A core update is a significant change that Google makes to its search algorithms and systems. Since content on the internet is always changing, these updates give Google a chance to recalibrate its ranking systems to ensure it continues presenting helpful, reliable results to searchers. From your standpoint, core updates matter because they affect whether your practice continues to appear for search terms related to your medical services.

Google released its first core update of 2026 in March, with the rollout wrapping up in April. We have prepared this blog post to walk you through the main takeaways for this core update. We also offer optimization tips you can implement across your website if you saw a drop in your practice’s rankings.

About Google Core Updates

Google does a broad core update every few months, and it’s announced through the Google Search Status Dashboard. Core updates typically take a few weeks to fully roll out, so this dashboard shows you exactly when each update starts and finishes. 

It can take a while to see the full effects of a core update on your website’s performance, so you shouldn’t panic if your rankings initially drop. Google recommends waiting at least one week after the rollout to log into Google Search Console and check on your traffic and ranking data. That gives your website some time to stabilize to its new normal so that you can determine if it needs optimizations.

Smaller Search Updates

For years, SEO experts have speculated that Google does smaller core updates in between these major core updates. Google has since confirmed that to be true, even adding a section about this to the bottom of its core updates documentation. Google doesn’t announce these smaller updates because they don’t affect websites across the board. However, if you’re seeing changes in your website performance out of the blue, this could be why.

These smaller updates are important for another reason. If your website is affected by a core update, you don’t necessarily have to wait until the next core update to bounce back. You can make changes to your SEO strategy now to try to improve your rankings before the next core update.

Spam vs. Core Updates

The other major update Google does is a spam update. While core updates affect all websites, spam updates specifically target and penalize websites Google deems as participating in spammy practices. 

Google has spam documentation that breaks down common practices that can get you flagged during spam updates. We won’t get into the details on these practices here, but what’s important to note is that you may be doing something that’s considered spam in the eyes of Google without even knowing it. If your search visibility starts dropping, don’t assume it’s a core update. Check the same dashboard from above to see if a spam update might be responsible instead.

Google March 2026 Core Update

The March 2026 Core Update started on March 27 and ran through April 8. Google didn’t provide specifics ahead of time on what it was prioritizing with this particular core update. However, we can compare search results from before and after the update to see what changed and draw conclusions about what Google will value moving forward.

Shortly before the March 2026 Core Update, Google announced the March 2026 Spam Update, which was the shortest confirmed spam update ever, lasting one day from March 24 to March 25. Because the spam and core updates rolled out so closely together, it’s difficult to separate the impact they each had on search rankings. For this reason, the following section looks at the March updates together.

Optimization Takeaways

Below are some common themes among the websites that are ranking well following the March updates. We have framed them through a medical lens to help you optimize your practice website if you’ve seen a drop in performance since March.

Prioritize Information Gain 

Information gain is a Google ranking factor that measures how much new information you provide with your content. Instead of regurgitating what’s already out there, you want to give your unique perspective on the topic. 

As a physician, you have years of experience in the medical field, so use it to add expert commentary and personal insight to your content. For example, a podiatrist creating a web page about plantar fasciitis might include an explanation of how they approach working with patients to treat this condition.

Narrow Your Focus

Google favors websites that show their expertise in a particular area. If you cover numerous subjects across several fields, your website performance could take a hit because Google assumes you can’t possibly be an expert on every topic under the sun.

For your website, stick to creating content about your specific area of practice. You can narrow your focus even further by concentrating on the exact conditions you treat within your area of practice. Show the depth of your knowledge on these conditions by creating several pages that discuss them from different angles.

Use AI Strategically

Google is starting to crack down on AI use for content creation. It isn’t penalizing AI-assisted content outright, but it’s targeting content that’s been churned out at scale without any human input.

The approach we recommend taking is using AI for assistance, not for the entire content creation process. For example, you can use it to brainstorm topics for blog posts or even write a rough draft for a blog post. But make sure you proofread the draft for accuracy and add your own expert insights before publishing it to your website.

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Other Important Google Guidelines

E-E-A-T and Core Web Vitals are two terms that come up a lot in SEO. We didn’t mention them in regards to the March updates, but Google continues to stress their importance. Therefore, taking them into account can help you future-proof your website, setting yourself up for minimal disruptions during upcoming core updates.

E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T is an acronym that stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. E-A-T has been at the center of what Google uses to determine content quality for over a decade, with the second E—Experience—being added at the end of 2022.

Here’s a breakdown of each letter in E-E-A-T:

• Experience: Does the content creator have first-hand experience with the topic? For example, a physician might include examples of how they treat medical conditions within their area of practice—with patient consent.
• Expertise: Does the creator have the formal training and professional experience to speak on the topic? For example, a physician might add a bio page to their website that explains where they went to school and did their residency, how many years they’ve been practicing, and where they hold board certifications.
• Authoritativeness: Are the website and creator known as go-to sources for the topic? For example, a physician might look to improve their reputation by getting other medical professionals to cite them and asking patients to leave positive reviews on Google and Yelp.
• Trustworthiness: Is the website reliable, honest, safe, and transparent? For example, a physician would be sure to have an encrypted website to protect patient data and follow HIPAA guidelines.

Though E-E-A-T isn’t explicitly mentioned in our March 2026 Core Update optimizations, Experience and Expertise do play a role in the first two tips, demonstrating how important this acronym continues to be.

Core Web Vitals

Most of what we have discussed up until this point has been about producing valuable content. But don’t forget about the basics of how your website is built because that can affect user experience. Even a website with valuable content can rank poorly if users don’t want to spend time on it.

Google uses what it calls Core Web Vitals to measure user experience. These metrics are:

• Largest Contentful Paint: LCP measures how long it takes for the main part of the page (e.g., the text) to load. Google recommends an LCP within the first 2.5 seconds of the visitor clicking on the page.
• Interaction To Next Paint: INP measures how quickly your website responds when a visitor interacts with something on the page (e.g., the page moving down when the visitor scrolls). Google recommends an INP of less than 200 milliseconds.
• Cumulative Layout Shift: CLS measures unexpected shifts in the layout of a page not caused by visitor input (e.g., an image popping up and pushing the text down). The CLS score is calculated by multiplying the area affected by the distance moved, with Google recommending a score of less than 0.1.

Google has stated that it uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor, so make sure you follow these recommendations to improve your user experience and increase your chances of appearing in search results.

Final Thoughts

Staying on top of Google’s core updates can be daunting, but it’s an important part of ensuring your practice remains visible in search results. Officite’s team of experienced SEO professionals can take this task off your plate and implement our optimization tips for Google’s recent core update. Whether you’re looking to create new content or enhance existing pages, we’re here to help your website get noticed for the topics that matter most to your practice.wadays, so it’s something you can easily get through your website hosting provider.