To rank on the first page of Google, you need to give Google and your customers what they want. It is usually easy to understand what your customers want—but it can be confusing to please Google.

The simple way to know if you’re not pleasing Google is to look at where you rank in the Google search engine results. Not on the first or second page? Chances are high, Google isn’t impressed with your website.

When this happens, it doesn’t matter if you have the best protein powder or vitamin supplement in the business—your customers won’t find you when they’re searching for products.

And this is exactly why you need to balance the needs of Google and those of your customers.

Give Google what it wants so you rank on the first page of the search results page. Give your customers what they want so when they see your website on page one, they click your link, load up their shopping cart, and click Checkout.

To achieve this, you need to put a priority on search engine optimization (SEO) and learning what Google expects from wellness and nutrition brands.

As a wellness and nutrition brand, Google expects your content and website to meet higher content standards than other industries. Google places your brand and website in the Your Money Your Life (YMYL) category.

This means your content needs to tick all the Google boxes for expertise, authority, trust, confidence, quality, and helpfulness.

Yes, this is a big ask. But with the right understanding of what it means to be a YMYL company and how this impacts your SEO strategy, you can please the customer—both Google and those with credit cards.

What Does Google Expect from Wellness and Nutrition Brands?

Google expects wellness and nutrition brands such as yours to always be providing helpful content.

As a YMYL company, Google sees your content and products as those that can impact the happiness, health, financial stability, or safety of others.

Wellness and nutrition brands and those in industries including finance, law, news, fitness, and housing information are held to higher and very specific content standards.

This sentence from Google sums up what your website and content need to do:

Websites and pages should be created to help people. 

To help Google and its team of employees rank and reward helpful websites, your content is scored on three specific criteria: expertise, authority, and trust (E-A-T).

Websites and content that clearly demonstrate E-A-T have a very high chance of ranking on page one of Google. And as a YMYL website, demonstrating and proving E-A-T means your website and pages are helping people.

So, how do you do this? How do you create interesting content that keeps your customers engaged while still meeting Google’s high standards?

How to Give Google and Your Customers What They Want

You need to give Google and your customers high-quality content that informs, educates, entertains, and builds trust.

This sounds like a lot—but by following some writing and SEO guidelines, you can keep everyone happy. And you can do this without spending hours and hours on your content.

Here is what you, as a wellness and nutrition brand need to do:

1. You need to demonstrate expertise in your field. (Expertise) 

Your "About Us" and "Contact Us" pages need to be easy to find. Always include these pages in your footer and in your website menus.

Use the About Us page to clearly prove your expertise and knowledge—tell Google and your customers why they should trust you. Tell readers what you are doing to ensure your products and brand meet industry standards for quality and professionalism.

2. You need to prove the person writing your blogs, articles, and other content is an authority in your field. (Authority) 

Every single blog, article, whitepaper, and other pieces of collateral must have an author byline and bio. Include the author’s name and credentials at the top of the page and insert the bio at the bottom.

3. You need to show that your website is trusted by other experts and professionals. (Trust) 

Use endnotes and references to support all statements of fact, benefits, and research in your website and marketing content—Google and the FDA expect to see these. You will be penalized if you don’t include endnotes and references.

Include customer reviews and testimonials on your website—consider including them on every page as a design element.

To get this right, ask these questions about every piece of content on your website:

1. Is this content helpful?
2. Does this content answer questions and educate?
3. Is the author an industry expert?
4. Would you trust the author and content when making decisions about your health, wellness, and life?
5. Does this content do more than rehash known facts about a subject?
6. Does your content provide real value when compared to other pages in the search results?
7. Would you recommend this content to a family member?
8. Is the content free of spelling and grammatical errors?
9. Are your website ads and pop-ups small and easy to close?
10. Is it easy to navigate and read your website content?

These SEO and writing guidelines can help you give everyone what they want. You need to please Google. But you also need to please your customers.

And the best way to do this is to put your customers first. Think about your website and content as if you are the customer.

It all comes down to creating helpful content. Your brand stands for something. It’s very likely the core of this is to provide better products and options for people. Communicate this.

Help your customers and you help Google make it easy to rank your website on page one.