To the average web user, Google is known as one of the most reliable tools for finding information or services. To a search engine optimization (SEO) professional, Google is known as a means of making one’s website more visible to web users … and it’s known for being notoriously stubborn about how that works.
The basic rule that SEOs understand is that you need to create informative, entertaining or educational content relevant to specific keywords from your target audience that are performing well in search. However, Google is constantly performing algorithm updates to make sure no black-hat SEO techniques are working and that the correct information is delivered to users.
Every now and then, Google makes a major algorithm update that impacts a significant portion of the web.
Enter the Google Medic Update
In late 2018, Google rolled out a new core algorithm update that had a large impact on health and wellness websites, which led to the inception of its nickname: the Medic Update.
The Medic Update’s objective appears to have been to target quality issues like weak or duplicate content, slow websites, inaccurate title tags and an overall bad user experience. Webmasters speculate that this update also targeted health and wellness sites that the algorithm believed to have hidden valuable information in exchange for payment, which are known as “Your Money or Your Life” websites. Google does not want to promote this type of content in its search engine results pages (SERPs), so the Medic Update allowed it to address the issues.
The Medic Update rolled out in several stages starting in August 2018 and extending through 2019. At Burg & Co., we saw some of our sites (as well as health care sites across the industry) take a dive in traffic performance. This was initially concerning because our sites had not violated any of the issues Google appeared to be attempting to resolve.
Fortunately, the core updates that rolled out through 2019 corrected some of the issues that we and other webmasters were experiencing. A core update in March helped some of our sites pick back up, but it wasn’t until the following core updates in June and September that we really saw things go back to a semblance of normal.
Of course, not too shortly after, COVID-19 came around and made business difficult for everyone, but we were happy to see that by remaining compliant with white-hat SEO techniques, our health care websites were able to gain traction again after the Medic Update.
Want to attract new visitors to your website? Burg & Co. can help
Increasing traffic to your website plays a role in increasing conversions and leading to new clients. However, it’s difficult to attract visitors to your site when you don’t know what to do. Fortunately, this is what we specialize in at Burg & Co.
Our team has years of experience in helping businesses improve their digital presence to attract new leads and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and attract more visitors to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help. Contact our team today for more information about digital marketing or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
