Search algorithms at Google are constantly updated and improved to provide high-quality, refined results for users seeking to solve a problem. Google released a “broad core algorithm update” in August that has been dubbed the “Medic Update” online.

Several businesses have reported a significant change in their search engine rankings since the update was released – and not all for the better. Read this blog post to find out what Google’s Medic Update is, how it works, who’s been affected, and what you can do to protect your B2B website from it.

Google Medic Update: What Is It?

Google’s Medic Update was a move by the search engine giant to identify authority and expertise online. In order to ensure that quality, authoritative, and expert content gets ranked in search results, the algorithm incorporates core ranking factors.

These include your title, meta description, page content, links, and social signals. In an attempt to ensure Google’s Medic Update remains relevant and up-to-date, Google has recently changed its algorithm to account for more than just text and keywords. What is Google’s Medic Update? Google’s Medic Update is a set of changes that were implemented in 2018 in order to better identify quality content on the web. These changes were made to help ensure that quality content was rewarded and found in search results.

Who’s Been Affected?

Although Google claimed it was broad and global, the algorithm update seemed to have a huge impact on health and medical, financial, legal, and “Your Money Your Life” (sites that can impact someone’s safety, finances, physical health, etc.) sites. Considering the number of websites in the “Medic” niche that reported a major change in rankings, the update was dubbed the “Medic” update.

We suggest that if you believe you may have been affected by this update, you review your rankings and compare them to their positions from before 1st August.Do not panic if you have noticed a significant drop in rankings. Your ranking position can be better maintained if you do some things.

  • If you have multiple backlinks, try to get one link from a highly trusted website that ranks well. The quality of the links is important but don’t obsess over getting it right. It is much more important that you get the link than that you get it from a top website.
  • Get links from websites with high DA. Websites with high DA are considered trustworthy, and therefore the links they give out are usually more valuable.
  • Do not go overboard with adding links. Adding too many links will dilute the quality of the links. 10-15 links from high DA sites should be enough in most cases.

How To Fix Google Medic Algorithm

Google has provided a user guideline for its search quality evaluation. There is a lot to consider, but we suggest focusing on section 4.0, which discusses ‘High-Quality Pages.’ The way Google measures these pages is called E-A-T – or Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness.

There may have been reasons that “trust” was an issue for those who were negatively affected. Some examples of how you could resolve these issues include:

  • A site selling a product that might compromise safety should be reviewed to ensure that there are no questions raised about the safety of the product
  • Negative reputation – Improve your page’s trustworthiness by including clear and helpful contact details as well as easy-to-navigate customer service pages.
  • Poor reputation compared to competitors and a great number of negative reviews – Try to improve this by getting more positive feedback and reviews from customers (reviews won’t just be on Google; TrustPilot and Feefo are also considered)
  • Low authority – Obtain backlinks from high-quality, authoritative sites in your niche to gain more authority