Blogging for SEO

I’ve been writing a lot lately, but you may not have seen it. I’ve been writing for a client located in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

I write several posts each month for them. The focus is on improving their website’s search engine optimization (SEO). Their website was already ranking highly for a few select keywords before I began working with them, but their ranking could still be improved. I’m helping increase the number of search terms they rank for, without damaging the high performance of their current rankings.

A lot of people promote blogging for SEO. I’m one of them! And it’s exactly what I’m doing to improve my client’s search rankings. Blogging is a great way to help your site maintain high ranking pages, increase the number of search terms you rank for in search results and provide updates or helpful advice to readers.

…but it comes with risk!

You can’t just know current SEO tactics. You also have to learn the why behind them. You need to understand why search engines, like Google, prioritize rankings and the direction of where they’re heading. If you don’t have a full understanding of why and how search engines are ranking websites, you may be writing content (blog posts) that will dramatically hurt your website and potentially your business. The recent “medic” update is a great example of this can occur.

Google’s Medic Update

In August 2018, Google rolled out the “Medic Update”. A broad core search engine optimization algorithm update. Here’s what Google had to say about it…

As with any update, some sites may note drops or gains. There’s nothing wrong with pages that may now perform less well. Instead, it’s that changes to our systems are benefiting pages that were previously under-rewarded….

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) March 12, 2018

A little too broad to understand? They also let us know, “There’s no “fix” for pages that may perform less well other than to remain focused on building great content. Over time, it may be that your content may rise relative to other pages.”

…and sadly that’s the best advice they can really give us.

(yes, the tweet is from March. That’s when Google first announced the update but the results hit most powerfully in August.)

How the Medic Update Impacted Websites

We learned the most about the “Medic Update” by simply watching who was affected most by the update as it rolled out.

We quickly learned that websites that frequently talked about medical, health care and even skincare products and services were greatly impacted – hence the name “Medic Update” began being used by those working in the search engine optimization industry.

While health care related websites were the most impacted, it was a core algorithm update. This means every website, all on topics, are impacted by this update. The industries that saw the largest changes covered life-impacting topics or topics that may be emotionally motivated or decisions that can be changed based on emotion: health, travel, gambling, food and drink, finance, and home goods.

Google’s focus was (and always is) to improve the results users receive.

To me, it appeared as though Google was trying to limit websites that may push very biased or even misleading information to those who may be in the middle of a large decision (physical and mental health help, large purchases, etc).

How the Medic Update impacted my client

My client isn’t in the medical industry (the highest impacted industry). They are a part of the travel industry – another industry highly impacted by the medic update. Here’s the difference we saw in 1 day in early August during the rollout of the medic update.

My Client: +4.39% in search rankings
Competitor #1: -6.53% in search rankings
Competitor #2: -1.95% in search rankings
Competitor #3: -8.63% in search rankings

Why We Saw Growth

We saw growth for one reason: we focus on E-A-T. With every page on the website, every additional feature we add, and with every blog post I write – we focus on not only maintaining but growing our E-A-T strategy.

E-A-T: “Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.”

We make sure every form of content on our website helps show we are experts in Clearwater Beach vacations. Clearwater Beach vacation expects with not the ability, but also a history of kindly and accurately answering questions and concerns of website visitors. We operate a trustworthy website, with not only accurate information but a safe website that will help protect your information with SSL certificates and more.

Blogging for SEO Tips – Post Medic Update

It is extremely important to keep the E-A-T strategy in mind when blogging for SEO. You want to make sure you remain focused on helping your website users. This was always important, but the Medic Update made these steps 100% necessary.

Be An Expert of One Thing

Don’t try to be an expert in too many things. For example, my Clearwater Beach client are Clearwater Beach vacation experts. We are focused on answering questions and providing help to those going on vacation in Clearwater Beach. We stay focused on that topic alone. My blog post topics vary from grocery stores and restaurants to hurricanes and stingrays – but all are focused on educating and helping those planning a vacation to (or currently on a vacation in) Clearwater Beach, Florida.

Many of the websites that were highly impacted by the Medic Update struggled with this. I often saw websites that were divided between too many topics.

Become an Authority

It’s important to be viewed as an authority. Write blog posts that answer questions that reads have asked or should ask but don’t. Leave a comment section open on your blog and reply to comments quickly, with more useful information. Find ways to encourage conversation and manage those conversations. Outside of blogs, community and forum boards are great ways to do this.

Showcase your knowledge as an expert, but make sure it’s accurate and trustworthy. If someone takes the time to comment, reply with more than a thank you.

Be Trustworthy

You need to be a trusted expert. This doesn’t stop with accurate content. Show trust to your audience, and search engines, by maintaining a website that uses SSL. This is especially important for eCommerce websites where you may be entering credit card information or any login information.

Structure Your Content for Users and Search Engines

Write your content focused on accurately answering your audience’s questions. Encourage the audience to ask more or leave their thoughts in the comments below. And structure your content appropriate for search engines to be able to understand as well. You can do this by…