SEO Case Study: Google "Medic" Recovery

Recovering From The Google "Medic" Update (August 1st, 2018)

Recently, we had a new E-commerce client approach us following decreased rankings on August 1st, 2018.

(The Search Engine community has nicknamed this update the "Medic update". Let's hope they are better are ranking their clients than they are at naming algorithm updates.)

This client's site has begun their recovery quite nicely. Because they are working with a smaller budget, their recovery may take a few months, but we are optimistic that the trend will continue.

One thing to note is that these updates are called "Broad Algorithm Updates". Unlike SEO of 2016 where we identified a "content issue" or an "inbound link issues", we need to look at all possible problems since it is typically a combination of problems.

Here is how we approached the issue:

Step 1: Do A Deep, Technical SEO Audit

There are excellent tools such as Semrush, Screaming Frog (and soon, Cognitive SEO's Onpage Analyzer) which can help elevate major issues.

Additionally, the Google Search Console and a "site:domain.com" operator search in Google can provide a more thorough overview of potential problems. Where available, log files can help you identify low-quality pages that the Googlebot is ignoring.

In the case of this client, we identified about 20% of the site with thin content. This is common in Ecommerce sites as tag pages and category pages are often used to provide a better user experience, but then generate low-value content for the Search Engines.

We removed these pages from Google's index, and the site began moving upwards about 10 days later.

Step 2: Look Closely At "Hero" Pages

We like to go deeper on the top 10 traffic-generating pages that have lost visibility in Google. When a site loses placement in Google, it makes sense to compare your page to the new sites ranking in Google.

In this case, we uncovered several pages that were under-optimized for their term. We added keywords and variants to these pages to match these new first-page players.

We created a new optimization template for them to use in-house which can empower their in-house employees to optimize new products to this same standard.

Step 3: Look For Link Quality Issues

Since Penguin 4.0, Google has continued to be more selective about what website mentions it will reward. At Punch SEO, we only promote our clients by getting mentions niche-specific sites with traffic.

Our guiding principle is to get them in front of their client base with every single mention.

This translates into both more clients and increased Google rankings.

With this new client, there was a mix of Good placements (such as tech.co) and some that were not-so-good.

We did not perform a Disavow, but we have begun an off-site marketing campaign for them. Two weeks following the start of this campaign, we are seeing specific recoveries for several pages that had been pushed back to page 2 of Google with the August 1st Update.

One advantage for this client is that they have a much smaller link profile than more established sites, which means that even 2 or 3 quality placements can have significant impact on their overall authority.

Summary:

The Google "Medic" Update has created a lot of confusion for leaders in the SEO community. When we examine impacted sites like draxe.com and healthambition.com, we identify many of the same technical and quality problems that we solved for our client. We believe this to be another broad algorithm update that can be "solved" by revamping the site to meet new quality guidelines.

About Quinton Hamp

Quinton is an SEO expert who manages his own portfolio of passive income affiliate sites. In addition to his affiliate work, he offers client SEO services in Springfield, MO under the Convergensys brand name. He also provides client fulfillment for SEO brands such as Punch SEO and Charlotte SEO Firm.

#ecommerce #SEO