How To Recover From The Google Medic Update

Reversing The Google Medic Update And Regaining Page One

How To Recover From The Google Medic UpdateAre you trying to find out how to recover from the Google medic update ? Has the Google medic update hit your site and your rankings? Looking for google medic recovery tips ? Just an early tip before you read on. EAT has a lot to do with this algorithm.

As you all may know and be very aware of, Google always has what are called algorithm updates. This has over the years increased exponentially. Having said this, most times you can fix your site and recover from most Google updates if you are familiar with what adjustments need to be made.

Once in a while though, they like to throw a spanner in the works with a major update and send everyone online scurrying for their lives trying to maintain page one placement.

Having been in the SEO game for nearly two decades now, I've seen algorithms large and small come and go.

The most previous hard-hitting algorithm was Penguin. This update took the rankings world by storm and saw many online sites drop into the depths of hell. It broke thousands of businesses practically overnight.

Google has relaxed its algorithm adjustments since then of course but either way, it still applies that if your site is not up to scratch with its algorithms, it pretty much falls off the radar.

Since this latest rollout, I've had a few inquiries from concerned business owners on how to recover from the Google medic update, and they didn't even have medical sites.

A Quick Video On The Medic Update

Google General Guidelines

Why Does Google Always Adjust Its Algorithm ?

The idea of adjusting algorithms is but only two reasons really. Can you guess? It's simple, to improve the user experience by delivering quality results to its users and to keep spammers at bay. That's pretty much it. Any SEO service that has been involved in SEO for a long time would be very familiar with this.

Of course, it is a little more in-depth in what is involved in the ..." user experience " ...but this is what it mostly boils down to. There are certain factors that encompass the user experience and all of pretty much has to do with on page exposure of your site to your user and how your users got there.

What are Some Important User Experience points ?

The most important user experience points really apply to the ease of someone using your site or navigating around your site together with the utmost security for that user.

This isn't everything of course as Google looks for specific user experience signals but when it comes down to the crunch, how " easy " someone navigates around your site and how quickly they find what they are looking for is important. This has a lot to do with the three-click rule. You catch up quick when you've been in the SEO services game with algorithm updates nearly 10 times a day now

Some of those Points to take note of are :

 

  • Navigation
  • Experience, Authority, Trust
  • Is the main content easy to read?
  • Ads interrupting your content ?
  • Content is written by qualified writers
  • Are you providing original content ?
  • is the page difficult to read or takes too long to read ?
  • Are you currently featuring HTTPS ? They really cracked down on this one since 2017 and even more in 2018
  • Search Intent : Search intent is now also important. Knowing what the user is looking for and directing them to that page asap with as little fuss as possible. Setting up your site before the medic update alone in some cases may increase traffic by as high as 500 percent alone when user intent is on the mark.
  • Privacy disclosure, if you are asking for payment or credit car information.
  • Voice activated search. Has Your site been structured for Voice search ? If it hasn't, you'd better get that organised asap because this will catch up.
  • Easy to follow navigation bar with keyword rich pages which are easy to follow
  • Picture rich pages if you are selling downloadable goods or digital goods with appropriate links leading to the correct page. These are only some points but this should send the message that user friendliness is important to reduce bounce rates and get the user to where he wants to go.

If there is nothing more annoying is landing on a page and going in circles trying to find what you are looking for. It is frustrating and leads to high bounce rates which is not what you want.

So What is the August 1st Google Medic Update ?

The Google medic update rolled out  August 1st and is primarily a google broad core algorithm change. Now you are probably wondering why is it being referred to as the google medic update ?

Well, there is a reason for that and that is because some of the most hardest hit sites were health and medical wellness related sites.

Which Websites Suffered Mostly from The Google Medic Update ?

Basically from what we have discovered is that sites that seem to carry a decent DA, went up in rankings and sites that didn't suffer a drop in rankings.

Anything other than that, pages labelled as anything to do with what is referred to as " your money or your life " pages also took a hit in a big way. This update was not intended specifically for the medical or health industry alone.

So what does... " your money or your life "...refer to ?

  • Basically, anything that could potentially impact the future happiness, health, financial security, or safety of users when browsing around your site. What does this involve you ask ?
  • Listed below are some key points which the Google medic update targeted with YMYL :
  • Pages that may solicit from users personal identification details such as drivers license numbers or banking details, bank account numbers and private financial information.
  • Pages for monetary information where a user is required to disclose credit or debit card information from lending institutions or banks.
  • Web pages that offer health or medical advice that could have serious implications if wrong.
  • Web pages that offer information on important aspects such as advice on property or cars or other major purchasing decisions that could impact one's life.
  • Pages that could impact your future such as legal advice, or financial advice on very important decisions in someone's life.

If you look at these points above, it comes down to one thing. Can you guess what Google is looking for in these important key points ?... Drum roll right here ........" TRUST " .......Security and safety for the end-user. That's it!

Now some may argue that if many health and medical sites were targeted how it would be labeled a broad core algorithm. Well, it really is because they were just the worst sites hit for this updated algorithm. That's all it comes down to. Many businesses were hit in different niches all over the globe. This update was not specifically targeted to the medical or health niche alone.

How Often Do These Google Algorithm Updates Happen ?

Google rolls out about seven or so updates a year. These updates are barely noticed but once every now and then, like the medic update, they like to roll out a major one.

This is where it becomes a cat and mouse game between SEO Specialists and when  a business is needing to hire an SEO service that need help with marketing a business online.

What SEO Services you may choose in the near future will play a huge role in effecting your online presence and get more traffic your website.  SEO Specialists have to think ahead to avoid as many of these penalties as possible. If you are looking to recover from the Google medic update, you are going to have to make some changes in the way your SEO consultants structure your site. On page SEO as of this latest update has just taken a huge hit forward

Read on further for my own tip in these little funny name updates.

Many of Google's updates are only put in place to mostly sharpen something specific in the their search engine such as the Panda update which targeted on page SEO and the Google Penguin update which targeted off page SEO. This core update is as it states..." Core update " ....which is basically the search engine itself, is a major update more or less.

How Many Ranking Signals Does Google Have And Tweak ?

From what we know about Google's ranking signals and how many they are said to have in terms of tweaking their algorithm, it lies at about 700 ranking signals.

Do we know what these ranking signals are?

That is an answer anyone would like to have in their hot little hands but unfortunately no one knows all of Google's algorithms and Google does not disclose them.

Some of the most important points to keep tabs on :

HTTPS. This is a must-have really as of 2017 and especially since the medic update. If you don't have this, you will experience complications with rankings in the long run.

How responsive is your website ? Does your site take long to load ? If it does fix it ! Google now as default keeps mobile search first and desktop second.

Keywords in your title and meta descriptions. If you don't have descriptive keyword structure in your tags, this will not help your rankings.

So How Do You Recover From The Google Medic Update ?

This where the entire topic of the Google medic update becomes complicated.

How do you recover from the google medic update ?
What is Google looking for now to reverse the medic update ?

Are you sitting down and paying attention now because if you've come this far, you are obviously looking for answers.

All Google is wanting to now see on sites is what Google
like to call EAT.

So What Is EAT You Ask ?

Well, it's an abbreviated term which stands for Expertise, Authority and Trust. Establish these three factors on your website and you are in business.

This is why health and medical sites and some financial sites to do with asking for credentials or providing life advice were slugged by the medic update.

They could not satisfy what I like to personally call it, Google's EAT algorithm. Everyone else likes to call it the medic update because it mostly impacted sites in that niche but I like to call it the EAT algorithm because when you look at what google is really targeting it is these three key factors. Regardless of what niche your business is in, if you have licenses, credentials, diplomas, or certificates of any kind, flaunt them on your site.

What Do I look For Initially On A Site ?

When I have clients asking how to get more traffic to a website or they need help with marketing a website, the first thing I always do is take a look at their site and the one key element I always find short  is that their site is lacking content and lacking content means lacking trust also. There is a lot more involved with trust but content lacking is also lacking trust.

However, this is a lot more than just adding a block of text to your pages

Sorry guys, but if you want trust in your site these days, you are going to need to add content. Don't believe a word of what any other SEO consultant or SEO agency may tell you when it comes to content, especially for long term gains.

Content in Google's eyes is still king and always will be, especially now. How can you have trust without having content in Google's eyes ? you can't! That's just common sense.

Even if you did manage to pull that of ( and not since the medic update ) How long do you think your site would stay up on page one of Google? Not long I bet. Every client I have taken on has lacked content.

Clients that headed my advice and invested in adding content to their sites before the medic update has seen MASSIVE gains in overall rankings on page one including subpages. One of our cosmetic clients has hit position one for over forty keywords and currently ranks for over 206 on page one all because I stressed content all the time.

The ones that did not want to add content to their sites upon inspection, I told them I could not assist them. With the introduction of the medic update, if you are not prepared to add content to your site, you may just see negative results in rankings.

As Google has stated, you can actually not fix up pages that have been hit by the medic update.

How To Benefit and Key Points To Watch Out For Since The Medic Update ?

  • Add very informative content.
  • Add user intent content that assists immediately with given search terms.
  • Ensure your site is a trusted source...EAT

Content relating to the " who, why, is, was, how, where, and do " and so on will win you big browny points with Google. ( Questions answer format )

Try to at least hit the 1000 word mark per page or post. Over time as you website grows, your site coupled together with quality links will become a huge authority.

I always find when I target 1000 words or more on a page or post, websites rank better. This also adds to trust in Google's eyes. This doesn't often work on many business sites of course but put simply, the more content the better is the rule.

If you look at this post alone, it has broken 2500 words just on this subject so that should tell you I practice what I preach.

What about Medical, Health and Financial sites You ask ?

Well, these key points above still apply but what Google primarily wants to see with this latest update is what we spoke about earlier that is referred to as EAT..Expertise, Authority, Trust

So How Do You Apply EAT to Health, and Medical or Finance Sites ?

If you are in any of these fields or any niche in fact that you want to better your rankings, you must provide trust or security to your user. Google wants to basically see that you are a licensed or certified authority relating to your field of expertise in health, medical, or finance or any other industry you are trying to rank in.

This was why so many sites in the health or medical niche took a huge hit and plummeted.

There was no real proof or trust factor to protect user security or happiness as it is put. So, if you have licenses, diplomas or are affiliated with specific forums, awards you have achieved in the past, and you aren't afraid to post them on your site, then do so and show it off because Google wants to see that you can be trusted.

This was also found on the web when it comes to EAT

High E-A-T medical advice should be written or produced by people or organizations with appropriate medical expertise or accreditation.

E-A-T medical advice or information should be written or produced in a professional style and should be edited, reviewed, and updated on a regular basis.”..

This goes back earlier to what was stated about trust, and if you don't start applying this rule, you could be in trouble.

Well, there it is guys and gals. I hope this has been some pretty interesting reading for you and hopefully it will help restore your site from this retched update

Remember.....EAT

 

Structure your site under this requirement, and you can't lose. As Google as stated, you can't fix this update and all you can do is continue to add trusted and informative content but from our own investigating, Re-apply EAT correctly, and you will see upwards climbs in the long run.

Either way, as long as you add content in this manner, you should always see an upward climb in the serps and secure long term standing with your website and continue to establish your brand for many years to come.

This is the only way we know as of now how to better serps for business owners or even how to recover from the Google medic update and get any website that has suffered as a result for this penalty back on page one of search engines. Should you have any more questions, get in touch with our  SEO Services in Sydney today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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