medic-update-google-algorithm

Google’s ‘medic update’ affecting medical negligence websites

Google  launched  a  core  algorithm  update  on  the  1st  August  2018  which  took  a  couple  of  days  to  fully  roll  out.

The update was later named the medic update as it seemed to effect medical niche websites the most although other websites niches also saw keyword ranking fluctuations.

How  has  this  impacted  the  legal  industry?

Medic Update Image

If you have a legal website that includes a medical negligence focus, you may have seen keyword ranking fluctuation over this period which is very normal. If your website saw a negative fluctuation it doesn’t mean you have done something wrong in the eyes of Google, it means that one of your competitors has been building trust and authority quicker than you have and Google has given them more SEO weight in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Google doesn’t tell the SEO industry what they have updated in the core algorithm; however, it has come to light on industry websites that Google may now be looking more closely at websites ‘trust & authority’.

What  do  you  mean  ‘trust  &  authority’?

There are many ways to improve your website’s trust & authority performance in the eyes of Google. One of the main tactics is to look at your linking strategy, even outbound links will have some benefit e.g. to authority sites, such as those websites that reflect the focus of your website and which end in ‘.edu’ or even ‘.gov’, which can be located either on your homepage and/or your blog pages.

Inbound links are where you will see a big impact, referred to as backlinks they are links that are directed towards your website and the number of good quality links indicate the popularity or importance of your website. Search engines give more credit to websites that have a healthy number of quality backlinks and consider those websites more relevant than others in their results pages.

Ensuring your site has certain pages and content – such as a thorough privacy notice & terms of use – will also help boost authority. Google also looks for contactable information on pages such as contact pages, with lists of key people along with office address(es) that signifies that you are a reputable brand and more likely to be recognised on Google searches.

Winners  &  losers

There are always winners and losers with any core algorithm update and I’m pleased to say our brand The Medical Negligence Experts has benefitted e.g. is it currently on page 1, position 4 for the most competitive and searched for term in the industry ‘medical negligence’. The term ‘medical negligence’ typically costs £52 per click via PPC and has a monthly search volume of 8,100 searches per month which is why a page 1 organic position is highly sought after.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the update, please read this article – click here.