August 2018 Core Update ("Medic")
Broad core update that strongly affected health, wellness and more broadly YMYL ("Your Money Your Life") topics, hence its nickname "Medic".
Key points
- A broad core update that strongly affected health, wellness and more broadly YMYL topics.
- Nicknamed Medic by the community due to the marked impact on medical sites.
- Reinforces the weight of E-A-T (expertise, authority, trustworthiness) on sensitive topics.
- Google confirms a classic core update, with no targeted penalty or specific corrective action.
Analysis
The August 2018 update is remembered because it hit hard the Your Money Your Life sites, those whose content can affect users' health, safety or finances. Google did not designate a single factor, but the community's analysis highlighted the credibility of the author and source as a differentiating element.
This episode popularized E-A-T as a quality lens. For YMYL publishers, it is not a technical update but a lasting requirement: to prove who is speaking, on what basis, and why the source deserves trust, a criterion that is also central to being cited in AI answers.
What to do
- On YMYL topics, clearly display authors, qualifications and sources to strengthen E-A-T.
- Audit sensitive pages (health, finance) and fix unsourced or outdated claims.
- Structure author and organization data to make authority easier to recognize for engines and AI.
Strengthens the weight of E-A-T on sensitive topics. YMYL sites must demonstrate expertise, authority and trustworthiness.