Healthcare eCommerce
Shopify Website
YMYL, ADA &
Fraud Protection
Why it matters in healthcare
YMYL sites are held to a higher standard by Google's quality reviewers. A Lighthouse 100 is a surface signal — the deeper trust signals are E-E-A-T structured content, transparent credentials, ADA accessibility, and fraud protection mechanisms that signal legitimacy to both users and algorithms.
Why Healthcare eCommerce Is Different
What YMYL Actually Means
YMYL — Your Money or Your Life — is Google's classification for websites where the quality of the page or the trust of the business could directly affect someone's health, finances, or safety. Healthcare eCommerce qualifies on both axes: financial transactions and health products.
What this means practically: Google's human quality raters and algorithmic signals weight this site category differently than a general retailer. Thin content about a health product signals more risk. Missing trust signals — credentials, transparency, contact information — carry more weight.
The challenge isn't just building a fast site. It's building a site that a skeptical human reviewer — and a sophisticated algorithm — reads as trustworthy and authoritative.
What Was Broken
E-E-A-T signals — author credentials, expertise indicators — were absent. Product pages read like a generic retailer, not a healthcare specialist.
Healthcare products attract a disproportionate share of fraudulent orders. The existing stack had no fraud review layer above Shopify's native tooling.
Color contrast failures, missing ARIA labels, unformatted form fields. The site was inaccessible to users relying on assistive technology and exposed to civil liability.
Users who reached the cart were abandoning at disproportionate rates. Exit survey data pointed to insufficient trust signals at checkout — no visible return policy, credentials, or security signals.
What We Built
Every decision had a specific reason tied to YMYL compliance, conversion, or long-term search viability. Nothing was added for aesthetics alone.
Accessibility from Architecture
Every element was built to WCAG 2.1 AA standards from the initial build, not retrofitted. Color contrast ratios verified at 4.5:1 minimum throughout. All interactive elements carry correct ARIA labels. Form fields use explicit label associations. Tab order is logical throughout the purchase flow.
Compliance Scope
Two-Layer Fraud Defense
Healthcare products attract a higher-than-average fraud rate — high value, easy to resell, often targeted by card testing. The solution was a two-layer approach using Signifyd and NoFraud in parallel: one for real-time order decisioning, one for chargeback insurance coverage.
Real-time risk scoring on every order. Automatic accept/review/decline routing based on risk threshold configuration.
Chargeback guarantee on approved orders. Financial risk transferred — chargebacks on Signifyd-approved orders are Signifyd's liability.
Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trust
E-E-A-T signals were structured into the content architecture — not sprinkled in as copy. Every product category page was written following Google's YMYL quality evaluator guidelines. Credentials are surfaced at multiple points in the purchase flow — product pages, cart, checkout header.
Email & SMS — Klaviyo Integration
Klaviyo was configured for both email and SMS abandoned cart flows. Healthcare-specific messaging was written to comply with FTC guidelines — no health claims, no urgency tactics that could be read as pressure selling in a health context. Flows were structured as service reminders, not promotions.
Technology Stack
Custom 2.0 theme, no 3rd party theme dependencies
Abandon cart, post-purchase, healthcare-compliant flows
Real-time order risk scoring and routing
Financial guarantee on approved orders
Consent-gated. No events fire before consent
Enhanced ecommerce events, funnel reporting
Product, Organization, BreadcrumbList markup
Full compliance from initial build
Regulated industry
eCommerce?
Healthcare, supplements, financial products, legal services — if your industry carries YMYL classification, the stakes are higher. We know how to build for it.