How Google Is Killing Bloggers and Small Publishers – and Why
Bloggers and small publishers face challenges due to Google's algorithm changes and AI-generated answers, which reduce traffic. The author suggests treating web searches as a public utility to ensure fairness.
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The article discusses the challenges faced by bloggers and small publishers due to Google's evolving search algorithms and business practices. Initially, the author shares their journey of starting a travel blog, learning about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and adapting their content to meet Google's requirements. However, recent changes, particularly the "Helpful Content Update" and the introduction of AI-generated answers, have drastically reduced traffic to small blogs. The author highlights that Google has shifted its focus from being a search engine to becoming a dominant advertising platform, which has led to a significant decline in visibility for independent content creators. The partnership between Google and Reddit, which allows Google to utilize Reddit's content for its AI, further exacerbates the issue by directing traffic away from individual blogs. The author expresses concern over the future of blogging and suggests that web searches should be treated as a public utility to prevent monopolistic practices.
- Google's algorithm changes have significantly harmed small publishers and bloggers.
- The introduction of AI-generated answers in search results has reduced traffic to independent blogs.
- Google is increasingly prioritizing advertising revenue over organic content.
- The partnership with Reddit allows Google to leverage user-generated content, further disadvantaging small publishers.
- The author advocates for treating web searches as a public utility to ensure fair access to information.
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14 commentsOne thought I had: is there any plugin to rerank Google results by the number of ads on a site? For the top 10,000 domains we could count the average number of ads on a page and give each one an “annoyingness score” which would be used to downrank spammy garbage.
> Oh, and by the way, here’s how you can ditch Google and switch to DuckDuckGo.
DDG is Bing, and if you say that Google is all about AI-generated crap, then Bing turns it up to 11...
(Don't read it as schadenfreude. I couldn't be more depressed about it)
I guess everyone has the same feelings about Quora and there isn’t even a need to waste the characters on calling them out.
I’m impressed they even managed to become successful travel bloggers in 2014+.
SEO and being a travel blogger were both well trodden paths already.
I remember some friends saying they wanted to become travel bloggers ~2013 and I laughed because of the degree of saturation. Was already difficult to get an edge and a niche.
And in my experience, Google was well on its path of deranking blogs in favour of more corporate content in 2014.
I don't see advertising on the Internet so I don't really understand the value. Some people use Google to access the Internet apparently... they see lots of ads.
But the main issue is that just googling stuff and checking the results is a pretty miserable experience, because of quality of search results (they would give you CEO optimized trash 90%).
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