Google Medic Update
Google recently rolled out a new search algorithm update, which has become known as the Medic Update across the Internet. Google has referred to it as a broad core algorithm update in line with updates they routinely do several times per year.
What Is Known About The Medic Update So Far?
The latest broad update seems to primarily impact sites in the medical, health, fitness, and lifestyle sites, but many others have also been impacted. Following the completion of the update, Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable conducted a survey in which he reviewed over 300 sites were claiming to have been impacted by the update. Of the sites reviewed, over 42 percent of the sites fell into a general category of health. E-commerce sites, many of which sell health or medical related products, made up another 16 percent of affected sites.
According to his findings, Schwartz believes that there has not been such a concentrated impact following a core update. Broad core updates are typically implemented in an effort to influence sites of all kinds, however his survey data clearly indicated a focus in sites related to the health and medical industries in one way or another.
However, sites within the health niche are not the only ones that have seen changes since the update roll out. Noted trends following Google’s medic update include changes in large brand searches, improvement among commercial sites, and progress towards matching user intent.
Medic Update And Searcher Intent
Netherlands’ premier search optimization firm, Yoast, suspects that one of the underlying purpose’s for Google’s latest update is to take steps in better providing search results that match the intent of the searcher. In addition to the broad core update, Google has also updated search quality rater guidelines by revising the manual used to manually score sites.
Within this update, Google added the idea of beneficial purpose in which raters are encouraged to consider more than just content quality, but also how the content applies in terms of what the user is looking for. By working towards matching intent. Google is better able to provide the results that searchers need and want.
Google’s Advice Following The Medic Update
According to Google, sites do not need to worry about making technical adjustments to their sites in order to keep up with the new algorithm update. Instead, sites should simply continue to work on improving the overall quality of content and user experience. By focusing on quality rather than on a simple “fix”, sites will inevitably perform better and deliver better content that fits with the goal and purposes of each individual site. By concentrating on creating, building, and fine tuning sites to fit the needs of searchers, you will naturally stay on track with updates and maintain relevance.
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