Top-5 ranking pages showing an author or byline, by vertical
| Vertical | Group | Pages | Author shown % | Author shown at #1 % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apparel | Other | 640 | 33.6% | 29.1% |
| Auto parts | Other | 641 | 41.8% | 41.4% |
| Baby | Other | 845 | 46.4% | 41.7% |
| Beauty | Other | 776 | 50.9% | 43.9% |
| Dental and medical | Other | 896 | 45.9% | 42.0% |
| DIY | Other | 671 | 49.0% | 34.5% |
| Education | Other | 875 | 40.7% | 30.8% |
| Electronics | Other | 710 | 39.6% | 30.2% |
| Finance | YMYL | 780 | 52.8% | 42.4% |
| Fitness | Other | 849 | 61.4% | 51.3% |
| Gaming | Other | 879 | 53.6% | 49.1% |
| Gardening | Other | 680 | 54.4% | 50.3% |
| Health | YMYL | 1,045 | 48.4% | 41.5% |
| Home | Other | 708 | 41.0% | 32.1% |
| Home services | Other | 780 | 49.0% | 41.9% |
| Insurance | YMYL | 830 | 49.2% | 36.8% |
| Jewelry | Other | 869 | 33.7% | 26.4% |
| Kitchen | Other | 670 | 55.7% | 48.5% |
| Legal | YMYL | 1,032 | 57.1% | 53.7% |
| Marketing | Other | 802 | 44.0% | 40.4% |
| Outdoor | Other | 679 | 39.5% | 33.1% |
| Parenting | Other | 482 | 60.2% | 52.7% |
| Pets | Other | 811 | 58.7% | 57.6% |
| Real estate | Other | 628 | 39.6% | 38.7% |
| Recipes | Other | 774 | 83.9% | 80.8% |
| Restaurants | Other | 536 | 50.2% | 47.8% |
| SaaS comparisons | Other | 984 | 40.0% | 26.3% |
| Software | Other | 1,114 | 62.1% | 60.9% |
| Supplements | YMYL | 946 | 60.3% | 56.4% |
| Travel | Other | 792 | 38.8% | 29.8% |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Oct 2026. Found bylines only; bylines shown as images or added by scripts are missed.
Summary
Pages about health, money, insurance, legal questions and supplements are the ones where readers most want to know who wrote the advice. Google's own guidance on helpful content asks publishers to make it clear who created a page. So we checked how often the pages that already rank for these topics actually show a named author.
The answer is just over half. Across 4,633 top-5 ranking pages for YMYL searches, only 53.6% show a named author or byline that we could find. That is ahead of the 48.6% we found on 19,091 non-YMYL pages, but it still leaves close to half of the highest-stakes results with no author name we could find.
What we measured
We looked at the top 5 Google results for 10,019 US keywords in October 2026. Of 49,855 pages, 29,776 were readable. Keywords are grouped into verticals, and we count five as YMYL: health, finance, insurance, legal and supplements. The comparison covers 4,633 pages on YMYL keywords and 19,091 on other keywords.
A page counts as showing an author when either of two checks finds one: an author field in the page's markup, or a visible byline phrase in the text, such as "By" or "Written by" followed by a name.
Two limits matter. Detection is pattern-based, so some bylines written in other ways are missed. And some bylines are images or are added by scripts, which our checks miss. Read every rate here as "bylines we found", not proof that the other pages have no author.
Just over half of YMYL pages name an author
53.6% of the 4,633 top-5 ranking YMYL pages show a named author or byline, against 48.6% of 19,091 non-YMYL pages. YMYL publishers do name authors a little more often, but the gap is small, and close to half of ranking health, finance, insurance, legal and supplements pages show no name we could detect.
How the author appears varies a lot. On YMYL pages, the markup check finds an author on 43.5% and the visible-byline check on 19.5%; only 9.4% pass both. Many sites put the name in one place but not the other: in the page's markup with no visible "By" line, or in a visible line that no parser picks up as an author.
53.6%
Share of 4,633 top-5 ranking YMYL pages where we found a named author or byline.
Supplements and legal lead, health trails
Within YMYL, supplements (60.3%) and legal (57.1%) pages name an author most often. Finance sits at 52.8% and insurance at 49.2%. Health is lowest at 48.4%, which is notable for the topic where readers arguably care most who is giving the advice. Health results likely include many clinic, hospital and reference pages that present information under an organization's name rather than a person's.
Outside YMYL the spread is much wider. Recipes lead every vertical by a distance at 83.9%, followed by software (62.1%) and fitness (61.4%). Recipe sites are usually run by named creators, and recipe templates tend to print the author near the title. At the other end, apparel (33.6%), jewelry (33.7%) and travel (38.8%) show an author least often, which fits verticals where many ranking pages are product or category pages rather than articles.
The #1 result names an author less often
Ranking first does not go with showing an author. Among YMYL pages, the #1 result shows an author on 46.4% of 914 pages, against 55.4% of 3,719 pages at positions 2 to 5. The #1 spot for many YMYL searches likely goes to large institutional sites, government pages or tools, which often skip personal bylines.
Length is a much clearer pattern. YMYL pages with 1,000+ parsed words show an author 61.3% of the time (2,609 pages), against 43.8% of shorter YMYL pages (2,024 pages). Long pages are more often articles and guides, where a byline is standard, while short pages are more often service, product or landing pages. This is a link between length and bylines, not evidence that adding words or a name moves a page up.
What this means for your site
If you publish advice on health, money, insurance, legal questions or supplements, make the author easy to find for readers and for machines:
- Put a visible byline with the author's real name near the title of every article and guide.
- Mark up the same name in your Article structured data, so the visible byline and the markup agree.
- Link the name to an author page that explains the person's experience or credentials.
- Use text, not an image, for the byline, and make sure it is in the HTML rather than added later by a script.
- Check your templates: if the byline only appears on some post types, extend it to the rest.
None of this guarantees a ranking change. It does make it clear who stands behind the advice, which is what readers on these topics are looking for.
Sources
- PageSpeed Matters analysis of the top 5 Google results for 10,019 US keywords, October 2026
- Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content
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Frequently asked questions
What percentage of YMYL pages show an author?
Across 4,633 top-5 ranking pages for health, finance, insurance, legal and supplements searches, 53.6% show a named author or byline we could detect. On 19,091 non-YMYL pages the figure is 48.6%.
Which topics show author bylines most often?
Recipes lead by far at 83.9%, followed by software (62.1%) and fitness (61.4%). Within YMYL, supplements (60.3%) and legal (57.1%) lead and health is lowest at 48.4%. Apparel (33.6%) and jewelry (33.7%) show an author least often.
Do #1 results always show an author?
No. Among YMYL pages, the #1 result shows an author on 46.4% of 914 pages, less often than positions 2 to 5 at 55.4% of 3,719 pages.
How do I make sure my author byline can be detected?
Show the author's name as plain text near the title, in the page HTML rather than added by a script, and use the same name in your Article structured data. In our data only 9.4% of YMYL pages had both an author field in the markup and a visible byline phrase.
A clear, consistent byline is a template change that shows readers and search engines who stands behind your advice. Need help with this? See our on-page SEO services.