Medic Update

What Is the Medic Update?

The Medic Update permanently changed the SEO landscape in 2018: websites covering health, finance, and other YMYL topics have since needed demonstrable expertise and trustworthiness. Anyone wanting to rank in these sensitive areas today must consistently build E-E-A-T signals like author profiles, source references, and professional credentials. Its impact continues to shape content strategy to this day.

The Medic Update is Google’s core update from August 2018, which particularly affected health and finance sites — hence the name. The introduction of the E-E-A-T concept (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) as a ranking factor was a consequence of this update. Websites without demonstrable expertise or trustworthiness lost rankings dramatically — a lesson that still resonates today.

Technically, the Medic Update focused on YMYL pages (Your Money or Your Life) — categories where incorrect information can directly harm someone’s health or finances. Google increased the weighting of: author qualifications and biographies, independent reviews and testimonials, source citations and source verifiability, and domain authority. The algorithm has since prioritized pages by doctors for health questions and financial experts for financial questions.

In practice, YMYL websites have learned: (1) demonstrate expertise — author biographies with qualifications and experience are essential; (2) link to verifiable sources and studies; (3) receive independent reviews (e.g., from patients or financial associations); (4) use E-E-A-T structuring in schema markup; (5) be transparent about conflicts of interest (e.g., disclose affiliate links). The Medic Update was a turning point toward greater trust focus in rankings.