How Google, ChatGPT, & DeepSeek Handle YMYL Queries via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A new study by SE Ranking examines how AI search tools handle Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) queries.

The research compared Google AI Overviews (AIOs), ChatGPT, and DeepSeek across 40 health, legal, financial, and political queries.

This study is similar to one published by SE Ranking in October. The key difference is that this study examines multiple tools, whereas the October study focused solely on AIOs.

Here’s more about the latest study and what the findings mean.

Key Findings

1. YMYL Query Response Rate

The research found that Google generates AIOs for 51% of YMYL queries, slightly up from 50% in October.

ChatGPT has a 100% response rate for YMYL searches, and DeepSeek has a 90% rate.

Google’s selective approach was evident in political topics, displaying AI Overviews for only one query.

2. Response Patterns

Each platform showed unique patterns in generating responses to YMYL queries:

DeepSeek produces longer answers (391 words on average) with numerous sources (28 per response) ChatGPT offers moderate-length content (234 words) with fewer sources (10 per response) Google provides the briefest responses (190 words) with minimal citations (7 sources)

Google’s AI Overviews showed the highest percentage of responses with all unique links (61.9%), compared to ChatGPT (40%) and DeepSeek (32.5%), indicating Google prioritizes source diversity over quantity.

3. Fact vs. Opinion

Using subjectivity analysis, the study measured how factual versus opinion-based each platform’s content appeared:

ChatGPT delivered the most objective content overall (0.393 score) Google AI Overviews ranked second (0.427 score) DeepSeek showed the highest subjectivity (0.446 score)

These differences were most noticeable in political topics, where DeepSeek scored 0.497 (more opinionated) while Google scored 0.246 (more factual).

4. YMYL Category Strengths

The analysis revealed the following differences across various categories of YMYL queries:

Health Content

ChatGPT: Concise, disclaimer-heavy content citing medical sources DeepSeek: Detailed responses with extensive citations, including news sources Google: Conservative, heavily cautioned but brief content

Legal Content

ChatGPT: Bullet-point summaries with high-authority sources DeepSeek: Comprehensive explanations with real-world examples Google: Brief overviews with the highest disclaimer rate (50%)

Financial Content

ChatGPT: Risk-focused overviews with professional consultation recommendations DeepSeek: Categorized information with numerical data and comparisons Google: Avoids responding to highly sensitive financial queries entirely

5. DeepSeek Restrictions

The study documented that DeepSeek refused to respond to queries about Taiwan’s independence, Tiananmen Square, Chinese human rights issues, and websites banned in China.

DeepSeek’s responses often aligned with Chinese government perspectives when addressing related topics.

What Does The Data Mean?

A common thread throughout the data is how each AI chooses to protect users from potentially harmful advice while still trying to be helpful.

ChatGPT answers every YMYL query it sees, yet often leads with strong disclaimers and succinct takeaways.

Google AI Overviews, on the other hand, declines to generate content for almost half of the tested queries, leaning heavily on caution rather than risk providing the wrong guidance.

DeepSeek is at the opposite extreme. Sometimes, it offers staggering amounts of detail, and other times, it offers little detail if the response doesn’t align with political perspectives.

What unites all three is the balance between information and liability. Each model wants to appear authoritative in YMYL niches but must decide whether to be “helpful” or “safe” (and how much of each).

Key Takeaways For SEO

For SEO and content teams, here are key points to consider:

Google is selective. Content appearing in AIOs must meet high-quality standards, especially for YMYL topics. Google’s AIOs cite unique and diverse sources for YMYL searches. This increases visibility but creates competition for clicks. Different AI systems prefer specific styles, lengths, and details in content. All three platforms prefer disclaimers on sensitive topics, with health content having the highest rate of cautionary notices at 37%.

Understanding these platform differences can help you improve visibility in AI search tools.

For more insights into AI search optimization, see:

Google Shares Insight On SEO For AI Overviews A Candid Assessment Of AI Search & SEO AI Search Optimization: Make Your Structured Data Accessible Microsoft’s AI SEO Tips: New Guidance For AI Search Optimization AI Search Optimization: Data Finds Brand Mentions Improve Visibility

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