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.
The study found significant variations in AIO presence across different YMYL categories:
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.
The study revealed that Google frequently includes disclaimers in AIOs for health and finance topics:
Google appears to avoid generating AIOs for certain subjects, including:
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.
The findings highlight the importance of authoritative, well-sourced content when targeting YMYL keywords.
This points to several potential strategy shifts:
The full study, available on SE Ranking’s website, provides detailed breakdowns of AIO content quality and linked sources across categories.
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