Hey everybody, welcome to the Becky Beach Show. I’m Becky Beach and today we’re going to dive into a topic that has been affecting many bloggers and small publishers like myself. We’re going to talk about Google’s upcoming core update and whether it may offer some relief to those of us who’ve been struggling with traffic and revenue drops after Google’s recent algorithm changes. I’ll also share some strategies on how to diversify your traffic sources, which I’ve touched on before in episode number 55. So grab a coffee, sit back, and let’s get into it. Well, let’s start with a backstory. For those who may not be familiar, Google’s helpful content update and subsequent algorithm changes have had a massive effect on small publishers.
My blog, mombeach.com, used to get over 300, 000 pageviews a month. That kind of traffic translated into about 7, 000 in ad revenue and more, but after the updates, my traffic plummeted to just 9, 000 pageviews from Google, and my ad income dropped to about 3, 000, and that’s been a huge blow, not just financially, but also emotionally.
I’ve been able to get traffic from Pinterest and Flipboard mostly, and also Facebook, because Google just has taken away a lot of my traffic. And these updates were supposed to improve the quality of search results by prioritizing helpful, high quality content. However, many small publishers, including myself, felt that our valuable content was unfairly penalized.
And this isn’t just my story, it’s a story shared by many other small content creators who have seen their hard work seemingly disregarded by these algorithm changes. Now let’s talk about the potential light at the end of this tunnel. Recently, there have been promising signs that Google might be listening to the concerns of small publishers.
An article I came across mentioned that Google invited Brandon Zaltamakia, the founder of Retro Dodo, it’s a small gaming site that was heavily impacted by these algorithm changes, to their headquarters for a conversation. This is significant because it shows that Google might be open to feedback from small publishers and could be looking to make amends.
During the meeting, Google search liaison Daniel Sullivan and other Google representatives discussed with Brandon and other small publishers how they might improve their algorithms to better support small publishers. Sullivan mentioned that the upcoming core update, expected to roll out in a few weeks, could potentially help sites that were unfairly hit by previous updates.
This meeting is a big deal because it signifies a shift in Google’s approach. Historically, Google has been somewhat opaque and slow to acknowledge the negative impacts their updates have had on small publishers. The fact that they are now engaging directly with affected site owners and considering their feedback is a positive sign.
However, it’s essential to remain cautious while the meeting and the upcoming core update offer hope we need to temper our expectations Algorithm changes are complex and Google has a long history of making adjustments that have unintended consequences Brandon Saltamachia and himself mentioned that while the meeting was encouraging.
He doesn’t expect things to change overnight He highlighted the ongoing dominance of sites like Reddit, which often flood Google search results, sometimes at the expense of smaller quality sites. And a lot of the content on Reddit is very outdated. Like, content you’ll see on Reddit was made, you know, 10 years ago, but it’s still at the top.
In the meantime, it’s crucial to diversify our traffic sources. In episode number 55, I discussed how I’ve been leveraging platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, and Flipboard to drive traffic to mombeach.com. And these platforms have been instrumental in maintaining my blog’s visibility and engagement during these challenging times.
Now again, I’m going to break down how you can use each of these platforms effectively. With Facebook, you should focus on building a community around your niche. Use Facebook groups, post engaging content, interact with your audience regularly. Facebook ads can also be a powerful tool if used strategically.
Like I have multiple Facebook groups for my businesses. One of my top Facebook group has almost 3, 000 people, and it’s called Becky Beach Digital Product Sellers. And I post a lot of my content in there, like my podcast content. And I’ll get traffic from that and I have another Facebook group for my MomBeach audience and I’ll post my content in there and I receive traffic.
And I also post my content on my Facebook pages. Pinterest is a fantastic tool for driving traffic to your blog. Create visually appealing pins and use relevant keywords and also join communities on tailwind to expand your reach That’s why getting tailwind is so important if you’re using pinterest because tailwind has communities And you post your content into the tailwind communities and then people in there can repost your content and they have to do it because if they just keep putting their own content in there and they don’t repin other people’s content that can be thrown out of the group.
So that’s why it’s a really good idea to join these communities and I have great success. A lot of my traffic for Pinterest comes from these Tailwind communities. Now Flipboard can be a great way to reach a new audience, create magazines around your blog’s topics and regularly update them with your latest content.
Now, another interesting development is Google’s efforts to detect AI generated content. A recent leaked document revealed a variable called Ractor, which might be used to assess the probability of AI generated content on a site. This is crucial information for those of us using AI tools to create content.
While AI can be a fantastic tool for speeding up content creation, it’s essential to ensure that the content remains high quality and relevant to your audience. Google’s guidelines are clear that AI generated content is acceptable as long as it provides value to users. So a hybrid approach, using AI to assist but always incorporate human oversight, may be the best strategy moving forward.
Because what I’ll do is, as I’ll get, like I’ll create the outline using AI to help me, And then from there, I’ll craft it with my own writing and I’ll inject my personality into it big time because you don’t want to just take the AI writing and just slap it on your blog. You want to make sure you fact check it because I’ll make sure I’ll go through and make sure everything makes sense and I’ll edit it and proofread it.
And I like to use Grammarly, that’s an AI tool, but it will help you make your content clearer and easier to read. So you may be wondering, like, what can we do about this? As small publishers, we need to stay resilient and adaptable. Here are some tips to navigate these uncertain times. Like number one, we should focus on quality content and continue to create high quality, unique content that provides real value to your audience.
This has always been and will continue to be the cornerstone of successful blogging. And number two, you should diversify your traffic sources. As I mentioned earlier, don’t rely solely on Google for your traffic. Explore other platforms and find what works best for your niche. Like I use Flipboard. I use Pinterest and Facebook and I’ve also been using Instagram to drive traffic.
And stay informed, keep up with industry news and updates. Understanding the latest trends and algorithm changes can help you adjust your strategy accordingly. Like I’m always looking at the updates, how I found out about Google’s upcoming core update. I’m always reading the news and seeing what’s going on.
Like don’t just like put, keep your head in the sand and not pay attention. You have to keep up to date with the news. Engage your audience. Build a loyal community around your content. Engaging with your audience on social media and through comments can create a dedicated following that supports you regardless of algorithm changes.
Like I built an email list. I built a Facebook group. Like I have about 3, 000 people in my group. I’m always engaging with them. I’m offering, I’m offering them value and answering their questions to give them help. So you should always keep engaged and only spend like maybe like 30 minutes a day in my facebook group Just like reading people’s posts, you know, so it’s not that much of a time sink You can also hire a facebook manager if you don’t want to spend any time in your facebook group I really recommend you spend at least a little bit of time in your facebook group each day so these are my thoughts and opinions of this google algorithm changes they’ve been doing and also The meeting they had and their upcoming core update a big part of me thinks nothing will happen because google is focused on themselves I know their business so they’re just focused on themselves and what’s been bringing them money Their ai overview is causing a lot of problems as well.
Like I don’t I didn’t see their ai overview addressed in these meetings Of articles i’ve read so this ai overview is a big problem because the ai overview is actually taking content from people’s blogs And then putting them in the ai overview. It’s even You It’s even giving medical advice. Like I have a bruise on the inner of my thigh from a mosquito bite.
And I was worried that it, that it could, you know, become necrosis. So I was researching about my mosquito bite being bruised. And then all I saw was the AI overview. I noticed the AI overview was just, you know, parroting what other top medical sites were talking about. And it’s, you know, I don’t think it’s lawn.
Before Google will get sued by somebody that, that took their AI overview as medical advice. Because it’s just an AI, like it hasn’t fact checked anything, like anybody could slap anything on the internet. So this AI overview is really causing them problems. Like I would, I would take it down if I were them.
I think it’s causing a lot of issues. And even people that have their, their content have been, it’s stripping people’s content. And just putting at the top so nobody has to visit your blog. And that’s happened to a lot of my finance articles. And I’ve lost traffic from them. They’re still on the first page.
Only nobody’s scrolling down to read them. The AI overview is answering the question. So I think this AI overview is causing a lot of problems. It’s doing more harm than good. Especially for people looking for questions, you know, and they’re getting the answers from the AI overview. And you don’t even know if the AI It could just be hearsay, you know, it’s not fact checked.
So these, these websites, like a lot of them have been fact checked, like the medical websites, you know, especially, and the AI overview is just taking, you know, information from those websites and stealing content. So it’s, it’s, it’s stealing content from people. And I don’t think it’s long before there’s gonna be a class action lawsuit against this, Google’s AI overview, or Google themself, over this, because content’s being stolen from websites, and then they’re not receiving traffic.
And if everybody’s getting their answers from the AI overview, they’re not gonna visit anybody’s blog post. And that’s going to cause people to not even, you know, pay for their blogging work. Say they can’t pay for it. They’re not getting traffic or ad income or leads or sales. So why should they continue to blog for free?
Most people can’t. They need, you know, to have some income coming in. And Google’s taking away the income by having the AI overview at the top and not allowing people to go scroll down and look at sites. Most people are not because they want a really quick answer to their question. So that’s why the AI Overview is just stealing so much traffic and it’s like really getting under my skin like I could just go on and on about how much I hate this AI Overview and I really hope they take it down.
Cause it’s doing a lot more harm than good and I do hope they get sued over this AI Overview. Especially for medical advice because if someone’s asking a medical question, that AI Overview should not even be appearing. Like, that’s what I’m saying, that they need to go to the medical sites, because even the mild clinic, you know, they’re, they could go there, but instead the AI overview is answering the question.
So people aren’t scrolling down to see mild clinic, you know, or health line, or any of those top medical sites that have actual doctors responses on them. So it’s just very detrimental to the public, it’s a public safety outrage, this Google, this AI overview, you know. And, like, I really think it’s going to cause a lot more problems for Google in the long run.
They’re going to, they’re going to receive lots of lawsuits over it. It was one of somebody, you know, takes the advice of AI Overview and it causes them great bodily harm. You know, it could happen. It may be happening right now. So, it’s just, like, really detrimental for Google to have this AI Overview. And plus, it’s taking people’s traffic away and stealing people’s content.
Because it’s not even people aren’t even going to people’s blogs. They’re just getting the answer from the overview and thinking that’s that’s correct. And they’re just going away, you know, instead of scrolling down and seeing what people may be seeing on their blogs. And therefore nobody’s getting, getting any traffic.
Nobody’s getting sales or leads. So that’s about it for today’s episode. I’m cautiously optimistic about the upcoming. So I’ll be sure to share my findings and any new strategies that emerge from this in future episodes. And you may make sure to subscribe to Becky Beach Show so you don’t miss out on any of my updates.
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com. I have an all new website that I’ve made for my podcast. So make sure to check out BeckyBeachShow.com for the transcript and the links that I’ve mentioned in today’s episode. Well, thanks so much for listening or watching. Have a great day. Goodbye.
References:
A Brief Meeting with Google After the Apocalypse
