creating YMYL expert using AI is a really bad idea.
The last year, something strange happened.
I needed expert advice from a sports scientist to help me with a project.
I posted a request to Response Source, a popular website where journalists and public relations professionals seek expert opinions to enhance their stories and campaigns. (A bit like a more premium version of HARO).
This is a win for both parties. The experts provide valuable insight to those working on a story or campaign, while the people who are writing the story get to promote their businesses.
I was hoping to get some feedback from a nutritionist or coach.
It is not uncommon for people to send in quotes that are underqualified, but it’s rare to get someone who is overqualified. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to receive a response from a British General Practitioner (GP) who works in London.
The answers to the question about how athletes deal with high temperatures are not remarkable.
“Risks for Heat Stress Disorders in Players” High temperatures trigger physiological reactions that can negatively impact the health and performance of players. Heat-stress disorders can affect players. Heat cramps, heat strokes and heat exhaustion are all symptoms of the condition. .”
The pitch was not too vague or too salesy. It would have been a good fit for the campaign.
It was odd to me that a GP took the time out of his busy schedule to reply. Maybe she was trying promote a private practice.
When I clicked on the link, it didn’t lead to a page for a private GP.
It was actually the About Us section of a website that sells… sex toys.
Doctor Who?
I found her name in a half dozen websites that sell everything from CBD oil to vapes to gummies to vitamins.
I reversed image searched the headshot (which looked suspiciously AI) she provided and it turned up on a site exposing female romance scammers as well as the CBD websites mentioned above.
All likelihood, this image was taken from a Tumblr user’s account and is now being used for fraud by the lowest of the low on the internet.
All UK GPs are required to be listed on the General Medical Council GP Registry. Her name was not included in the public search.
Why is it that people are impersonating doctors as winning SEO strategies?
Links are important. Links are important for SEO. Digital PR professionals such as myself are motivated by this.
These trust signals are especially important for websites that sell “Your Money or Your Life”, such as those selling CBD oil or vitamins.
Unfortunately, the link acquisition seems to work only in a very limited context.
The fake doctor was mentioned and linked to in a few national British publications, which discussed, amongst other things, leukemia.
The Ethics of E-E.A.T for YMYL
This fictional GP now advises readers on how to check for early signs of Leukemia.
I think this is a real YMYL issue. It’s not morally right to give advice to leukemia sufferers unless you are medically qualified.
High E-A-T Medical Advice should be produced or written by individuals or organizations who have the appropriate medical expertise. The High E-A.T medical information or advice should be produced or written in a professional manner and edited, reviewed and updated regularly .”
This is not just about links. It is about expertise, experience and authority.
Google’s E.E.A.T standard is the highest for YMYL websites.
On an About Us page, you want to make it clear who your experts are and why they are experts, as well as what role they play in the company, brand, or website.
Offsite trust signals should be the next step if all of this information is on the page.
You can build E-E.A.T by having a medical expert who has been quoted in many publications and on other reputable sites.
Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines states that:
Experts in the field should be consulted when judging the reputation of a site or content creator for YMYL topics. Recommendations by expert sources such as professional associations are a strong indicator of a positive reputation.
Google’s 2019 paper on how Google combats disinformation is more explicit in this regard.
We assume that the users of these “YMYL”, or “You Must Know Your Limits” pages expect us to adhere to our highest standards of safety and trustworthiness. When our algorithms detect a user’s search relates to “YMYL”, we will place more emphasis on factors such as our perception of the authority, expertise or trustworthiness the pages that we provide in response .”.
I reached out the journalist Mason Quah, who wrote the article on leukemia to learn more about the incident and how a fake physician made national news.
“We used email to communicate with almost all our contacts. I was told that response source or another tool like it would be a good way to find leads. This is the most probable source.
“I’m not surprised that an AI can fill out the answers since we usually know what the story is going to be. We just need a rubber-stamp from someone who puts doctor before their name.”
Fake doctor, meet fake patient
Problems are not caused by fake experts.
Scammers are also a part of the first “E” from E-E.A.T.
Google recognizes now that you do not need to be an “expert” in something, if you already have some experience and know that it is valuable.
Though, I do not suspect that this was the motive behind the deeply depressing story of Insider journalist Julia Pugachevsky being tricked to interview an AI-generated resource. Not a fake physician, but a false cancer patient.
This was the worst example of black-hat link building. There was little thought put into anything other than that follow link.
Pugachesky then went on to describe her experience , where we learned that the source contacted Pugachesky via HARO. She explained:
“In exchange for the story she wanted me to mention her role as founder of an online gaming page. Idealy, I would also like to link them. ”
Pugachevsky contacted HARO when she realized that she had been scammed. HARO assured her that the account had already been banned.
It would appear that my fake GP is still around. She was last quoted three weeks prior to the date of this article.
Pugachesky has not been surprised to learn that the trust in him is damaged.
Trust between digital PRs, journalists and platforms like HARO and Response Source is essential for digital PR.
Pugachesky concluded her article by explaining what she will do in the future to avoid becoming a victim of a similar scam.
I put together a report about my experience for Insider’s entire newsroom. We are tightening up our procedures and being more diligent than ever in researching sources, insisting on telephone interviews, and checking email communication through a text-checker.
We who contact Insider for our clients might find that, where an email interview was sufficient before, the same journalist will now want to speak directly to a source on the phone in order to confirm that they are not AI-generated.
What can SEO professionals and digital PR professionals to about it?
This is a bad practice that we as an industry must call it out for what it really is. This is not “grey-hat SEO,” it’s outright fraud.
This portrays our industry not only as shady, but also as rotten. Do we want SEO to be synonymous with impersonating cancer patients?
When you outsource your link-building efforts, you should know what the people you pay to build links do to earn those links.
We’ve seen this before.
Google’s Penguin Algorithm was launched over a decade back and has taken a strong stance against manipulative link-building practices.
Google has stated that it affected around 3% of search results. We know that Google will penalize any inappropriate behavior, and it is willing to do so in mass.
Google itself states:
Google is committed to combating the spread of false and misleading information. This will ensure that our products are useful for the billions users and partners, who use our services each day.
“While we’ve always been on the front lines of fighting against malicious actors who try to manipulate our systems to deceive users, there’s never a better time to stop them and ensure that we give our users information they can trust.”
It makes more sense in this case to take action as an industry rather than wait for a Penguin 2.0 style Google update that will be devastating.
What should the media be doing?
For news publications and journalists, it may be necessary to continue education as AI develops. Quah’s quote is what I will leave you with:
There is value in teaching people to conduct research to avoid AI bots, or whatever next innovation will be at the top of the most popular Google search queries.
“I would say that it is something you should actively stay on top of. It’s similar to how a doctor does not just retain what they learned in school, but rather spends the majority of their career following the field and keeping up-to-date on new methods and techniques. Journalists must keep updating their skills as the field evolves.
The post Why creating YMYL expert using AI is a really bad idea first appeared on Search Engineland.