No Harmful Content

TL;DR

Your page may be missing trust signals that help both humans and LLMs evaluate credibility. Add clear attribution, dates, sources, and transparency around claims where appropriate. Use Oversearch AI Page Optimizer to rescan and confirm the trust benchmarks improve.

Why this matters

LLMs increasingly weigh evidence and trust signals. Transparent sourcing and attribution reduce misquotes and improve confidence.

Where this shows up in Oversearch

In Oversearch, open AI Page Optimizer and run a scan for the affected page. Then open Benchmark Breakdown to see evidence, and use the View guide link to jump back here when needed.

How do I handle sensitive topics safely on my site?

Add clear disclaimers, cite authoritative sources, and separate facts from opinions. For YMYL topics, ensure content is reviewed by qualified professionals.

Sensitive topics (health, finance, legal, safety) require extra care because incorrect information can cause real harm. Search engines and AI systems apply higher standards to YMYL content.

• Add disclaimers: “This is not medical/legal/financial advice.”
• Cite only authoritative, peer-reviewed, or official sources.
• Have content reviewed by a qualified professional when possible.
• Clearly label opinions as opinions.

If you use Oversearch, open AI Page Optimizer → Benchmark Breakdown to check safety signals.

Do I need disclaimers for medical/financial content?

Yes. Disclaimers protect your users and your site. They also signal to search quality systems that you handle sensitive topics responsibly.

A disclaimer does not replace quality content but shows you understand the responsibility that comes with YMYL topics.

• Add a clear disclaimer near the top for medical, financial, or legal content.
• Recommend consulting a professional for personal decisions.
• Do not make promises or guarantees about outcomes.
• Keep disclaimers concise and visible, not buried in fine print.

If you use Oversearch, open AI Page Optimizer → Benchmark Breakdown to verify.

How do I avoid harmful or unsafe advice?

Verify all recommendations against authoritative sources. Do not publish advice that could cause harm if followed incorrectly. Have sensitive content reviewed by a subject-matter expert.

Search engines actively demote content that could cause harm. AI systems also filter out unsafe content from their responses.

• Verify every recommendation against official or expert sources.
• Include safety warnings where relevant.
• Do not recommend actions that require professional expertise without saying so.
• Test: “If someone follows this advice incorrectly, could it cause harm?”

If you use Oversearch, open AI Page Optimizer → Benchmark Breakdown to check.

How can I verify the fix after I change the page?

Review the page for disclaimers, source citations, and appropriate handling of sensitive topics.

• Confirm disclaimers are visible for YMYL content.
• Verify claims are supported by authoritative sources.
• Check that opinions are labeled as such.

If you use Oversearch, open AI Page Optimizer → Benchmark Breakdown to confirm the benchmark passes.

Common root causes

• No author/organization attribution or credentials.
• No sources for claims, or sources are low-quality/unclear.
• Missing publication/updated dates.
• No clear separation of opinion vs fact.

How to detect

• In Oversearch AI Page Optimizer, open the scan for this URL and review the Benchmark Breakdown evidence.
• Verify the signal outside Oversearch with at least one method: fetch the HTML with curl -L, check response headers, or use a crawler/URL inspection.
• Confirm you’re testing the exact canonical URL (final URL after redirects), not a variant.

How to fix

Understand how to handle sensitive topics (see: How do I handle sensitive topics safely on my site?) and when disclaimers are needed (see: Do I need disclaimers for medical/financial content?). Then follow the steps below.

1. Add clear author or organizational attribution and link to an author profile/about page.
2. Show publication date and last updated date.
3. Link key claims to credible sources and provide data where possible.
4. Add a short methodology or ‘how we evaluate’ note when benchmarks are referenced.
5. Run an Oversearch AI Page Optimizer scan to confirm trust signals improve.

Verify the fix

• Run an Oversearch AI Page Optimizer scan for the same URL and confirm the benchmark is now passing.
• Confirm the page is 200 OK and the primary content is present in initial HTML.
• Validate with an external tool (crawler, URL inspection, Lighthouse) to avoid false positives.

Prevention

• Add author + update metadata to every guide template by default.
• Create a sourcing standard: what needs a citation and what doesn’t.
• Separate opinion from fact consistently (labels, wording).

FAQ

What topics are considered YMYL?

Health, finance, legal, safety, news, and civic topics — anything where wrong information could cause real harm. Google applies higher quality standards to these topics. When in doubt, if following incorrect advice could hurt someone’s health, finances, or safety, treat it as YMYL.

Do disclaimers affect SEO?

Not directly, but they signal to quality raters that you handle sensitive topics responsibly. Disclaimers also protect you legally. When in doubt, add a brief disclaimer for any YMYL content.

Can AI systems flag unsafe content?

Yes. AI systems filter out potentially harmful content from their responses. Content that could cause harm if followed incorrectly is less likely to be cited. When in doubt, include safety warnings where relevant.

Should I have content reviewed by experts?

For YMYL topics, yes. Expert review is the strongest quality signal for health, financial, and legal content. At minimum, note who reviewed the content. When in doubt, add ‘Reviewed by [Expert Name], [Credentials]’ to the page.

How do I handle user-generated content about sensitive topics?

Moderate UGC on sensitive topics. Add disclaimers that user comments are not professional advice. Consider disabling comments on YMYL pages. When in doubt, moderate first and publish after review.

How can I verify the safety fix?

Review the page for disclaimers, expert review attribution, and appropriate handling of sensitive recommendations. When in doubt, run an Oversearch AI Page Optimizer scan.