
- Financial topics saw moderate AIO presence (41.67%)
- Political searches had the lowest AIO rate (16.67%)
Research indicates that Google is very deliberate in how it deploys AI-generated content for YMYL searches. There seems to be a balance between providing authoritative information and encouraging users to seek professional advice.
Disclaimers & Sensitive Topics
The study revealed that Google frequently includes disclaimers in AIOs for health and finance topics:
- 83% of health-related AIOs included a disclaimer urging users to consult professionals
- 63.2% of finance-related AIOs featured similar warnings
Google appears to avoid generating AIOs for certain subjects, including:
- Mental health issues
- Eating disorders
- Substance abuse
- Specific medications
- COVID-19
- Abortion
Political Content: A Hands-Off Approach
The research highlighted Google’s cautious stance on political content.
No AI Overviews were triggered for keywords containing terms like “election,” “elections,” “president,” or “presidential.”
This approach contrasts with other AI search engines; the study noted that OpenAI’s SearchGPT does respond to such queries.
Implications For SEO & Content Creation
The findings highlight the importance of authoritative, well-sourced content when targeting YMYL keywords.
This points to several potential strategy shifts:
- Double down on E-E-A-T: Beef up author creds, citations, and quality backlinks.
- Refine keywords: Target question-based queries that trigger AIOs.
- Add disclaimers: Mimic Google’s approach for health and finance content.
- Go niche: Tailor strategies to AIO prevalence in different YMYL sectors.
- Boost local SEO: Address geographic inconsistencies in legal AIOs.
- Diversify content: Include more video, given YouTube’s frequent AIO appearances.
- Build topic clusters: Focus on comprehensive coverage, not just isolated posts.
- Audit regularly: Keep content fresh given frequent AIO changes.
- Leverage schema: Align structured data with AIO content patterns.
- Nail user intent: Mirror AIOs’ direct-answer approach.
The full study, available on SE Ranking’s website, provides detailed breakdowns of AIO content quality and linked sources across categories.
Featured Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock
