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Google had released a huge update on the first day of August 2018 and it is being called the Medic Update due to its effects on websites focused on medical and health niches. It had also strongly focused on the YMYL or "Your Money Your Life" type of websites. It had to be noted that the changes in the Google algorithm did not affect most of the websites. But the ones that did have an effect had very strong ones. There seems to have been a major change in both the organic and local ranking algorithms. The local components along with the YMYL sites were affected the most through the Google updates. Some other websites had been affected as well.
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What has been heard from Google?
According to Google, it has been a broad, global and core algorithmic update. These are among several updates that happen in a year. Google has said that its references its advice from the previous core updates. There is no absolute fix for pages that had been performing less well. The focus must be on creating content with great quality. This might cause pages to rise in time relative to other pages. Some websites might always be dropping in relative to others with the updates. There might be nothing wrong with the pages that have dropped down. Pages that had not been rewarded properly are being offered their due places. These Google updates have been rolled out globally and are affecting all searches worldwide, with no bias towards any particular language or region.
Who had seen the major impacts through the update?
As it had been communicated, the Google algorithm has been modified to implicate changes in each and every niche. But as much as has been seen through the surveys from multiple SEO consultants and websites that track data, the focus had been on health and medical niches. The 'Your Money Your Life' websites have been affected and little effects could be seen on the entertainment and gaming websites as well. Now, the question arises what are the YMYL websites.
What are the YMYL websites?
YMYL or "Your Money Your Life" websites have been rated as Google as the underlying:
- It includes those websites that solicit personal information. It might include personal identification numbers, bank details and other personal details, that might lead to a possible identity theft.
- Pages that perform monetary transactions are also included, where users provide credit card or bank details. This might include any page that allows you to buy something.
- The web pages that offer health or medical information and can impact the physical well-being of a person are included as well.
- The pages that offer advice on major life decisions are also counted among them. These include those websites that offer information on purchasing a vehicle, parenting or buying vehicles.
- Also, those pages that offer advice on major life issues that could impact future happiness like finances and pages offering legal advice are among the YMYL pages.
These include analysis from RankRanger, Sistrix, SEMRush and a lot of other SEOs. All these websites agree on the fact that there are Google's new rules for SEO now.
What is the current standoff on Medical Products?
The Google updates have surely set Google's new rules for SEO. The rankings of the pages have shifted quite a lot based on the content. Google has started to give recognition to websites that include information from reputed people or reputed sources. The new updates seem to be preferred not only the relevance of the information but also where the data have been coming from, who has been publishing it, their credentials and everything else related to them. Though it is too early to say if it would be providing valid information and offering them in a better way, it would be a good idea to stick to what Google has conveyed through its Twitter handles.
What can we see about multi-location sites?
It might be true that the part of the update associated with the multilocation sites is different from the other observations that can be seen in the Google algorithm. There have been several multi-location national chain industries that had seen a drop in the location keywords through the update. It might be so that Google had boosted a locally recognized authority in the SERPS.
Conclusions
It is now certain that Google's new rules for SEO have been modified and updates and what had been considered important before might not be so now. The Google algorithmic update of August 1 had surely been a massive one. Google has now been rating websites based on E-A-T or Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust. the rules of the playground have totally changed with Google's ability to define the E-A-T with much more precision. The trust factor seems to play a very important role here as Google is trying to show its searchers information from websites that are absolutely trustworthy.
What can be done?
There is still not much information around about what the multi-location businesses could do to get back to their feet. But as far as the YMYL websites are concerned, there are surely some things that could be done to help them.
- Display all of the E-A-T: The About page has now gained a lot of importance. It should be filled with reasons why you are the most authoritative in your field. It is time to brag about awards and recognition and the years of experience. Though it has not been clearly understood where Google tracks the data from, it is important to let Google know that the E-A-T of the brand is good.
- Display the E-A-T of the author: It would be a good idea to have the authors of the blogs listed on the website, which should have a link to the author bio, where the E-A-T of the author should also be present.
- Improve the overall reputation of the business: Press coverage could be a good way to get this done. But it must be understood that Google can figure out which part of the websites have been written by staff journalists uncovering the real news and those who can be paid off.
