Google constantly updates and evolves its algorithms to ensure that they provide their users with the best possible search results. Clearly, this a good thing for consumers, but it can be a bit of a pain for both businesses and marketers.
The main issue with Google’s updates is that they rarely advertise them beforehand, and once released, they offer little in the way of an explanation of their intended use.
Therefore, as a business trying to increase their online presence and rise in the ranks of Google, it can be a good idea to find out as much about the latest updates.
Fortunately, this is something we can help you with.
As SEO experts, we pride ourselves on unearthing the truth behind each Google algorithm update so that we can help our clients navigate the new guidelines and avoid being penalized.
Within the below guide, discover everything you need to know about the Medic update, including what it is, who has been affected, and how you can address any issues that this algorithm update has caused you and your site.
What is the Medic Update?
According to Google, during the first week of August in 2018, Google rolled out the Medic update, a “broad core algorithm” update. There was a lot of buzz surrounding this update, with some websites winning big from the changes and others losing out significantly. Even high authority websites were not immune to this update, with Moz, leading SEO software provider, reporting as much as a 70% increase or decrease in page one visibility in just seven days across several top US websites.
In a nutshell, the Medic update was a push by Google to help improve the identification of both authority and expertise online. Or, to put it even more simply, they are looking for websites they can trust. Therefore, in terms of SEO strategy for your business, you need to prioritize building trust and authority.
Who was affected by the Medic Update?
Although Google claimed that the aptly named Medic update was not aimed specifically at the medical sector, it seems no coincidence that it appeared to have the biggest effect on health, medical, fitness, finance, and legal sites.
That being said, many other industries such as Ecommerce, travel, and entertainment were also affected.
How can I make Google trust my website?
If you are worried that you have not built up enough trust in your website, then the below tried and tested techniques can help you.
EAT
When the Medic update was first rolled out, one of the post-update theories in circulation was fixing your website’s EAT. This acronym stands for expertise, authority, and trust. It is Google’s top three considerations when determining the page quality of online content.
You can improve your website’s EAT by:
- Fleshing out your company’s About page and individual author’s bio pages to include details on their credentials and expertise.
- Adding more client reviews and testimonials for all of your products and services.
- Building up your reputation on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
- Adding a method of contact to each informational page and making sure your Contact Us page is thorough and robust.
- Gaining favorable press coverage and getting authors by-lined in high authority publications.
- Increasing authority by gaining backlinks from high-quality and authoritative websites within your niche.
Search Intent
Another technique that was adopted by many when the Medic update was launched was to mirror your website’s content to the searcher’s intent. This is a particularly useful strategy for websites with highly authoritative content and good EAT but still experienced a drop in rankings after the update.
Search intent should be a key component of any SEO strategy, with the ability to dramatically increase organic traffic to your site. Finding out the why behind a searcher’s query, search intent can help you to become the most relevant result for Google and build trust in your brand.
There are four types of search intent: informational, navigational, transactional, and commercial, with each one identifying what the searcher is looking for, such as information, a specific website, or purchasing a particular product or service.
Over the years, Google has worked hard to improve its algorithms to determine people’s search intent better, and this is why it is so crucial that you make your page or post fit your target audience’s search intent.
Content
There is nothing in the same league as great content when it comes to building trust and authority. With the ability to impress both Google and users alike, building trust purely through content marketing is within your reach, as long as you know what you are doing.
If you are a small to medium business, you actually have a leg up on larger corporations when it comes to trust, as you can get up close and personal with your audience in ways that big businesses just cannot.
Foolproof ways to increase both trust and authority in your site include:
- Publish consistent and high-quality content on your own platforms
- Do not over-promote your products and services
- Educate and inform your readers with useful content such as how-to guides
- Write about what you know and carry out lots of research
- Create buyer personas
- Promote testimonials and case studies
- Publish customer reviews on your target landing pages
- Showcase certifications and awards
- Analyze your results
How we can help you
If your website has been affected by the Medic update or any other Google algorithm changes, here at Click Intelligence, we can help you to recover your ranking and learn how to cope with any future updates that Google unleashes on the world.
From our experience, websites often encounter dramatic keyword fluctuations as Google’s algorithm bots crawl through them, with sites ranking 20 or higher being the most affected. Rest assured that these shifts are completely normal after an update and help determine what Google’s new algorithm is looking for, which in this case is predominantly content relevancy.
Using a combination of keyword mapping and content updates, we can help you navigate this new algorithm update with ease, resulting in a significant improvement to your site’s ranking on Google’s SERPs.
Conclusion
Google will always be rolling out new updates, such as the upcoming Page Experience one that is due to be released in May 2021, and as a business, you need to adapt your SEO strategy accordingly.
The Medic update focused primarily on rewarding trustworthy and high authority sites, so to benefit from this update, you need to address these two key components of your website. Achieve this by focusing your efforts on creating compelling and relevant content that will impress both your target audience and search engines alike.
If you need help building an effective content marketing strategy, our content creation and promotions experts can help you. We will generate buyer personas, brainstorm content ideas, and create high quality content, all of which will help you improve your site’s authority and gain your readers’ and customers’ trust. Plus, our SEO team will pitch in to ensure your content is seen by the right people and easily understood by Google.
Although you may be fearful of Google’s latest algorithm update and the potential effects it could have on your website’s ranking on SERPs, there is no need to be. With our guidance, you will come out the other end of an update stronger and superior.
