Google’s Latest Update is Destroying Independent Bloggers

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the impact of Google's recent Helpful Content Update on independent bloggers and website owners. It examines the winners and losers of this update, as well as the potential implications for the future of search engine optimization (SEO).

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Helpful Content Update

1. What is the Helpful Content Update, and how has it impacted independent bloggers?

• The Helpful Content Update is a recent change to Google's search algorithm that prioritizes content that provides value to human readers, rather than content written solely for search engine optimization.
• The update has resulted in significant traffic drops of 50-80% for many independent bloggers and website owners, even those with well-researched and carefully written content.

2. Who are the winners and losers of this update?

• The winners of the update appear to be user-generated content sites like Reddit, Quora, Medium, and YouTube, which are seeing a massive boost in traffic.
• The losers are independent publishers and bloggers, who are losing significant amounts of traffic as their content is being outranked by posts from these user-generated content sites.

3. Why is Google favoring user-generated content over independent bloggers?

• It seems that Google is having difficulty accurately determining whether individual webpages follow their new guidelines for E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).
• Instead of evaluating the quality of individual pages or blogs, Google has chosen to elevate user-generated content sites that consistently produce human-centered content.

4. What are the potential long-term implications of this update?

• The article suggests that if users find the updated version of Google, which favors Reddit and Quora posts, to be unhelpful, Google may restore some of the independent publisher content that has been crushed.
• However, the update is a reminder that the world of SEO has changed, and it is now essential for publishers to diversify their traffic sources to stay resilient in the face of algorithm changes.

[02] Recommendations for Independent Bloggers

1. What steps can independent bloggers take to mitigate the impact of the Helpful Content Update?

• Don't panic, as the update is still rolling out and rankings may change as it completes.
• Diversify your traffic sources, as relying solely on organic search traffic from Google is no longer enough.
• Leverage AI tools and techniques to improve your content creation and workflow.

2. What other strategies can independent bloggers employ to adapt to the changing SEO landscape?

• Focus on creating content that demonstrates clear and deep expertise in your field, as these types of websites are performing better in the update.
• Explore the use of Semantic SEO, which focuses on creating densely connected pages around semantically related topics, rather than just targeting keywords and search volume.
• Consider publishing content on platforms like Medium, which have seen a boost in traffic from the update.