Google Medic Algorithm has been very active in issuing new updates over the year, and in August 2018, it released what is now known as the “Medic Update’ and, at the time of its release had a profound impact on many websites particularly in the health, wellness, and medical niches. If your website experienced changes in terms of its search rank in the periods that we mentioned earlier, this may be due to the Medic Update. Here is what you ought to know about it.
What is Google Medic Update?
Medic Update while in SEO circles is referred to as a broad core update that was launched by Google in the middle of the year 2018 in August. While it affected sites in different fields, there were main areas that were focused including health, wellness, fitness, medicine etc. It was to go even further to provide improved effectiveness in searches, particularly the search results that might impact health or well-being of any user.
How Does Medic Update Work?
Medic Update targeted the ranking of a website that produces totally reliable, authoritative, and expert content, particularly in health and wellness. Google tried to ensure that for each and every medical or health query searched by people, appropriate and correct results are presented.
The main areas targeted by Medic Update include:
E-A-T means Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Medic Update gave a strong reminder to all websites, but more so the “Your Money or Your Life” category, about
E-A-T. YMYL websites give advice on health, finance, and any other topic that could affect the well-being of a person. Google wants content written by experts with support from authoritative sources that engender trust.
Great Content: Well-researched, accurate, and helpful content was rewarded with improvements. In other words, Google gives prominence to comprehensive answers to users’ questions from knowledgeable professionals in their fields.
User Experience: Equally important in Google’s consideration was the user experience on the website. Websites that were easy to navigate, loaded quickly, and provided a seamless experience across devices were more likely to benefit from the Medic Update.
Backlinks and Authority: The Medic Update further cemented the requirement for backlinks from reputable sources. Sites that had robust backlinks from trusted and authoritative sites were promoted high in rankings, as this is considered one of the major trust signals.
The Impact of the Medic Update on SEO
The Medic Update brought a drastic change in the search rankings of many websites, especially those belonging to the health and wellness verticals. Some sites saw their traffic seriously drop, while others spiked. Here’s what that means for your SEO strategy:
E-A-T: Health, financial, and all the other sites that are similar in nature, for them, it is much more important to invest in E-A-T. Have people write content for you who have some qualifications related to the subject matter, and establish yourself as an expert in your field.
Higher Quality Content: Instead of thinking about a plan for updating your content periodically to maintain truthfulness, comprehensiveness, and usefulness to users, build quality content that will actually serve value to your users.
Smarter User Experience: Start paying more attention to website design, speed, and responsiveness on mobile. A good user experience will keep people longer on your website and tell Google your site is trustworthy.
High-Quality Backlinks: Acquire backlinks from high-authority and high-ranking websites. This aids in establishing the website’s authority and thus may enable improvement in your search rankings.
Why the Medic Update Still Matters
Why it’s still relevant: The Medic Update manifested Google’s continued interest in strictly providing high-quality, trustworthy information for very sensitive queries, such as health. If your website falls into the YMYL category, understanding the principles behind the Medic Update is key to maintaining and improving your search rankings.
Conclusion
Google’s Medic Update was perhaps one of the largest shifts in how search rankings would henceforth be determined-mostly for health and wellness websites. Focus on E-A-T, desirably improve the quality of your content, improve user experience, and you also build strong backlinks to ensure your website remains competitive, providing valuable and trustworthy information to your audience.
