how Hims lifted keyword rankings 34% in 3 weeks

A former senior search engine optimisation government at Hims has shared an in depth breakdown of how a structured EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) overhaul lifted key phrase rankings for the telehealth model’s weblog by 34% in simply three weeks – with out publishing a single new article or constructing a single new hyperlink.

Mike Anderson, founding father of consultancy Automattik and former search engine optimisation chief at Hims and SurveyMonkey, shared his findings on LinkedIn this week. The publish, which gathered 94 reactions and prompted 9 feedback from practitioners together with Lily Ray, VP of search engine optimisation & AI Search, and search engine optimisation marketing consultant Andrew C. of Optimisey, outlines seven particular interventions. Taken collectively, they provide a uncommon, numbers-grounded account of what EEAT implementation seems like in apply inside a regulated well being content material operation.

The timing is notable. Health publishers have faced severe visibility losses following Google’s December 2025 core replace, with authoritative medical info websites that had held dominant positions for years seeing steep declines throughout a number of monitoring platforms. Anderson’s account arrives as practitioners are actively looking for indicators about what, exactly, Google rewards within the YMYL (Your Cash, Your Life) class.

The seven interventions, so as

Anderson frames the consequence as an working mannequin moderately than a marketing campaign. Seven adjustments had been made, and he’s express that no new content material and no hyperlink constructing accompanied them.

Named doctor bylines had been the one largest driver of the 34% carry, in response to Anderson. Hims changed “Written by our Editorial Group” attributions with named physicians and their credentials. This variation alone, he states, moved the needle greater than another component in this system. The implication for well being content material groups is critical: nameless or collective authorship seems to hold considerably much less weight than individually credentialed attribution, no less than in Google’s analysis of telehealth content material.

The second change was an editorial requirements field positioned within the footer of each weblog publish. In response to Anderson, each sufferers and engines like google want seen proof that content material is reviewed and the way that overview happens. The field makes the method legible to readers, which he frames as a belief sign functioning on the web page degree.

Third got here a structured medical overview workflow. The sequence Anderson describes runs from draft to medical overview to editorial high quality assurance to publication. Each well being declare, in response to his account, was touched by a credentialed specialist earlier than going stay. “That is the system that permits you to scale content material with out scaling danger,” he wrote within the publish. The phrase captures a real operational stress in well being content material: the stress to supply at quantity versus the legal responsibility and high quality prices of errors in medically delicate areas.

Creator and reviewer profile pages shaped the fourth component. Anderson attracts a transparent distinction between quick bios and full credential pages. The pages he describes embrace coaching historical past, specializations, and hyperlinks to each piece of content material the person has contributed to or reviewed. Every profile hyperlinks from each related article. This creates a crawlable graph of credentialed contribution throughout the positioning – a construction that enables engines like google to confirm the connection between claimed experience and precise content material output.

The fifth intervention concerned pruning low-authority content material. Hims consolidated and eliminated content material that, in response to Anderson, was constructed to drive site visitors moderately than construct belief. If a web page didn’t meet the credibility threshold, it was taken down. Fewer pages, he concludes, produced stronger indicators general. This aligns with patterns documented by SEO expert Lily Ray, who has noticed that content material created primarily to serve engines like google – moderately than readers – now actively triggers Google’s enforcement programs.

Sixth had been what Anderson calls belief belongings: a rewritten About web page and a devoted editorial course of web page that walks readers by way of how content material is created, reviewed, and authorised. He’s express that these pages don’t drive site visitors. Their operate is to construct the belief that makes every little thing else convert. The editorial course of web page specifically is structured to show systemic rigor – not simply the existence of overview, however the particular phases and standards it applies.

The seventh and ultimate component was cited sources on each medical declare. Revealed analysis, medical knowledge, and authoritative references had been required for each factual assertion. If a declare couldn’t be sourced, in response to Anderson’s account, it was not revealed.

Why this issues within the present search setting

The sensible particulars Anderson shares sit in a particular and intensifying context. Google’s AI Overviews now correlate with a 34.5% reduction in organic click-through rates throughout 300,000 key phrases studied by Ahrefs. For well being queries particularly, analysis has discovered that YMYL content material achieves 52% common scroll depth inside AI-generated summaries – which means customers devour a considerable portion of an AI’s reply earlier than deciding whether or not to click on by way of to the underlying supply. The stress on well being publishers to stay seen, and to qualify as cited sources inside AI Overviews moderately than merely rating organically, is intensifying.

This structural stress intersects with what Anderson’s publish demonstrates: that belief indicators legible to each people and algorithms require programs, not one-off optimizations. His phrasing – “Medical credibility in well being content material is not a one-time undertaking. It is an working mannequin” – displays a view that has gained traction amongst practitioners engaged on YMYL classes.

PPC Land has tracked the broader consequences for health publishers who lack this sort of foundational credentialing infrastructure. The December 2025 core replace affected a number of established medical info web sites that had held dominant positions for years. Lily Ray, who flagged the severity of these declines in a January 20, 2026 social media publish, noticed: “Actually wild to see authoritative well being publishers who’ve dominated in search engine optimisation for a few years get hit so arduous by this final core replace.”

The visibility losses documented throughout that replace align with a sample Ray has described more broadly: that the ways which produced outcomes between 2018 and 2022 now actively hurt rankings, and that Google started adjusting its programs in 2022 to focus on content material created primarily for engines like google moderately than customers. Restoration from penalties of that sort, Ray has famous, can take two years of sustained effort.

Anderson’s account suggests a distinct trajectory is feasible when the foundational work is finished earlier than a penalty happens – or, if it has already occurred, when the remediation addresses the structural trigger moderately than floor signs.

The schema and sameAs dimension

The LinkedIn remark thread surfaces a technical element that Anderson’s publish doesn’t cowl however that practitioners regard as a complementary sign. Muhammad Kamran, an search engine optimisation specialist targeted on Shopify shops, flagged what he described as a generally ignored discrepancy: on well being e-commerce properties, the one who publishes or uploads content material is incessantly marked because the writer in schema markup, whereas the stay web page exhibits a distinct precise writer. “That creates a mismatch, and ideally the schema writer ought to [match the on-page author],” Kamran wrote.

Anderson confirmed in his reply that schema-to-on-page writer consistency is straightforward to overlook, notably in content material administration system environments the place writer and writer fields are decoupled. “A mismatch in indicators can work in opposition to you in regulated classes – each belief indicator issues,” he famous.

A second commenter, Dimitrios Mytilinaios MD, PhD, Govt Supervisor at Kenhub, raised the sameAs property in schema markup as an underused sign. The property permits a profile web page to be explicitly linked to the identical particular person’s profiles on LinkedIn, Google Scholar, PubMed, and different authoritative third-party platforms. Anderson described this as “price including to any EEAT guidelines.”

These schema-level particulars matter as a result of they create machine-readable connections between on-page claims and verifiable exterior identities. In a content material class the place the authenticity of credentials is a rating issue, these connections cut back the hole between what a website claims and what search programs can independently confirm.

Anderson’s background and the Hims context

Mike Anderson’s LinkedIn profile paperwork a trajectory by way of product-led search engine optimisation roles. At Trulia, he served as Director of Product Administration for search engine optimisation from March to October 2019, main technical search engine optimisation efforts by way of a migration of Trulia.com to a contemporary know-how stack. That migration, carried out in shut coordination with engineering, product, and design groups, included search engine optimisation necessities and A/B testing throughout the transition – and drove greater than 2 million extra annual visits.

A subsequent position as Head of search engine optimisation at one other property from October 2019 to November 2020 concerned overseeing three search engine optimisation managers, onboarding an search engine optimisation company, and creating a multi-year search engine optimisation roadmap spanning technical, content material, and person expertise dimensions. Accomplishments from that interval documented in his profile embrace creating and implementing a world area technique with hreflang tagging throughout 17 domains; retiring greater than 90 domains to remove duplicate content material, which produced a 12% carry in page-one rankings; and establishing a world content material program that generated 33,000 natural clicks monthly throughout the first yr, rising to 100,000 inside 18 months.

At Hims, the telehealth model, Anderson utilized this background to regulated well being content material – a class that carries distinct challenges due to the potential penalties of inaccurate medical info. The EEAT program he describes was constructed, in response to his account, exactly to handle these challenges systematically. His present consultancy, Automattik, focuses on natural development technique for what he describes as “the period of AI discovery.”

The broader query of content material pruning

The pruning component deserves explicit consideration given its counterintuitive character. Lowering the variety of pages on a website – eradicating content material that exists and is listed – runs in opposition to the intuition of most content material groups to build up moderately than remove. Anderson’s framing is that content material created to drive site visitors, to not construct belief, dilutes the credibility indicators of the pages that stay.

Google’s search systems have increasingly applied this kind of evaluation at the domain level, with John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, describing LLM-generated matter clusters as “legal responsibility” – a characterization that suggests potential algorithmic therapy affecting website efficiency broadly, not simply the person pages in query. Mueller’s steering attracts a distinction between human-authored content material that gives real worth and automatic content material designed for SEO. The excellence turns into operational when websites carry massive volumes of content material that fails the genuine-value take a look at.

In regulated classes like telehealth, that legal responsibility might be amplified. A web page making well being claims with out satisfactory sourcing or credential verification creates danger not just for search visibility however for the readers it reaches. Anderson’s resolution to take away content material that didn’t meet the credibility threshold is in step with a view of search engine optimisation in well being contexts as inseparable from editorial requirements.

What the practitioner response indicators

The response to Anderson’s publish, whereas not massive in uncooked numbers, is qualitatively notable. Lily Ray responded with a sequence of raising-hands emoji – a sign from one of many extra intently watched EEAT analysts within the trade that the framework described is directionally credible. Andrew C., founding father of Optimisey, noticed: “It is virtually like creating nice, helpful content material requires effort, planning and experience, moderately than a couple of nicely sculpted prompts.”

Sandeep Kelvadi, who works on automating advertising providers for increased schooling utilizing custom-made approaches, described the systematic method as “important once you do search engine optimisation at scale.” Mikael Araújo, an search engine optimisation editor targeted on worldwide search engine optimisation, content material advertising, knowledge science, and AI, known as it “wonderful work.”

The responses collectively mirror a practitioner neighborhood that’s navigating a second of serious structural change. AI search visitors convert at substantially higher rates than traditional organic traffic – 4.4 instances increased in response to Semrush analysis revealed June 9, 2025, and 23 instances increased for signups in a separate Ahrefs research revealed June 16, 2025 – however reaching these guests requires being cited inside AI-generated solutions, which in flip requires the sort of credibility indicators Anderson’s program was designed to determine.

The query practitioners are working by way of is whether or not the funding required to construct these programs – credentialed writer profiles, structured overview workflows, sourced medical claims, pruned content material libraries – produces returns that justify the operational price. Anderson’s 34% rating carry in three weeks, achieved with out content material manufacturing or hyperlink acquisition, provides one knowledge level in that path. Whether or not the result’s reproducible at scale, throughout completely different well being classes and regulatory environments, stays to be seen.

Timeline

• October 2013 – December 2013: Mike Anderson completes Lean LaunchPad Enterprise Idea undertaking at Arizona State College, together with shopper analysis for an insurance coverage product aimed toward high-income professionals
• November 2017 – March 2019: Anderson serves as Digital Outreach Chair for Our Revolution Arlington
• March 2019 – October 2019: Anderson serves as Director, Product Administration – search engine optimisation at Trulia, implementing hreflang tagging for 17 domains and retiring 90+ domains for a 12% page-one rating carry
• October 2019 – November 2020: Anderson leads search engine optimisation at a subsequent position, establishing a world content material program producing 33k natural clicks monthly in yr one and 100k inside 18 months
• August 2018: Google’s “medic replace” core algorithm adjustment closely impacts well being web sites and introduces express emphasis on E-A-T indicators – a pattern documented by Lily Ray
• Could 2022: Anderson obtains WSET Stage 3 Award in Wines from the Wine & Spirit Schooling Belief
• 2022: Google begins adjusting its programs to focus on content material created primarily for engines like google moderately than customers
• Could 2024: Google launches AI Overviews, starting a documented discount in natural click-through charges
• June 9, 2025: Semrush publishes analysis displaying AI search visitors are worth 4.4 times more than traditional organic traffic
• June 16, 2025: Ahrefs publishes analysis displaying AI search visitors convert 23 times higher than organic traffic, representing 0.5% of visits however 12.1% of signups
• July 16, 2025: search engine optimisation analyst Dan Callis publishes warning about AI Overviews reducing organic clicks by 34.5%throughout 300,000 key phrases
• August 27, 2025: John Mueller warns in opposition to LLM-generated topic clusters as site “liability”
• December 11, 2025: Google publicizes December 2025 core update, which begins devastating well being writer rankings
• December 26, 2025: Lily Ray discusses how excessive SEO causes ranking losses in regulated classes together with well being and finance
• January 20, 2026: Lily Ray paperwork dramatic health publisher visibility losses following the December 2025 core replace
• March 2026: Mike Anderson shares the Hims EEAT case research on LinkedIn, documenting a 34% key phrase rating carry in three weeks from seven foundational credibility adjustments

Abstract

Who: Mike Anderson, founding father of Automattik and former search engine optimisation chief at Hims and SurveyMonkey, shared the case research. Commenters embrace Lily Ray (VP, search engine optimisation & AI Search), Muhammad Kamran (search engine optimisation specialist), Dimitrios Mytilinaios MD, PhD (Govt Supervisor at Kenhub), Andrew C. (search engine optimisation marketing consultant, Optimisey), Sandeep Kelvadi, and Mikael Araújo.

What: Anderson documented seven EEAT-focused adjustments made to Hims’ well being weblog content material – named doctor bylines, editorial requirements bins, structured medical overview workflows, full writer and reviewer profile pages, content material pruning, belief asset pages (About web page and editorial course of web page), and cited sources on each medical declare – that produced a 34% key phrase rating carry in three weeks with no new content material and no hyperlink constructing.

When: The LinkedIn publish appeared this week in March 2026. The Hims work described within the publish occurred throughout Anderson’s tenure there. The publish attracted responses inside 1 to three days from practitioners throughout the search engine optimisation trade.

The place: The case research was shared on LinkedIn and pertains to work carried out at Hims, a telehealth model working in regulated U.S. well being content material classes. Anderson at present runs Automattik, a consultancy targeted on natural development technique.

Why: The account issues as a result of it supplies a particular, metrics-backed instance of EEAT implementation in a regulated well being content material setting at a second when well being publishers are dropping substantial search visibility. Google’s high quality rater pointers emphasize experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness for YMYL content material, however documented examples of what implementation seems like in operational phrases – with related rating outcomes – stay uncommon. Anderson’s seven-step account fills a part of that hole.