The Medic update is the nickname for a broad core update Google released on 1 August 2018. It earned the name because so many of the sites that lost visibility were in health, medicine and wellbeing, although finance, legal and other sectors were hit as well.
How the Medic update worked
Google never called it Medic. The name came from the SEO industry after early analysis showed health sites were overrepresented among the losers. Google’s own line was that this was a broad core update, that there was nothing specific to fix, and that pages losing ground were not necessarily doing anything wrong; other pages were simply being judged more useful.
What the update appeared to reward was clearer evidence of who stands behind the content. A few weeks earlier, Google had revised its Search Quality Rater Guidelines, putting more weight on the reputation of the site and the content creator, especially for “Your Money or Your Life” topics where poor information could harm someone’s health, finances or safety. The raters do not change rankings themselves, but their guidelines describe what Google’s systems are trying to recognise.
Sites that dropped tended to share traits: health advice with no named author or medical review, supplement shops making bold claims, and articles written for traffic rather than by people with relevant knowledge. Sites that gained often had named clinicians, references and a visible track record.
Why it matters
The update is history, but the thinking behind it now runs through every core update. Google later expanded the idea into E-E-A-T, adding first-hand experience to expertise, authoritativeness and trust. If your business gives advice that affects health, money or legal rights, these standards apply to you most strictly.
For UK businesses in these sectors there is a second layer. A private clinic must not make claims the ASA and CAP Code would not allow, a financial adviser is bound by FCA financial promotion rules, and a solicitor by the SRA’s standards. Content that meets those obligations, names a qualified author and links to sound sources is usually in good shape for Google too.
Common mistakes
- Looking for a single technical fix. The Medic update was about how useful and trustworthy pages were judged to be. Changing title tags or schema alone does not address that.
- Adding a fake or token author. A stock photo and an invented name are worse than no byline. Use real people with real, checkable credentials.
- Bolting on author boxes and calling it done. An author bio helps only when the content itself reflects that person’s knowledge.
- Keeping outdated health or money advice live. Old guidance on tax thresholds or treatment options damages trust with readers and with Google.
How to act on it
If you publish health, finance or legal content, audit it page by page. For each page, ask whether a qualified person wrote or reviewed it, whether that is visible, whether claims are supported by sources such as the NHS website, GOV.UK or the relevant regulator, and whether the advice is still current. Add review dates where they are true and meaningful.
Make your About and contact pages show who runs the business, how to reach you and your registration with any regulator. Remove or consolidate thin articles written only to rank. This is careful work, and in clinical sectors it is exactly what my healthcare SEO service covers.