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Affiliate Disclaimer: This article may contain affiliate links, if you click a link and make a purchase I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more. Hey Reader It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me. And what a time to make a comeback. Google has been burning the world down:
A simultaneous core and spam update whereby bulk publishers with a soft spot for AI content just got wrecked. Even one of my own sites seemingly was completely removed from the SERPs only to be put back again a couple days later. But a site with mostly unedited AI was quite well and truly demolished.
No complaints from me. But it does heavily bring into consideration the lifespan of publishing as we knew it. The writing has been on the walls for a long while, only now does it feel like Google’s desire for “helpful” and trustworthy content is taking effect. It’s clear that they, for whatever reason, do not like the “small” indie publisher very much. And to a large degree, there’s good reason for it: most publishers have been rewriting content that already existed in the top 10 search results, for years. Hell, entire “optimization” tools were built around doing that. The way Google “trusts” content is, still, very debatable. It’s all too easy to feel like if you’re not Forbes or Healthline, then you’re not an authority. Along with the way SERPs are changing rapidly to make every product/commercial intent keyword an opportunity for 5 ads, Google shopping, or ONLY Forbes level sites to appear, it doesn’t look good for the indie publisher. There has been this talk of the “hidden gems” to be a saviour for the unique content creator, but we’ve barely seen it become effective yet to help out the good side of the internet; the humble blogger. So what the hell can you or I do about this new landscape of “SEO”? I think it’s truly time to reconsider SEO and publishing and whether you will have the backing or stomach to progress with it. To me, now, SEO is swiftly becoming a game where only these are the potential players:
Basically, if your blog doesn’t fit one of these, then it’s having a really hard time right now and likely will continue to do so. It doesn’t leave much left for the indie publisher if you’re focusing purely on informational content and monetising it (ads/affiliate). Google doesn’t recognise them much as a real business unless you have a lot of 1. So what can you do about it now? First up, get real about this and accept fate. Second, decide what you really want from this space and if you can stomach the effort or potential cost to make it viable again. Third, make a plan of action to become 1, 2 or 3. It’s possible to become a seriously highly authoritative website, but do you have what it takes to get there? It usually takes a significant level of link building or entity creation with strategies like great PR campaigning. Or you could pivot your project into actually selling something. It might be creating a physical or digital product unique to your niche and your brand. The steps you take in creating a product and promoting it seem to have significantly different signals in Google’s eyes. That’s why eCommerce sites seem to have been either unaffected, or even promoted, in the recent rounds of updates. And while many of Google’s recent search results have been questionable, it’s difficult to dispute the accuracy they’ve had recently on showing “real businesses” in favour over “niche” websites on those results. Even if those results’ content isn’t actually better. You can “recover” in Google – but it’s going to take a ton of work and you’ll need high level strategies to get there beyond “publish more content.” 🫤 If you continue to hear “just publish more great quality content” then run for the hills from that advice. It’s not applicable enough in reality. What is much better is to start listening and applying real-world strategies to gaining traffic from multiple sources. I’m working on something MAJOR with two affiliate marketing masters that aims to offer strategies that will develop with the new SEO. More coming about it over the next week. In the meantime, tell me how your sites have been doing in these updates? I really want to know. ~~~ If you enjoyed this newsletter, please do “add to contacts” and drop me a reply to tell me what you think (it really helps with email deliverability). If you don’t get any value from this, unsubscribe. Until next time — Joe |
