Deutsch Deutsch English English

Medic Update

The Medic Update was a significant Google algorithm update released on August 1, 2018. Although officially called a "Broad Core Algorithm Update," it received the name "Medic Update" from the SEO community because it primarily affected websites in the health and medical sector.

Temporal Classification

The Medic Update was part of a series of Core Updates that Google conducted in 2018. It followed Mobile-First Indexing and paved the way for later updates like BERT.

Main Goals of the Medic Update

1. YMYL Content Assessment

The update focused on Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content that has direct impact on:

  • Health and safety
  • Financial stability
  • Happiness and well-being
  • Social stability

2. Strengthening E-A-T Signals

Google began to weight Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness (E-A-T) more heavily, especially for:

  • Medical information
  • Financial advice
  • Legal topics
  • News and current events

Affected Website Types

Website Category
Impact Level
Main Causes
Medical Websites
Very High
Lack of medical expertise, unclear authorship
Health Blogs
High
Lack of authority, missing source citations
E-Commerce Health Products
Medium to High
Unclear product descriptions, missing certifications
Financial Advice
Medium
Missing licensing, unclear qualifications
News Websites
Medium
Lack of journalistic standards

Technical Impacts

Ranking Factors That Gained Importance:

1. Authority Signals

  • Author qualifications
  • Institutional affiliation
  • Peer review processes
  • Citations in professional literature

2. Content Quality

  • Depth and completeness of information
  • Currency of medical data
  • Source citations and references
  • Objective presentation

3. Website Trustworthiness

  • SSL certificates
  • Imprint and privacy policy
  • Contact information
  • Professional design

Recovery Strategies After Medic Update

Immediate Measures

001. Conduct Content Audit

  • Check all medical content for accuracy
  • Update outdated information
  • Add missing source citations

002. Optimize Author Profiles

  • Highlight medical qualifications
  • Document professional experience
  • List professional certifications

003. Strengthen E-A-T Signals

  • About us page with team credentials
  • Show certificates and awards
  • External links to reputable sources

Long-term Optimizations

001. Revise Content Strategy

  • Focus on evidence-based information
  • Regular updates of medical content
  • Establish peer review processes

002. Link Building for Authority

  • Cooperations with medical institutions
  • Guest posts in professional journals
  • Participation in medical conferences

003. Technical SEO Improvements

  • Structured data for medical content
  • Optimize Core Web Vitals
  • Ensure mobile-first design

Measurable Impacts

Positive Impacts

  • Higher quality of medical search results
  • Better user experience for health questions
  • Reduction of misinformation
  • Strengthening of reputable medical websites

Negative Impacts

  • Ranking losses for less trustworthy websites
  • Higher requirements for content quality
  • Need for larger investments in E-A-T
  • More difficult entry barriers for new websites

Lessons Learned

For Website Operators

  1. E-A-T is not optional - Especially for YMYL content
  2. Content quality over quantity - Depth over breadth
  3. Transparency builds trust - Disclosure of authorship and sources
  4. Regular updates necessary - Especially for medical content

For SEO Professionals

  1. Include professional expertise - Medical content requires expertise
  2. Develop long-term strategies - Building E-A-T takes time
  3. Define measurable KPIs - Make authority and trust measurable
  4. Sensitize stakeholders - Justify investments in quality

Connection to Other Updates

The Medic Update was an important milestone in Google's efforts to improve search result quality. It paved the way for:

  • BERT Update (2019) - Better understanding of natural language
  • Helpful Content Update (2022) - Focus on user-oriented content
  • Product Reviews Update (2021) - Quality assessment of product reviews

Best Practices for 2025

Content Creation

  • Support medical facts with professional literature
  • Regular updates of medical content
  • Clear separation between information and advertising
  • Understandable language for laypeople

Technical Implementation

  • Schema.org MedicalEntity markup
  • Hreflang for multilingual medical content
  • Optimize Core Web Vitals
  • Ensure mobile-first design

Monitoring and Analysis

  • Google Search Console for ranking monitoring
  • Google Analytics for user behavior
  • Regular SEO audits
  • Content performance monitoring

Conclusion

The Medic Update marked a turning point in Google's approach to medical and YMYL content. It emphasized the importance of expertise, authority, and trust in search engine optimization. For website operators in the health sector, it is essential to understand and implement these principles to be successful in the long term.

The lessons from the Medic Update are still relevant today and have laid the foundation for modern SEO strategies based on quality and user trust.

Related Topics

Last Update: October 21, 2025