I recently explored how AI Overviews impact keywords related to “Your Money, Your Life” (YMYL) queries. 

Specifically, I focused on how frequently AI Overviews appear for questions, such as “Which car has the highest safety rating?”

I examined several important life and financial topics: customer rights, car safety rankings, and medical issues such as heart attack symptoms and cancer. The results were quite surprising.

Google IS NOT hesitant to generate AI Overviews for these crucial queries. 

Frequency of AI Overviews in YMYL Topics

Here’s how often AI Overviews appeared in my research:

  • Customer Rights: 66%
  • Car Safety Ratings: 53%
  • Heart Attack Symptoms: 81%
  • Cancer: 70%
  • Loans: 43%

Sample queries analyzed

For ref, here are some of the specific queries I used in my analysis:

  • Who do I contact about consumer rights?
  • What are my consumer rights when a mortgage is sold?
  • Which car has the highest safety rating?
  • Why do people ignore heart attack warning signs?
  • What car has the worst safety rating?

Identified Issues

During my review, I noticed several significant problems with AI Overviews:

  1. Outdated Sources

For instance, for the query regarding which car company has the highest safety rating, one source I found was from 2021. Given the rapid advancements in automotive safety technology, this information is likely outdated and could mislead users.

2. PR Management Concerns: 

In response to the question about cars with zero-star safety ratings, Google provided a list of specific vehicles. 

While the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) is a legitimate organization, this raises concerns about potential negative publicity for brands and products online. 

3. Irrelevant Sources: 

For the query about why people ignore heart attack warning signs, one of the sources cited was Business Insider. Although it is a trusted source for business news, it may not be an appropriate reference for medical advice.

4. Obscured Source Information: 

In response to the question about heart attack warning signs, one of the sources listed was Google Knowledge Graph. 

While this project is impressive, at least for me, it doesn’t serve as a reliable source since it represents Google’s internal knowledge rather than an external reference.

Additional tip – opportunities for large publishers

Some queries showed that Google tends to favor large publishers as sources. This preference likely stems from their popularity and credibility on general topics, which could overshadow smaller websites that specialize in these areas.

Conclusion

AI Overviews are appearing quite often when people search for important topics about money and health. This clearly shows the direction Google wants to follow – AI Overviews can appear on various types of queries, and Your Money Your Life is not an exception. 

However, there are significant issues related to source selection that should be fixed.

Fixing these problems is really important. We need AI Overviews to provide accurate and reliable information. We also need to ensure that people who create content can still do their work. As AI improves, we must keep a close watch on it. We should speak up and advocate for ways to make the information more trustworthy. This way, people can receive the right help for their health and financial issues. In the end, this will help everyone become better informed.