Medical Website Promotion in Ukraine

SEO challenges in the Medical niche (YMYL)

SEO for medical sites belongs to the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) category – content that can significantly impact users’ health and lives.

Google applies increased requirements to the following resources and regularly implements algorithmic updates that check Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T):

1. Medic update (August 2018) is a global Core update that significantly affected medical, financial, and legal sites. The reason was the emphasis on E-A-T according to the Quality Rater Guidelines.
2. Google Core Updates (Spring/Autumn 2018 and March 2019) – continued checking YMYL content, strengthening control of the authority of sites.
3. Helpful Content Update (August-September 2022) – aimed at sites with “thin”, superficial content created solely for SEO purposes; especially critical for YMYL sites.
4. Basic Core updates 2022-2023 – focused on signals of quality and naturalness of content, which is critically important for medical resources.
5. AI Overviews & YMYL (September 2024) – Google began more actively using AI overviews for YMYL queries; health is one of the most frequent topics, with 83% of such overviews accompanied by the warning: “for reference, does not replace specialist consultation.”
6. Latest changes in E‑A‑T (2025) – recent guides of specialized SEO agencies emphasize constant updating of authoritative content by specialists, transparency of authors (biographies, diplomas, experience), and control over links and reviews.

These are just the main and major updates that have been critical for the medical niche in recent years. Therefore, promoting medical websites requires much more effort than in regular niches. Due to Google’s heightened requirements for YMYL content, it’s not enough to simply have optimized text – it’s important to ensure expertise, website trust, information relevance, and alignment with user intent.

Next, we’ll show exactly how we managed to achieve results in this highly competitive niche through real case studies.

Case 1: SEO Promotion of Medical Aggregator likarni.com

We were approached by a client – the online platform likarni.com, one of the leaders in the Ukrainian market for finding medical institutions and doctors. The service team faced a challenge typical for such projects: despite wide functionality and a needed product, organic traffic remained at 200,000 visitors per month and practically didn’t grow. The main task was to scale search visibility and increase the number of online doctor appointments.

Approach to SEO

We started with a deep audit: analyzed the website’s technical condition, structure, existing content quality, competitive environment, and external link profile. Based on this, we formed a step-by-step SEO promotion plan with clear focus on Google’s YMYL requirements, regional coverage, and users’ intentional queries. 

1. Content strategy based on search demand
   We conducted deep research of key queries in the medical services niche from general to highly intentional ones. Based on this, new target pages were created.
   
2. Technical SEO + E‑A‑T
   Critical technical errors were fixed (duplicates, canonicals, speed). We worked on resource authority: publishing expert content, optimizing microdata markup.
   
3. Link building
   We built a link profile. Simultaneously, pages with high ranking potential were promoted through internal linking.

Results:

As a result, over the year, organic traffic grew 3x from 200,000 to 600,000 visitors per month.

Careful semantic work, expanding site structure, fixing technical errors, and systematic work on authority provided strong and sustainable results. Thanks to competent priority distribution between creating new pages and strengthening existing ones, we achieved triple organic traffic growth in just 12 months.

This case once again confirms: in a niche with high search engine requirements for websites, you can win not with aggression, but with precision, strategy, and consideration of Google’s current requirements.

Case 2: SEO promotion of Plastic surgery clinic

Novetilo clinic approached us with an SEO promotion request – despite the high level of medical services, the site had practically no visibility in organic search. The main goal was to attract targeted traffic from Google to the main surgery direction pages.

We conducted a full site audit, researched competitors in the private medicine niche, and developed an SEO strategy focused on commercial queries. After agreeing on the plan with the client’s team, we proceeded with implementation.

The main stages of work:

1. Work with semantics: We analyzed search queries in the plastic surgery niche. Collected and clustered over 1,000 key queries, including high-frequency and regional combinations. Based on semantics, we developed new target pages for services and optimized existing sections with focus on commercial intent.

2. Link building: Launched a backlink profile building campaign. 

3. Technical issue resolution: Conducted technical audit and eliminated identified errors: indexing problems, duplicates, loading speed.

4. Content and structure optimization: Updated texts considering Google’s requirements for the medical niche: added qualification mentions, clarified procedure descriptions, optimized headers and page structure.

5. Local SEO: Optimized for local requests, added data about the clinic to local catalogs, and introduced micro-markup for services and addresses. 

6. Monitoring and support of results: During the entire promotion period, the dynamics of positions, traffic and user behavior were regularly analyzed. After achieving the result, the client received detailed recommendations to support growth.

Results:

Organic traffic to the clinic’s website increased by 119%, the number of entries from search engines doubled, and priority pages entered the TOP-10 Google for key commercial queries.

Results for the promotion of medical projects

Promoting medical projects requires not only knowledge of SEO tools, but also deep understanding of YMYL content specifics, Google’s high requirements for information reliability, and user behavior in this delicate sphere. In the two cases described in this article – from the large-scale likarni.com service to the specialized Nove Tilo plastic surgery clinic – we showed how systematic approach, attention to detail, and strategic thinking bring real results.

The advantage of working with Luxeo is not just SEO experience, but deep expertise specifically in the medical direction, since we’ve been working with this niche since 2017 and have witnessed all major Google updates.

We have promoted projects such as likarni.com, Kyiv Center for Therapy and Eye Microsurgery, Dobro clini, Health24, Nove Tilo, and other businesses that wished to remain incognito. This allows us to quickly immerse ourselves in the specifics of each medical business, consider nuances of patient communication, comply with E-E-A-T requirements, and scale traffic without harming reputation.

If you’re looking for a partner who knows how to promote complex niches and speaks Google’s “language” – we’re here to help.

Author

Dmytro Kovshun

Dmytro Kovshun is the founder of Luxeo Team – an SEO Outsourcing Company. As a leading specialist in the industry, he is recognized as an expert in SEO promotion of websites. With years of experience and a deep understanding of the field, Dmytro continues to drive success and innovation in SEO strategies, helping businesses achieve their online goals.